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Ford Five Hundred/Mercury Montego

3617 messages,  Last post on Sep 21, 2008 at 8:07 AM

You are in the Ford Five Hundred/Mercury Montego Forum. Your Hosts are pat & karens

What is this discussion about? Ford Five Hundred, Mercury Montego, Sedan


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#3564 of 3617
Re: I understand [buckwheat] by charts2
Feb 07, 2007 (11:48 am)
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Replying to: buckwheat (Feb 07, 2007 9:21 am)

According to Ford the mercury will be called the Sable again.
#3565 of 3617
Re: I understand [charts2] by chuck1959
Feb 07, 2007 (12:16 pm)
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Replying to: charts2 (Feb 07, 2007 11:48 am)

They should have NEVER changed their names in the first place! They should not have changed names over at Lincoln either.
#3566 of 3617
Re: I understand [chuck1959] by gregg_vw
Feb 07, 2007 (1:02 pm)
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Replying to: chuck1959 (Feb 07, 2007 12:16 pm)

Like I said, good move. The names never should have been changed, for sure. Lots of dumb moves under Bill Ford's watch. I think Mullaly and the market have put a lid on some of the nonsensical culture around the company.
#3567 of 3617
Now by exalteddragon1
Feb 07, 2007 (1:17 pm)
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I am upset.
 
What will the depreciation on the Montego be? This really sucks for some people. I do hope that customers forgive ford for playing musical chairs with its names.
 
oh man
#3568 of 3617
Re: Now [exalteddragon1] by gregg_vw
Feb 07, 2007 (2:05 pm)
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Replying to: exalteddragon1 (Feb 07, 2007 1:17 pm)

I don't think it will affect resale at all. Due to tne Montego's low sales and lack of recognition, resale isn't anything to write home about. Becoming the Sable isn't likely to upset that applecart. Heck, if the Sable actually sells in better numbers, it could help the Montego.
#3569 of 3617
Re: Now [gregg_vw] by charts2
Feb 07, 2007 (2:34 pm)
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Replying to: gregg_vw (Feb 07, 2007 2:05 pm)

The problem with sales of the Ford Five Hundred isn't the name. Car critics have been saying for the past couple years the car is too mainstream, to bland, nothing exciting. Call it what you want, sales will not increase with a warm over freshening for 2008, and a name change to Taurus, a car name that was fleet champion throughout its 21 years of service. It served its purpose during its run, were in different times now where exciting looking cars are in the pipeline from all manufactures. The 2008 Taurus will look more like the Fusion. Consumers are too smart for that. Lets see where sales are of this NEW Taurus a year from now.
#3570 of 3617
This is all about the NEXT Ford 500/Montego by xfilerguy
Feb 07, 2007 (3:08 pm)
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If you think that Ford changed the name of the current 500/Montego expecting big sales increases you are smoking something. This is all about the NEXT redesign, and positioning Ford for the future.
 
My bet is that the next "Taurus/Sable" will be smaller than the current 500/Montego, which is HUGE!! It will be more in-line size-wise with the old Taurus, which was already bigger than the CamCords. In turn, the Fusion will move down a step, and will be made based on the European Mondeo platform (stretched and revised, much as the current Fusion is on the stretched Mazda 6 platform), but still built in Mexico and still called the Fusion. I for one loved my Contour and hated the fact that Ford abandoned the segment and the Mondeo platform. There was a market for a car between the entry-level Focus and the Taurus. That car was the contour, and now the car is the Fusion...see where i'm going? To compete against the Camcords, you might need two sedans -- a smaller, more fuel-efficient 4 cyl model (Fusion) and a larger, more powerful model (6 cyl Taurus).
 
This will give Ford their performance-based midsize sedan to compete on the sport side of the equation, while they also will have a more camry-like staid sedan in the Taurus, though the exterior will likely get a major refresh to make it sexier ala the new Malibu or the last Altima.
 
I also believe Ford will stop selling the Taurus/Fusion to rental fleets altogether, as this will help their resale value. Ford will also go to a bumper-to-bumper 5 year 100,000 mile warranty. These "bold moves" will help the company regain the trust of the american buyer.
 
If these moves fail (which I don't think they will), say hello to Ford, a wholly owned subsidiary of Toyota.
#3571 of 3617
Re: Now [charts2] by jaxs1
Feb 07, 2007 (3:17 pm)
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Replying to: charts2 (Feb 07, 2007 2:34 pm)

Taurus is a better name and much more recognizable name than 500 was regardless of how many previous Tauruses were sold to fleet. This is a different car and they are not selling that many to fleets anymore. The old body style Taurus probably ran on for at least 3 or 4 years too long without a complete redesign. Now, the redesign is finally here.
It looks like they fixed everything except greatly improving the looks and making it sexy-looking.
The new grill is not enough to make the car stylish, but at least bland styling is better than wild styling that goes wrong.
They are replacing the weak engine with one that at least has competive power.
It will finally have stability control, AUX input, nav system, Bluetooth and so on that it had been lacking compared to the competition.
I am sure sales are going to improve somewhat since this is "better" than it was, but it just won't sell anywhere near to levels of Camry and Accord.
#3572 of 3617
New Sable by savetheland
Feb 07, 2007 (6:09 pm)
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New Sable looks better on photo than new Taurus. Now Taurus/Sable compete more with Avalon and 300 than with Camry. But take into account that Camry was not a competition to original Taurus - Taurus was competing with Accord. Camry was non-descript compact car. Then it became larger car in 1992 and after that competition started and finally it unseated Taurus as a best-selling car in USA.
#3573 of 3617
Re: This is all about the NEXT Ford 500/Montego [xfilerguy] by gregg_vw
Feb 07, 2007 (6:46 pm)
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Replying to: xfilerguy (Feb 07, 2007 3:08 pm)

The current Mondeo platform is plenty roomy and needs no stretching whatsoever to compete in the midsize segment (unlike the Contour which had a ridiculously small back seat for its size). The Fusion offers no more usable room. The Fusion is not going to move down any step. The Mondeo could, however replace the redundant Milan, and thereby give Mercury something interesting and different to sell.
 
The Taurus and Sable will sell better than the 500/Montego, mot because they are different, or gobs better, but because people know the names, and millions of people either owned those names or rode in them or rented them. Not true with 500/Montego. Since Ford cannot revise those two cars as fast as the market demands, at least more folks will be exposed to what decent rides they are as they stand. It is a brilliant move in a rough time, and the cheapest thing they could do to increase sales. The dumbest thing they did was to change the names in the first place.

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