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Sedans Ford Taurus/Mercury Sable What Are Your Thoughts on the Return of the Taurus/Sable?
530 messages, Last post on Aug 22, 2008 at 10:00 PM
You are in the Ford Taurus/Mercury Sable Forum. Your Hosts are pat & karens
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| New Sable has front design almost identical to Milan. But profile and rear end do not match with front end. Interior does not look elegant, I though they will fix it but they did not. Door panels look cheap – who need bottle holders in door packets? Radio and climate control look and feel cheap; steering wheel design is awkward. Car seems to be too high. It imitates old Passat but Passat had good proportions. | |
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Having had a 1997 that went over 250,000 miles with 4 transmissions. The Taurus was comfortable car. However just renaming the poor selling "500" is doomed for failure. In order to pull the Taurus back from the dead name pile Ford will have to start fresh with a vehicle that people WANT to buy. The Ford 500 is an old peoples car, and I am a old people and don't like it at all. Not only is rebadging a car no one wants, a bad move on Fords part, a dud by any other name is still a dud. If Ford does not make a MAJOR change and produce vehicles that meet the needs and WANTS of people, they are doomed to be taken over by KIA. farout
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Replying to: farout (Feb 08, 2007 6:59 pm) When Ford finally re-learn how to design elegant interiors. |
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Dad had 2 Montegos, a 1970 and 1972. The 72 was damn near indestructible... went 210,000 miles in 7 years, and after he traded it, he saw it on the street 2 months later. Thus I was kinda pleased to see the name return. Guess no one else was. Here's the problem with this whole thing, and it's not just a name change. The 500/Montego was originally intended to replace the Vic/Marquis, the way Chevy uses the Impala in place of the retired RWD Caprice. The Taurus/Sable was produced at the same time in light numbers (mostly for fleets) for 2 reasons: the Fusion triplets needed another year's time and Ford was racing the Taurus in NASCAR. With the success of the 300/Charger, GM announced they will return to RWD and V8s for the "upper middle" size class. Ford then decided to give the Vic/Marquis/Town Car a reprieve, thus making the 500/Montego somewhat unnecessary... turning that platform back to RWD would be a waste of money since they already have an RWD chassis that size. The stretched Chrysler 300 and Dodge Charger police car also had a little something to do with it. So now, they opt to rename the 500/Montego back to Taurus/Sable in hopes of drumming up sales, but at the expense of the Fusion/Milan which is probably the best car Ford has come up with in years. And Fusion is the new NASCAR entry. Not to mention, the Taurus and Fusion will both share the 3.5 with 6-speed, which means the Fusion will be much faster with it. A retraction of this magnitude tells me Ford has no direction right now. The right "moves" would be: - drop the 500/Montego - give the Vic/Marquis/TC a new body and update the chassis - slighty enlarge the Fusion/Milan/MKZ for MY2009 or 2010 This puts their best car (Fusion) in position to be their best seller, with no internal competition. |
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Replying to: british_rover (Feb 08, 2007 7:26 am) |
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Yes, Ford Motor is in BIG trouble. You only have to look at its position in 1998 and now to see that: from 26% of the market and possibly able to challenge GM, to: 14% car sales and 16% overall. Bill Ford gets no credit stemming the tide downwards. Taurus? No different than rebadging the Zephyr into the Mark Z. Yes bring the name back, yes add more BHP and torque under the hood. Jack Telnack was right when he said it was "criminal" that Ford Motor had let Taurus die on the vine, just as they did to the Lincoln LS. LS really had a chance, and the Mark Z is barely beginnning to go in the right direction. Simply put, Ford sedans should be as tough as their trucks. I've driven Ford Motor products more than 1Mn miles, but they keep making the mistake of stopping production or development of the cars that brought me to them in the first place. I've seen it happen now for a long time at Ford. They get a big bang up front with a new car, and then (perhaps) one revision (where the Japanese would have done three in the same time) and then cancel it---or worse, relegate it to the dustbin and the backrooms of the dealerships as they are with Town Car, Crown Vic & Marquis. I suspect a lot of Ford cars that are good get cancelled, derailed, etc., not because they are bad, but because the executives that championed them are gone or have moved on. So those cars "aren't my baby" when the next group of men and women take hold. So they kill them off in place of their own ideas. Ford needs the Taurus name. I was shocked when I read in Automotive News, Edmunds, etc. that they were killing it. "No one could be that stupid" I thought. Sure, rebadging is not a great move. But Ford Motor is out of time. It's midnight at the Blue Oval, and at least they can revamp the current chassis into a real car---built tough, with excellent brakes, steering, handling, and an interior that you WANT to spend time in. Let's give MR. Mulally a chance. Taurus and Sable must come back with a vengence. DouglasR
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Replying to: douglasr (Feb 09, 2007 4:05 am) This name change is a great move for a company in trouble. Cheap. Gets publicity. Gets two decent (ak, also boring) cars more notice. A move that may help a bit; even if it doesn't, will not hurt. Ford cannot afford to dump the 500/Montego now, nor can they afford to bring out alternatives by this summer. Mulally knocked some heads together, and Taurus (albeit 500) is back, rear wheel drive is now in the pipeline, more daring designs are on the way, and there seems to be a very belated but renewed commitment to product. It may not be enough and may be too late. But again, there is no downside to bringing back the Taurus this way--as opposed to not at all or three years from now in new form. I bet they are hard at work now on the next generation. It will be interesting to follow this trying to save the company as midnight falls saga. |
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Replying to: douglasr (Feb 09, 2007 4:05 am)
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Consistancy in quality, reliability, and high resale value sells cars, not name changes. The Japanese have learned these skills and have continued on for decades with the same named products like Civic, Accord, and Camry. They just keep making good things better and the american public loves them. Changing the cars name isn't going to resurrect Ford. Its too late in the game to try now and fool people that a different name on the same product makes it better. Even if Ford sold 10,000 more new Taurus's more then the Five Hundred won't make a dint in Fords red bottom line.
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Replying to: charts2 (Feb 09, 2007 6:37 am) Still, if I were Ford and thought a name change might net even 10,000 more sales, I'd do it. It is not meant to resurrect Ford...it is a small thing easily done, that might not make things worse, and combined with other small things, may or may not make a significant difference...but bottom line, it won't hurt. Too many people seem to be seeing this relatively innocuous move as foolish and bad because it won't save the company. It is not meant to! Rather, it is a belated correction of a dumb move on Ford/s part (abandoning one of the most recognizable auto names in the world)...one that can be corrected with little cost. I don't think Ford or anyone else thinks a name change makes a better product. The name change will jog some memories among non-car enthusiasts (the market for boring sedans), and get the thing on a few more people's consideration list. BTW, Taurus was manufactured through October of 2006, so it hasn't really done away per se, any more than the Sport Trac did when it had a 6 month hiatus between versions (that gap was stupid, poor planning for sure, but no one talked of "reviving" the Sport Trac). |
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