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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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Replying to: gregg_vw (Feb 10, 2007 7:53 am) Yes, Toyota has a lot of models, but the majority have brand positioning. The Yaris is an entry level, the Corolla a runabout/ fall family sedan, the Camry the big family sedan, and the Avalon the luxurious sedan aimed at older Honda buyers. Ford really has no Yaris and no Avalon (and we can't count Lincoln) WHere does the 500 fit in? It reminds me of the Tempo and the Contour, a car that occupies a no man's land between other more established models. I personally like the 500's look and the space inside. But if I'm going boring big car, I'm looking elsewhere. The Fusion, at least, has a distinctive look, and the NASCAR connection. That should have been the new Taurus. Thankfully they weren't stupid enough to do that.
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| Rename the Focus the Mustang Jr. Rename the Fusion the Model T. Rename the 500 the Escort. Rename the Crown Victoria the LTD. And rename the Mercury stuff with a bunch of random letters. | |
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Over the last 30 years, when Ford introduces a new family sedan with a new name, it usually has done pretty well: Fairmont, Tempo, Taurus, Contour, Fusion. The 500 is the only one that "failed" and mostly because it needed more horses for its size. When Ford goes backwards with names, the cars usually fall on their face: 1977 LTD II, 1981 Granada (Fairmont-based), 1984 LTD (Fairmont-based). There's a limit to nostalgia. Mustang was the perfect car for this theme - family sedans are not. Buyers don't want to think of family cars as "retro". Unlike the Camry and Accord, Ford didn't evolve the Taurus. It got new lines a couple of times, but nothing groundbreaking. The Camry and Accord were completely rethought several times over the same period - every 5 years or so, Toyota and Honda basically announced "forget what you thought about Camry/Accord - this one is better." The Taurus never had that. Now, Ford wants the public to essentially ignore the 500/Montego by saying, "Here's what we should have done 3 years ago - sorry we're late with a redesigned Taurus/Sable!" Ford market share will not recover with this kove. better they should aggressively market the Fusion and let that be their sales leader. |
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Replying to: kcram (Feb 10, 2007 10:25 am) Ford marketing is to blame here in large part. They do not advertise a car, they advertise a theme. Like "Bold Moves" most of which have managed to offend me, but that's another story. I cant recall EVER having seen a TV ad for the 500/Montego twins. Maybe there were some, but they were forgettable if so. I do recall ONE TV ad for the Freestyle. Except the Freestyle was never mentioned, only shown in the background. No, this was another of the Bold Moves stupidity, this one as offensive to me as the N word is to others. This ad showed a divorced mother actually letting her ex-husband see his children for the weekend. What a BOLD move. She was sitting in a Freestyle. Now I see the same already tired ad for the Edge day and night. OK, so the Edge is an Orange boxy vehicle that can ride on 2 wheels and on the sides of buildings. That is ALL this ad conveys, besides a catchy tune. Now I pick up Motor Trend, and there's another Edge, riding on two wheels with NO information on what other virtues this vehicle may have. Marketing people, in general, are overpaid grown-up third graders. Fords' marketers apparently ARE third graders. |
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Replying to: heyjewel (Feb 10, 2007 10:42 am) I don't think it has any. Its another example of bad marketing. Where did Escape go? The Escape-Edge story is no different than the Taurus-Fusion issue. It seems, FMC can't make up their mind, and come up with a new product. Depsite quality glitches Escape (and Focus) made quite a dent in the automotive world when they were launched. Instead of continuous improvement over generations, they come up with parallel models (not in case of Focus, so far). Ford Interceptor... now thats a good concept. How are they going to position it if it sees production? THAT should have been the next Taurus, if they wanted to retain the name, and have a competent vehicle to go against 300C and upcoming G8 (and future Impala). |
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Replying to: heyjewel (Feb 09, 2007 10:17 am) |
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with the person who says that they never saw an ad for the Five-Hundred/Montego or the Freestyle. While I never saw one for the Freestyle or the Five-Hundred, I did see one for the Montego, and it was this young woman saying something along the lines of "This is why I chose Mercury" and was advertising some sort of cash back. And Ford wants to know why the trio never sold... Hmm... Might have something to do with a lack of advertising! The Edge commercials aren't very creative, Ford just puts them everywhere, and that's why we remember them. Come to think of it, I don't see many commercials for the Escape or Focus either. And neither has been significantly redesigned since they came out in 2000. Both have been through a refresh, and both will go through another refresh in 2008, but the 2008 model underneath is the same car as the 2000. Ford needs to start redesigning some of their current product- Escape and Focus could be easily redesigned on C1. I do disagree, however, with the person that says the Edge and Escape are parallel products. The Escape is smaller, more affordable, and geared towards younger families while the Edge is midsized and midpriced. The Edge does overlap with the Explorer though, and I think Ford should have just called the Edge the all new 2007 Explorer. The crowd that goes for a truck based midsize SUV is dwindling daily anyways... |
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Replying to: crutnacker (Feb 10, 2007 9:52 am) |
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Replying to: heyjewel (Feb 10, 2007 10:42 am)
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Replying to: bls2753 (Feb 10, 2007 2:30 pm) And rednecks is an offensive word. Perhaps "workingmen" would be better associated with the F-150 commercials?
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