Name Game: Ford Taurus Returns
By Michelle Krebs February 6, 2007
Ford CEO Alan Mulally has hinted for weeks that the Taurus name was too significant to discard. Now, it apparently is semi-official: the Ford Taurus will return -- at least in name.
Though Ford won't confirm it, Dow Jones Newswires reports this morning that Ford will announce at the Chicago Auto Show tomorrow that the full-size Five Hundred sedan will become the new Taurus.
Time will tell if that's a wise move. Indeed, the first Taurus represented trend-setting design and proved a smashing success. Its re-make, however, was disappointing in design and sales. In its old age, the Taurus withered on the vine as Ford failed to invest money to keep it fresh. Ford ultimately banished the Taurus to rental fleets before finally putting it out of its misery last year.
Ford is counting heavily on the sedan previously known as Five Hundred as well as its virtual twin, the Mercury Montego, and the car-based Freestyle crossover (which Ford almost ditched a couple years after its introduction), to boost sales and fill the void left by the fallen Taurus.
All three are freshened mildly inside and out with upgraded engines and safety features added for the 2008 model year. The restyled Taurus, a.k.a. Five Hundred, was revealed at the Detroit show in January; the Montego and Freestyle are unveiled this week in Chicago. The 2008 Taurus/Five Hundred and Montego go on sale in June; the Freestyle follows shortly after.
The three cars have failed to live up to early expectations, which were set at 250,000 vehicles combined a year in 2004, which Ford dubbed "The Year of the Car." Last year, Ford sold about 165,000 of the three.
It's hard to see that a name change will make the difference based on history.
Ford is notorious for midstream name changing. The Ford Windstar minivan became the Freestar, though not much more than its name changed. The name change did nothing for sales, and Ford now has decided to abandon the minivan business completely.
At Lincoln, the difference is less likely the name than the vehicle itself. The Zephyr name lasted a year before it was replaced by MKZ, which added a more powerful engine that transformed the sedan. Lincoln initially insisted it be pronounced Mark Z but now has settled on M-K-Z. And in keeping with the letter-naming scheme, the Lincoln Aviator became the MKX, also off to a more promising start than the Aviator though that has more to do with the product itself than name.
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