Posted on 10/19/2006 10:56:56 AM PDT by floridareader1
DEARBORN, Mich. - Sometime next week, the assembly line at a Ford plant near Atlanta will come to a halt, signaling the end of a family sedan so revolutionary that its 1985 debut changed forever the way cars look, feel and drive. ADVERTISEMENT
Say goodbye to the Taurus.
After 21 years and sales of nearly 7 million cars, Ford Motor Co. is giving up on what some call the most influential automobile since Henry Ford's Model T. The Taurus is credited with moving America away from boxy V-8 powered gas-guzzling bedrooms-on-wheels to aerodynamic, more efficient cars with crisper handling.
To many, the Taurus' death was slow and painful as Ford in recent years abandoned the car that saved the company, focusing instead on high-profit trucks and sport utility vehicles.
"When that thing came out, it was a big deal," said Robert Thompson, professor of popular culture at Syracuse University. "It so much became kind of the template of what a modern car was going to look like."
The Taurus, so futuristic that critics called it a "jellybean" or a "flying potato," made its debut late in 1985, with 1979 gasoline shortages still fresh in consumers' minds. The U.S. economy was just pulling out of a downturn when the scalloped Taurus, initially equipped with V-6 and four-cylinder engines, hit showrooms. It was an immediate hit, with buyers snapping up more than 263,000 in 1986, its first full year on the market.
It became the best-selling car in America in 1992 with sales of nearly 410,000, unseating the Honda Accord just as Japanese imports were starting to take hold in the U.S., and it held the top spot for five straight years until it was supplanted by the Toyota Camry in 1997. Even near death in September, it remained Ford's top-selling car.
Ford also sold another 2 million Mercury Sables, the Taurus' nearly identical twin.
"It was really the last full-size American passenger sedan to dominate the segment," said Jim Sanfilippo, senior industry analyst for Bloomfield Hills-based Automotive Marketing Consultants Inc.
Ford was losing billions in the early 1980s when Taurus was just an idea. Philip Caldwell, chief executive at the time, challenged designers and engineers to come up with a radically different car that would return Ford to profitability.
"We were in terrible condition financially," recalled Jack Telnack, chief designer on the original Taurus who retired in 1998. "He said `Look, we need something really different, really new, that will kind of set the pace out there.'"
Nearly 1,000 people worked on the car, many coming from Ford's European operations. They had spotted a trend that U.S. buyers were moving away from big, cushy cars to better-handling European models, Telnack said.
Engineers met that trend with a stiffer suspension, and they also gave the car more interior room, firmer seats, better ergonomics and more trunk space, said Telnack.
The car also had a lot of new "surprise and delight" features including a cargo net to hold grocery bags in the trunk and rear-seat headrests and heat ducts, said Joel Pitcoff, the Taurus' marketing manager at the time.
It was a hit in market research tests, and sales beat expectations, said Sam Pack, owner of three Dallas-area Ford dealerships who took part in Taurus research.
The car's sales remained strong until it got a makeover in 1996. Although the second version sold well, it never matched the original's numbers.
Still, company officials said the Taurus restored Ford's reputation for quality.
Frank Ribezzo, a lawyer in North Smithfield, R.I., is selling a 1997 Taurus for $950 after running up 210,000 miles. It's his third Taurus, with the first two going over 220,000 miles.
Ribezzo said he buys them used because they don't cost much and, save for the transmissions, they're reliable.
"As far as used cars, their value just goes to hell in a handbasket in a couple of years. But they run," Ribezzo said.
In the late 1990s, the Taurus became symptomatic of Ford's current ills. The company focused on high-profit trucks and sport utility vehicles, leaving the car almost unchanged for 10 years with little advertising support. In the meantime, competitors had copied the Taurus and refined their models, and the Taurus eventually became solely a rental car and fleet vehicle.
"It didn't keep pace. That's the whole story in four words," said Pitcoff.
Ford, left with few desirable cars, was caught flat-footed this year when consumer tastes shifted away from trucks. Sales have dropped 8.6 percent through September, and the company lost $1.4 billion in the first half of the year.
"They put no money into that product for the last several years," Telnack said of the Taurus. "They just let it wither on the vine. It's criminal. The car had a great reputation, a good name. I don't understand what they were waiting for."
The lack of attention to the Taurus has angered workers at the assembly plant in Hapeville, Ga.
Earle Chafim, a 22-year electrician who repairs welding robots, said workers met company goals, yet Ford still decided to shutter the plant.
"The biggest part I hate is we got the No. 1-selling car in the company, we won so many awards for being No. 1, it's a shame. We're still outselling other cars, and we're not even taking orders anymore," he said.
Ray Daniels, a 33-year company veteran, blamed Ford for not updating the Taurus and keeping the name.
"If they'd kept the name, we'd still be here," he said.
Mark Fields, Ford's president of the Americas, said he, too, can't understand how the company strayed so far from the Taurus. He wasn't with Ford when those decisions were made, but said he knows well that Ford's 1980s turnaround was led by appealing products, something he's trying to duplicate now.
"We are very, very focused on what customers want," he said.
When the lights go out on the last Taurus in Hapeville next week, there won't be any ceremony.
"It's not a reason for celebration," said plant manager Dale Wishnousky, proudly adding that workers raised quality levels since Ford announced the plant closure. "There will certainly be tears shed. There's already been tears shed."
We bought a used(abused) 1986 Ford Tarus sedan and it WAS a real POS!
I've owned 5 Tauruses. No major problems with any of them.
Seems like a bad business decision to me.
They practically give away those used Ford Tauruses. They aren't good for single men though. Not exactly a chick magnet!
I drove a couple, second one had tranny problems. The second generation was a bust when they had a woman designer put cute little Ford Ovals all over the car.
Jay Leno is deeply saddened.
That's the type of car you give to a regional sales rep pushing janitorial supplies.
Ours had NOTHING but Transmission problems.
I disagree. The Ford Focus and the Ford 500 are very nice and well engineered cars. And they were designed to replace the Taurus.
My grandparents had an 86 Sable. The paint peeled off in sheets. The Excema-mobile.
Good riddance.
Owl_Eagle
If what I just wrote made you sad or angry,
it was probably just a joke.
As a management weenie, I have to say that this story proves beyond any doubt that the domestic automakers' problems are by no means solely or even primarily due to the UAW.
Toyota is kicking GM's and Ford's butts because they make better vehicles. It's the car, Detroit. You forgot about the car. First you went Vichy on small cars, then mid-sized cars --- and now Toyota and friends are improving their trucks.
Pretty soon all Detroit will have left is the corporate jet.
It seems like the Taurus started out as an excellent, almost revolutionary design, but in 21 years the world changed and the Taurus didn't. Pair that with the 3.8l engine debacle and the positioning of the 24v engine as an option rather than a standard (necessity) and you're left with a car that defined the state of the art and became a great bland nothingness which the state of the art has long since passed on by.
About 21 years too late with that decision in my opinion.
I've never owned a Taurus but have rented many of them. I didn't like them for the handling and the cheap looking interiors..I also didn't like the power and shifting was bumpy..
I do however, think ford makes the best trucks going..I have a F-150 and haven't had a single problem with it (80k miles)..
Used to have one (no, not the one above). Piece of crap.
It's ironic, but the only people in Florida who drive the Taurus/Sable are the very elderly and the young immigrants who can't afford anything else.
The hispanic immigrants tend to drive old American cars , more so than the Americans do.
Are you sure that's not a Tempo?
FIVE Tauruses?? Now if you said you owned one for 20 years and had no problems, THEN I'd be impressed! : )
I think that's a Tempo.
Sounds like a good first car for my son, then.
Igot a great deal on one as a rental.
After driving it for two days while visiting my son, he asked how I like it.
I told him if I ever bought one he had my permission to have me committed.
LOL
No wonder the company's in such trouble! I bought a '95 Taurus new and it was without question the worst pile of automotive crap I've ever owned. It completely blew its engine at 60,000 miles from a leaky head gasket. I know of at least 4 others (one belonging to my daughter) that did exactly the same thing. That car was a disaster: the floor filled with water when it rained from a leak we could never find (so did my daughter's); the wind noise was deafening; the fuel pump gave out and so did a lot of other stuff. No Fords in my future -- ever again!
Agreed. Worst paint ever. Made it easy to identify though. If the paint is missing in huge sections, it's a Taurus.
I don't think that's a Taurus..........or was.........
So, uh, you didn't like it?
What, were they living in the car or something?
Happened to a buddy of mine, too -- lipstick smudges on the upholstery; nylons in the back seat, you name it...
The car with a wonderful, state-of-the-art, gotta-love-it stainless steel exhaust system that I never had to touch, and the crappy, peel and flake clearcoat over the paint job, which made our beautiful, mint-condition, ran-like-a- top used car look like a Loosermobile from two months after we bought it. The company wouldn't do anything about the flaking paint for we second hand users, and did preciousl little for the ones who bought new, I'm told. Drove wonderfully if you wanted to look like a dork. We were so cheesed off, we have both bought foreign ever since.
"The Taurus was the most influential automobile since Henry Ford's Model T."
It's hard to imagine, but it actually outsold the Honda Accord and Toyota Camry.
I don't see Ford doing that again in the next 30 years!
Probably the 3.8l engine. Ford completely shat the bed on that one. Twice.
First was the defective design, and second was the public relations disaster as they tried what I can only call a modified "cover-up" of the problem.
It was perfect!
If you mashed it into a cube and used it as a door stop.
Hey, I quit buying Fords when they opened up a plant in Viet Nam and started flying the Communist Vietnamese flag at corporate headquarters in Michigan.
We made such a stink about it, that they took the damn thing down!!!
So then impress her with something else.
How's your Post-Taurus Stress Disorder coming along?
I have a 2004 Taurus furnished by my employer. Good mileage, drives nice. It has leather interior and mag wheels. I added a gold pin stripe to break up the all white color. Its not an Aurora by any means but its been trouble free so far...
Had electrical problems as well and why I now drive a Toyota Highlander.
That is funny as hell!!!
Ford needs to build a car that would appeal to the homosexuals that they continually cater to. I'm certain an appropriate name for such a vehicle will soon surface.
No need to drag the Ford Fiesta into this discussion.
;OP
Ford sold thousands of brown Probes over the years.
Ugly, underpowered, POS that handled like crap. There will never be a FWD car in my garage.
It's like I've been saying all along, "It's the cars, stupid!"
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