This is what they're currently telling us is a Taurus. Check out the razorblade face!
Posted on 01/31/2008 4:21:51 PM PST by Spktyr
Ford executives belittle Taurus design while pushing next version EXECUTIVES TRASH CURRENT TAURUS' DESIGN, PUSH NEXT LINE OF SEDAN DETROIT - Belittling your product probably isn't a great marketing tool, but two top Ford Motor executives recently criticized the looks of the new Taurus sedan, with one comparing it to doofus cartoon character Homer Simpson. While speaking in Detroit this month, Chief Executive Alan Mulally and Derrick Kuzak, head of global product development, took shots at the current Taurus. During a speech to industry insiders, Mulally hinted that a new, nicer-looking Taurus is coming in the next year or so, adding a crack about the current car. "The new Taurus that you're going to see in the next year or so is the one we should have made originally," he said while addressing a seminar. "It is just fabulous." Kuzak went even further while speaking to a group of analysts. He projected a slide with the portly, balding, doughnut-devouring Simpson standing above a Ford Five Hundred, the sedan that was renamed the Taurus last year. Next to Homer were cartoon images of Superman and Mr. Incredible, each above small drawings of sleeker versions of the Taurus that could hint at the next generation of the family sedan. "As you walk from a Homer Simpson design to a Superman design, it's all about millimeters matter," Kuzak told the analysts. He pointed to minuscule differences in the bumpers and the proportion between the window glass and the body side. He also noted the need to fill the wheel well with the right-size tires. "That's only delivered when the engineering team does not dumb down the design because of engineering and manufacturing feasibility concerns," Kuzak said.
(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...
"The move, though, failed to resuscitate already sagging sales. Ford sold only 68,178 Taurus and Five Hundred sedans last year, down 19 percent from 2006."
For all of you who thought that bringing back the Taurus name would help sell cars... how exactly do you like your crow prepared?
“Taurus” not selling ping!
What, exactly, do you have engineers for, anyway?
Read “engineering and manufacturing feasibility concerns” as “beancounters refused to pay $1 more per car to make it not suck.”
I’m surprized the suits at Ford have little care or concern for the Ford Taurus/500/Whatever.
These are just FANTASTIC rental units.
Please!
I hope that was sarcasm. While I haven’t had a chance to drive the new “Taurus”, the prior “Five Hundred” was the worst car in its segment, IMHO.
I work with a guy who worked at Ford for 10 years and he left because he got sick of the place, especially the lip service given to “Quality.” He says they went to all-day quality seminars, but when push came to shove on the shop floor, it was business as usual.
Not surprised. This is the company that had the ad slogan: “Have you driven a Ford LATELY?” The implication being “we don’t suck nearly as much as we used to”.
Back when Ford’s slogan was “Quality Is Job 1,” they never did say just *what* quality was Job 1. It certainly wasn’t design or build quality. Looks like it was “UAW Thug Salary Quality.”
Yes, it was sarcasm.
But the new Taurus has a more refined 3.5 V6 that the 500 did not have.
Now whether that makes much difference at all.....
I don’t know.
No, it’s not going to make a difference.
They had the right idea in the first place, get rid of the Taurus nameplate.
*Everyone* in my age group (thirty-somethings) associates “Taurus” with “crap.”
Also, looking at the other cars in the class (bigger-than-Camry sized), almost everyone else has an optional V8, rear wheel drive, a manual transmission, all-wheel drive or some combination of the above for the same price as the FWD/AWD V6-only Taurus.
The Taurus cannot win against the Chrysler 300 or the Pontiac G8.
These were two high-level executives, so it wasn't a loose canon thing. This is guaranteed to hack off dealers, and it makes their advertising look very disingenuous. Ford dealers are hurting right now. I recently dropped by a few, and it was like walking into a house where someone was dying. After dealers take delivery of these cars, they have to sell them. If Ford trashes their own cars, these dealers may end up having to take several thousand dollar losses per vehicle just to move them. Bottom line, at $6.64 a share, I'd still have to see Ford do SOMETHING right before buying. PS. The new Mustang is still cool.
The original Taurus is how a friend of mine, a 19 year old mechanic that sheered sheep for extra money, bought a house. He told me that 80% of the vehicles he worked on were Taurus’s. I also noticed that he never owned a Ford.
When the Hyundai Genesis near-luxury model gets here, even Lexus, Infiniti, BMW and Mercedes will lose market share:
http://www.hyundaiusa.com/vehicle/availablesoon/Genesis_Coupe.aspx
This is what they're currently telling us is a Taurus. Check out the razorblade face!
Also, check out the fake porthole/vent on the fender! Yes, that’s STOCK.
So, basically what you’re telling us is that he sheared sheep for a living, and then earned more money by shearing other sheep?
Taurus, that’s like a horoscope sign isn’t it?
My 4 year old Ford Explorer has a cracked body panel below the rear window and needs to have the rear differential worked on after 60,000 miles.
The dealer said both are common problems, but they don’t affect safety so there is no recall.
I’ll consider buying a Ford again in, say, 2030.
If they are still in business.
At that time, odds are good my 2008 Toyota Corolla will still be running...
I have not, and will never buy a front wheel drive car. They handle like crap.
The styling on the current Taurus is insipid. The crazy thing is, companies like Toyota use California car design firms to style their cars so they look good. Who the heck is doing the styling for Ford? North Korea?
What, don’t you *like* terminal understeer and torque steer? :P \sarc
My Dodge Grand Caravan, circa 1988 has just passed the 260,000 mile mark and still running strong. In 20 years it’s had a total of $2,600 of repairs excluding brakes, tires, and routine maint. I’m thinking of getting it repainted and fit with a DVD player and club seating. It will cost me around $800.
J. Mays was the 500/Taurus stylist. He’s very, very good at making iconic designs, but sometimes the beancounters or some of Nasser’s diversity appointees screw up his stuff.
That said, he’s admitted that he blew the 500/Taurus design and that it was a colossal mistake.
Naaah. I handle my steering with the rear wheels.
No kidding, you’ve shown me that before. Jaguar pilot over here, remember?
That said, I’m using a 1990 Nissan Pathfinder as a beater - and yes, you can steer that with the throttle, too. FWD does, indeed, suck.
A Ford engine blew on a family member’s Windstar minivan after 50k miles and had to be completely replaced. The service guys install the new engine (received that day from Ford) and realize it has a giant crack through it. High quality operation they run...
None of us ever suggested that simply attaching the Taurus nameplate to an already-existing, bathtub-like conveyance was going to sell more cars. It was, though, a marketing error to simply do away with the Taurus name.
It looks as though Ford might finally be figuring that out.
Yes, but I bought a really cheap 04 Explorer w/90k miles for 4K. I'll deal with the problems. I like it. (dark cloud, silver lining) ps, I never buy new.
Ford destroyed the Mustang in the late 70’s and eighties the exact same way they are ruinning the Taurus. Tribal knowledge should teach someone something.
The Germans engineer cars that are simply a pleasure to drive. The Japanese build cars that are absolutely bulletproof and thus very cheap to own, regardless of initial purchase price. Unfortunately, the American mentality is to gain market share via the lowest price, and that short-term outlook does not result in good products.
Good products will gain market share in the long run, and will command price premiums. It’s unfortunate that by and large, Americans don’t seem to recognize or act on that.
I think quality as a whole will go down the crapper as more and more parts are made in China and then used by ALL the majors.
Toyota even got dinged by Consumer Reports recently for declining quality. Maybe they should go looking for the “Made in China” label on the Toyota parts.
Checking the oil in my new Jeep the other day the side of the wiper motor said “Dongzhou” (I think). So who knows how many hidden parts are really iron with a litle bit of dead fish mixed in.
Yes. I believe you have the S.
Engineers can do almost anything. The real problem is the bean counters who tell the engineers how much money they get to waste on a car. That limits the ability of the engineers to do what they do best. If you only have money for solid axels and leaf springs, your car just isn’t going to ride very well. If you body is thin and you can’t pack it with insulation, your car is not going to be very quiet.
I’ll third it. FWD sucks. Maybe not in snow. But the rest of the time, it sucks.
Specifically - 00 XKR, modified; 95 XJR, modified; 87 XJ6, modified; 90 Pathfinder, lightly modified.
Bathtub, check. "Generic conveyance" at best, check.
The new upcoming Hyundai Genesis coupe is going to be interesting - it’s going to have a V6 that makes the same power as the V8 in the Mustang GT, for the same price as the Mustang GT. On top of that, it is *rear* wheel drive and it includes an independent rear suspension, which the Mustang doesn’t have.
Ford’s beancounters are about to have a lot to answer for.
I don’t really see the Genesis competing with the Mustang. More like the G37. Kind of a bargain Lexus.
Actually, the base Genesis will compete directly against the volume seller of the Mustang - the V6 version.
And, apparently, they’re going to make it in Alabama from what I’ve heard.
I suspect it’s going to eat into Mustang sales something fierce. If you can pay Mustang dollars for something that looks that good, has an IRS, gets better fuel mileage and is probably faster, without the insurance hit of a Mustang...
Hyundai is still a Hyundai no matter how much of a lipstick you are using, heritage still counts.
On top of that, it is *rear* wheel drive and it includes an independent rear suspension, which the Mustang doesn't’t have.
I did not know that Ford started making front wheel drive Mustangs.
Ah, that elusive “heritage”.
Can you think of any American car that was saved by its “heritage” from falling sales and people defecting to other marques?
“Heritage” isn’t helping the Taurus. Or the F-150.
Ford doesn’t make FWD Mustangs, but they dropped the IRS from the Mustang in 05. Said that people wouldn’t pay the extra $300 it cost to make. The Mustang is RWD with a primitive stick axle that tends to upset the chassis if it hits medium surface irregularities - which is why a lot of Mustang GTs wind up wrapped around trees.
I agree, but in this case, since it *is* Ford, I think we can safely say that what the Ford officers said was a euphemism for “beancounters cheaping out.”
I made the mistake of owning a Ford once. I will not make that mistake twice.
Ford Explorer, interior fell apart as I drove it off the lot, transmission littered the highway at 25K miles. I dropped it off at the dealer to be repaired, bought a Dodge and traded in the still being repaired Explorer.
When somebody asked you what you drive and you say..."a Mustang" or a "Hyundai" which one will present more "gravitas" err heritage?
I am a guy who likes to be out of main stream in any aspect of life, including the car I drive.
I like to drive cars that express who I am, not just econoboxes or "metoowannabePorschescomelately".
Honestly? If you’re going with heritage/stereotypes?
Mustang = White trash that didn’t have enough money for a Corvette.
Hyundai used to = Someone cheap who didn’t care anything about the appliance they drove.
Hyundai now = Someone who gets good value for money.
FYI, I drive Jaguars. You don’t get too much more “out of the mainstream” than that.
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