Just heard on the news tonight that Ford realized that there was still a lot of goodwill left in the Taurus name. It plans to rebadge the slow selling Five Hundred with the TAURUS moniker for the 2008 model year. Here is a thought. While they are at it, why not rename the Fusion MAVERICK, and the Focus the PINTO?
oldcarpierre
It is going to take more than a name change to fix the problems at Ford. For starters they need to quit harassing companies that use their trademarked names when they sell parts for those cars. Ford should also consider selling some of the cars they make abroad, here. They have some nice and fast cars that are made in Australia as well as the European Focus. These cars appear to be much more stylish and performance oriented than some of the toads they sell here such as the 500. It is not a very exciting car and a name change isn't going to help. The philosophy of if you can't do it by design, do it by decal is only a bandaid on a gaping cut.
Tercin
I agree that FORD should bring some of the cars from Australia to the States. I've ben four times and They are more performance driven. I rode in a 2005 falcon with a 600HP! 6 cyl. What a rush!
Check out the gallery for a couple AUssie FORDs
The 500 is just a Ford Avalon. It's big, underpowered & has no "soul" It's not an unattractive car, it's just "a car as an appliance" thing. The Fusion is a Ford Accord, It's got a REALLY nice option list, but doesn't have the reputation to compete with the Camry/Accord/Altima. I understand that it's been judged to be the better car than those 3, but People who drive Camrys are fiercely brand loyal. Ford lost that in the 80's with most american makes. It's a shame that even though J.D. Power is ranking american cars right behind Germans, the perception has been ruined by the "quick & dirty" days 20 years ago. Ford needs to find it's "soul" again, and build cars that americans want.
OK enough ranting.... back to your regularly scheduled forum ;)
PS I'd LOVE to see the aussie Falcon here... especially the ute...MMMMMM new Ranchero *drool*
If you're into cars (not trucks), and unless you can afford a GT, the only exciting thing Ford has going for it right now on this side of the pond is the Mustang.
Since they canned the Thunderbird last year, the only two other "Fords" that turn my crank are a Jag and a Volvo. Very sad state of affairs.
Glad to see ford took my advice! ;) If you search the board you should be able to find the e-mail I e-mailed to Ford complaining about the "recent announcement" to stop making Taurus's and that I thought the 500 would be a flop and how it was a shame that the Taurus had been the dog of the Ford family for years and they were just gonna quit making it..... they e-mailed me back and said that they would keep my letter on file for reference.......how very interesting, enough people must have complained also. Interestingly enough,the 500 is actually an older nameplate than "Taurus" is anyway, for all you Ford fans out there who remember the Fairlane 500, and really thats what the car was supposed to be, I think anyway, a retro of that. You guys are right about one thing though, I don't really think that changing the name is going to do anything for a flop.What was the saying? "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet." Only in this case, it would be, "A car by any other name would sell as slow." And your right about there really being NO excitement in the Ford line right now. The Edge? A Ford CR-V. (The Arcadia, a GMC CR-V) And the Ford Edge looks almost exactly like it's Lincoln counterpart, whatever they're calling that, they decided to skip right over Mercury on that model. And mabye if they would mix it up a little instead of making Luxury and price options as the only difference in their nameplates(Ford, Mercury, Lincoln) they might have something. But then again, they've done it for years, so why change now? If the Thunderbird hadn't been so overpriced, it would have been a good seller, or at least I think. It is a really nice looking car. They did a good job on the Mustang, but how long are they gonna keep that retro body style without giving it a little bit of a face lift? I hope to god not to long, becasue then I think that people will start to loose interest, look what happened to the VW New Beetle (of which I'm a proud new owner of a 2000 Turbo with a 5-Speed :fastcar: :) ;)) But anyway, people have really lost interest in the "new" design-because it's not new anymore. Then again, they really didn't change that much back in the late 40's through the late 70's either, but the cars still sold. Why? BECUSE THEY WERE PRICED RIGHT. And that's antoher thing. How many of you guys would flock to buy a new car, I don't care what it is, if it had a good price tag on it? Look at Scion and Kia- by no means that I think these cars are wonderful and that they will last an average owner for more than five years- but still, they don't have a bad price tag, and for the new car buying generation, the generation of kids whose parents are buying them their first cars(mostly new, they want the best for their kids, right?), and some kids who buy their own cars, for the price of a used 4-6 year old Merc or Ford or equvilant, they can buy a new xB or Sportage. They are CHEAP cars, but they are priced cheaply too. Hello Selling point? Hello Festiva? Good idae Ford- how much did it cost you to make that Focus-and how much are you selling it to us for, less dealer profit and taxes? Although I must admit that when the focus came out it seemed to me that it was a good seller. BUT then, as usual, they decided it would be cheaper not to give it a face lift and the excitement wore down. Guess that was an expensive mistake-where was it I heard that they were gonna quite making Focus's? FORD-Take a cue from your past, and yes, you do have one-a more expansive one than Honda and Nissan and even Toyota- and make some body style changes! Thunderbird, for example, you kept the same from 55-57, changed in 58-59, changed in 60, etc. 2-3 model years should be the limit for the SAME body style! But thats just in my opinion. Yes, Ford, GM, Chrysler(which buy the way might be sold to GM-go figure), Unless you spark some excitement in your U.S. Market and introduce some exciting, new, and well priced vehicles( and yes, why not bring some of your overseas models here-and don't give me that emmisions standards crap-YOU WILL BURY YOURSELF IN A GIGANTIC HOLE AND PUT YOURSELF IN THE POSITION TO BE BOUGHT OUT BY YOUR JAPANESE COMPETITERS!! It's that simple. Or not simple, quite tragic in all honesty. You each have you own loyal market, but you must also be able to bring in new loyal customers as well as keeping your old ones. It's not easy, but I think you really need to cut loose your design team. Let the creative jucies flow. Try something new. Isn't that Ford's new slogan? Bold moves? LET'S SEE SOME! Lets face it, the "Edge" isn't going to cut it(no pun intended!)
As for the Falcon-thats so cool they have one over in Australia, I din't know they were still using that name plate!
O.K. that's my rant, sorry for the long read, but it needed to come out. :D
BGP :) ;) :D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
I wrot to Ford as well and even addressed the letter directly to Bill Ford! I got the same BS form letter back. At least they sent back the pictures of the Aussie Fords I had included. What is it going to take to make them understand that Americans want excitement! The cars and trucks they are building Down Under are way more exciting than aything being built here in the States, and Ford is a AMERICAN company! :wow: are they thinking. I will not even consider a new car unless they were to bring the Falcon Ute over here. I am still trying to work it out to import one over here. There is a whole lot of Federal BS and red tape to go through. Older stuff is easy but the new ones are difficult due to federal safty standards and state emissions laws. I will get mine eventually! That is all I have to say.
BlueGoldPinto
Brand preferences form at an early age. Any business that is incapable of enticing young people to adopt their product is doomed to extinction.
It seems to me that Ford GM and Chrysler don't really care if they make cars in the US. They are all involved in China and that is where the cheap labor is. They see Wal Mart bringing in junk from China and selling it cheap. The big three figure they may as well do it too. The Japanese did that to our electronics industry and now you can't buy an American made tv or stereo, the same will happen with our auto industry if we don't develop some type of legislation or get our foreign competitors to re value their currency that is kept artificially low. Very grim indeed, if this keeps up, the next time we are in a war we will be buying our tanks, planes and bullets from the Chinese, we won't have the capacity in this country to make that stuff.
Tercin
Tercin,
As you know, I work in plastics. I am aware of more and more plastic parts being molded in China, and brought to be installed in cars made in Canada and America. That is the Wal Mart way (and Wal Mart is evil).
The domestic content in domestic cars is going down every year. Conversely, the domestic content in "transplants" (that is what they call the plants that are cranking out "foreign" cars domestically) is going up every year.
My neighbor works for Chrysler at the Fenton MO truck plant. The story was that they were going to close that plant. At the last minute they decided to eliminate one shift from the Minivan plant that is across the street. A plant in Michigan and Delaware will also be closing. Meanwhile Toyota is on a pace to become the number one automaker by the end of this year. Toyota is non union as are the other "tranplants" , my neighbor said that their contract is up this year and he is expecting a lot of concessions to come up as part of the bargain. It looks very likely that the unions are really going to feel the pain in the coming years. I also heard that Buick is the more popular car among the up and coming middle class in China, sounds good until you realize that the Buicks that they like are made in China.
Tercin
Quote from: oldcarpierre on February 17, 2007, 10:28:57 PM
BlueGoldPinto
Brand preferences form at an early age. Any business that is incapable of enticing young people to adopt their product is doomed to extinction.
Absolutely correct!!!!! in the early 90's when the tuner thing kicked in all they had was crappy Escorts and a bubble eyed Neon or a used "k" car, oh and did anyone think the Cavalier was cool? Now they're buying Camry's, Accords and Tundras.
Well folks, 6 months after the announcement that the Taurus (name) was back, I saw one the other day. Take the Five Hundred, slap on the front end of the Edge, add clear on red taillights (à la Nissan Altima), and you got yourself an "all new" Taurus. http://www.fordvehicles.com/cars/taurus/
I just looked at the Ford website, and they have completely dropped any references to the Five Hundred. Also gone is the station wagon version, which they used to call the Freestyle. That one is now called the Taurus X (as in Cross-Over). http://www.fordvehicles.com/crossovers/taurusx/
To me, a wagon is a wagon is a wagon, but that's just me. I actually like wagons.
Also on the Ford Website is a facelifted Focus. http://www.fordvehicles.com/cars/2008focus/gallery/?tag=Photo%20gallery
It looks good, and hopefully will bring young people to the blue oval brand. No reference to a wagon for the 2008. Again, I am biased towards them, even though car executives consider that term uncool, but I hope they change their mind on this one. Now if Ford had a sense of humor, they would call this reskinned Focus the all new Pinto.
Not that any of us could ever afford one, but what happened to the GT? Gone from the website also.
Lastly, they are previewing a new vehicle to be launched next summer as a 2009 model. It is called the Flex, and it seems to be targeted at the Honda Element crowd. It may take a little getting used to. http://www.fordvehicles.com/flex/
As of now, beyond replacing my wife's 2001 Taurus wagon with a 2005 taurus wagon, my next Ford is still going to be a 2002 Thunderbird.
Well, Just took a look at Ford's website and all I can say is I'll stick with my PINTO, Thank you. Ford needs to pull their heads out of their :showback: and read some of the stuff we have posted on this site. Remember when driving was about exitement? Ford doesn't. What does the general public need to do to get American car manufacturer's ATTENTION!?
Quote from: oldcarpierre on August 12, 2007, 11:00:54 PM
Well folks, 6 months after the announcement that the Taurus (name) was back, I saw one the other day. Take the Five Hundred, slap on the front end of the Edge, add clear on red taillights (à la Nissan Altima), and you got yourself an "all new" Taurus. http://www.fordvehicles.com/cars/taurus/
I just looked at the Ford website, and they have completely dropped any references to the Five Hundred. Also gone is the station wagon version, which they used to call the Freestyle. That one is now called the Taurus X (as in Cross-Over). http://www.fordvehicles.com/crossovers/taurusx/
To me, a wagon is a wagon is a wagon, but that's just me. I actually like wagons.
Also on the Ford Website is a facelifted Focus. http://www.fordvehicles.com/cars/2008focus/gallery/?tag=Photo%20gallery
It looks good, and hopefully will bring young people to the blue oval brand. No reference to a wagon for the 2008. Again, I am biased towards them, even though car executives consider that term uncool, but I hope they change their mind on this one. Now if Ford had a sense of humor, they would call this reskinned Focus the all new Pinto.
Not that any of us could ever afford one, but what happened to the GT? Gone from the website also.
Lastly, they are previewing a new vehicle to be launched next summer as a 2009 model. It is called the Flex, and it seems to be targeted at the Honda Element crowd. It may take a little getting used to. http://www.fordvehicles.com/flex/
As of now, beyond replacing my wife's 2001 Taurus wagon with a 2005 taurus wagon, my next Ford is still going to be a 2002 Thunderbird.
i have liked fords from way back in the ealy '60's. especially the wagons. my dad brought us kids up on / in a 1963 ford country squire that had a 390 and a 3 spd on the tree. he drove a '62 t-bird that had a hi compression 390 ( a police interceptor motor and trans) that had cast iron headers and a three duece carb setup along with a hotter factory cam and higher compression. when he sold that i talked him into leting me put the intake sysem and the headers off the t-bird on to the wagon. thats what got me into the hot rod game when i was a kid