Ford is bringing back the Taurus! ! ! Yay! Ford recently unveiled the 2008 Ford Five Hundred Sedan at the 2006 Detroit Automobile Show, and with a recent announcement, the 2008 500 will be renamed and become less of a luxury car. The Taurus is back, and did not miss 1 model year (last yeas being 2007, and then its coming back for 2008). However, I feel it was a bad move. As much as it is a good thing to bring the Taurus back, I think it should have been put on the Fusion, not the 500 luxury sedan. Still, if Ford does it right, adds a SHO model again, a station wagon option and lowers the high price, it could very well be a success. The 500's Mercury twin, the Montego, will also be badged as a Sable.

Here is the 2008 Five Hundred:


Links:
http://autoweek.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070206/FREE/70206001/1063/SEARC- H
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Taurus
http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/News/articleId=119496

Whats next, a 2008 Model T or better yet, a 2007 Tempo?

Given how the Five Hundred/Taurus ride on the same platform as the Volvo XC90 (among other vehicles), what are the odds we could see an AWD V8 SHO?

We've been discussing something like this at TCCA, but never thought that they were actually gonna rename the Five Hundred to the Taurus. Ford was taking a serious loss with the discontinuation of the Taurus though so i guess it makes sense. But still, it's not really true the Taurus' roots since it's a completely different car than the Taurus. The Taurus was close to what a traditional American car is: 6-passenger no-frills inexpensive large sedan. And the main thing was it was designed by Americans for Americans (whereas the Five Hundred is just a Volvo S80 with a new body). Basically a FWD version of the Crown Vic. I can't really see the Five Hundred with the Taurus nameplate.

Ford is announcing the final decision this Friday (or so I hear). I think it makes sense. Five Hundred is sort of boring and meaningless and has nothing to do with Ford. Taurus however is an American icon.

I agree though, its still a Five Hundred and not a Taurus. Taurus is an all American mid-size sedan and wagon, not a full-size European luxury sedan.

http://media.ford.com/newsroom/feature_display.cfm?release=24718
Ford's decision is finalized.

Looking at those pictures of the Taurus in the Ford article, it makes sense really. And I can see the Taurus in it, and when I think Taurus and not Five Hundred, I can see it.

Also, a replacement for the Taurus wagon, the Taurus X, will be a three rowed crossover utility vehicle set to compete with Saturn Outlook, Chrysler Pacifica and GMC Acadia.

Ugh, Taurus "X". Makes it sound like an AMC product. They need to start from scratch and build a real Taurus.

But AMC was a great make. Yes, I agree. They need to build a true, all American Taurus. Still, I think it is better then no Taurus at all.

Taurus X is not the greatest name either. I think if they had to use the Taurus name on a crossover/wagon, just call it Taurus Wagon. Better yet, bring back another classic name like Country Squire, Ranch Wagon, Del Rio or Fairmont. Suppose that will never happen. The only other name I can think of Ford bringing back is Escort.

I was hoping that they would have brought back the Fairlane 500 name, it would have been better than if I can remember it right they were going to have SUV with the name Fairlane 500.

Yeah, the Fairlane concept has been renamed the Ford Flex.
http://blogs.cars.com/kickingtires/2007/03/ford_flex.html

They were invoking older nameplates, most notably, Fairlane and Galaxie whose suffix was 500. I know, however, of no past Fords for which the badge is spelled out "FIVE HUNDRED."

While this is on topic, if they ever resurrect the Galaxie series name, they'd better spell it right, the same as it was before (with "ie").

Long live Ford!

They are acually pretty nice cars, although I think Five-Hundred sounds a lot better than Taurus. I think it was a stupid move really. The best think about the car is that it has a 5 star crash test rating. my question is though, would changing the name of the car make Ford sell more? We will have to see...

Probably not. The new ads in print and TV are lame.

If it is safe in crashes, we can hope to see many of these crashed in movies, like the old Taurus

Well they could be used for police cars and taxis, so they will appear in some movies.

Regardless of the name I think they did a pretty nice job updating the car. I think they should have discontinued the 4th gen Taurus during 2004 and just named the Five Hundred a Taurus to begin with. I think the Volvo platform fits the market segment they're trying to reach better than the Fusion so they made a good choice at using the Taurus name on that platform. Don't get me wrong the Fusion is a good car but I don't think the Taurus name would fit it. I also think that renaming the Freestyle to Taurus X was a stupid idea. I doubt they'll wring out any more sales just because they tacked the Taurus name on it.

A Taurus for sale. O.k., 20 years too old and from the wrong continent, but very rare:

http://suchen.mobile.de/fahrzeuge/showDetails.html?id=59031159&pageNumber=1&__lp- =5&scopeId=C&sortOption.sortBy=price.consumerGrossEuro&sortOption.sortOrder=ASCE- NDING&makeModelVariant1.searchInFreetext=false&makeModelVariant2.searchInFreetex- t=false&makeModelVariant3.searchInFreetext=false&vehicleCategory=Car&segment=Car- &maxFirstRegistrationDate=1970-12-31&ambitCountry=DE&zipcode=30989&zipcodeRadius=50&siteId=GERMANY&negativeFeatures=- EXPORT&damageUnrepaired=NO_DAMAGE_UNREPAIRED&customerIdsAsString=&lang=de&tabNumber=- 1

And a lovely license-plate.

That's interesting, what is it really? A Taunus?

Yes, a German made Ford Taunus P6