Ford Taurus Refresh Arrives With Cash on the Hood
Our man Baruth has driven both the re-refreshed Taurus and the new Taurus SHO. I’ve got one word for his report: embargo. And another: Monday. Yes, TTAC now “respects” long-lead product-related embargoes. In other words, if a car maker invites us to test drive a new product, we’ll agree to stay schtum until they decide it’s OK to publish our review. Or the embargo breaks down. Galled as I am at our own collusion, I’m reversing our stance on the buff-book-protecting manufacturer–media conspiracy of silence for two reasons. First, it will have no impact on the content of our reviews. (We will always reveal the manufacturer’s contribution to our reviews.) Second, you WANT us on that junket. You NEED us on that junket.
Now that the feds have handed Chrysler to the Italians and nationalized GM, TTAC’s automotive coverage needs more, uh, automobiles. As for news embargoes, fuhgedabboutit. If they send it, we will publish. And speaking of inconvenient truths, Automotive News [AN] reports that the newly refreshed new-ish Taurus (nee Five Hundred) will arrive at dealerships with cash on the jinxed D3 platformed family hauler’s hood.
The Taurus will hit Ford showrooms in August. Customers taking delivery of a new Taurus before September can take $500 off of the sticker. Those who opt for the Taurus SEL, LTD and (here’s a surprise) SHO models get an additional grand off. The offer does NOT apply to the base SE ($25,995).
FoMoCo marketing Maven Mike Crowley explains the decision by pointing out that the US new car market is still “tentative.” “Even a great product, you want to launch it and get it off to a good start.” And then what? Raise prices? Not if this news McNugget is any indication: “Ford will sell the 2010 model to rental companies but intends to keep the rental mix in the single- or low-double-digit percentages.” The road to hell, eh?
More by Robert Farago
Comments
Join the conversation
Inflation is tough to judge. I would say though, when I graduated I financed my first car, a 1972 Chevy Nova (a fine car by the way) for three years. My father thought you should only finance cars for two years. Cars are better, they last longer, and it is not the factories fault that American's income has fallen. Blue collar wages have fallen in real terms since 1973, makes it hard for people to afford all the wonderful Taurus and Impalas in the world.
The price is not out of line. 16 years ago we bought a new SHO and, as I recall, base MSRP was near-as-dammit $25k while ours stickered around $27,000. Using the Brainwashing Fed Inflation Calculator (tm), that's about $39,960 in '09 USD. Second, I don't think the weight is good but, like the price, it's not way out of line. I cut and pasted a bunch of specs from Yahoo! autos showing the SHO splits the difference between a mid-size (A6) and full size luxury car (750i) in many quantifiable areas such as front and rear passenger space, wheelbase, width, height, yes even weight and hp. Every car on there save the BMW 3 and the G37 are within 10% of the SHO's curb weight. It's a big, fancy car with good power/weight ratio, lots of toys and sharp looks. Obviously I'm biased, but the figures are clear and nostalgia is a hard fog to penetrate. Finally, this Taurus will never sell like the '86-'95s. It's not in a high-volume segment; as many have said, the Fusion works there. I think it's good value compared to mid/large luxury vehicles and maybe I'll buy one.