Taurus EcoBoost: All Go, No SHO?
If you go on advertising alone, it’s easy to think every 2010 Ford Taurus is an EcoBoosted, twin-turbo wonder. And while the SHO dominates public perception of the new Taurus, its $37,170 base price is a good reminder that SHO-boaters will be paying halo model money to get what the TV ads are dangling in America’s face. But as new Tauruses once again become part of the automotive landscape, another reality is bound to hit intrigued observers: it’s damn hard to tell a $37k+ SHO from a $25k+ SE model. Car and Driver claims that’s because Ford’s clinics revealed “there was no consensus on the level of pizazz the SHO should wield,” so they went with a sleeper. Or, “the cautious side of conservative,” to borrow a phrase. And then they changed their minds.
According to C&D’s “inside sources,”
But Ford is definitely considering making the SHO’s look more distinct in the future. When we suggested adding simple but immediately evident things like smoked lamp lenses, we were told they would be doing something more significant than that, although our source wouldn’t be more specific than to say the car would get new wheels.
Ford is worried about changing too much too quickly, for fear of looking like they’re “fixing a mistake” rather than “evolving the look.” As a result, these undetermined changes will be taking place no sooner than 2012. And though it makes a certain amount of sense to visually differentiate the SHO from the pedestrian volume trims, Ford’s record with this kind of differentiation is spotty; Lincoln and Mercury are exhibits A and B. In fact, why isn’t the SHO a Lincoln/Mercury model?
Comments
Join the conversation
If they were to release a Fusion "SVT" with this power train it would likely run in the low 30's and people would complain about paying 30+ for a Fusion. If they were to bring the Focus RS over...a brilliant 300hp car, folks would complain about paying 30K for a Focus. The issue is that no matter how competent the car, no one wants to pay over 30K for a car with a Ford badge on it. Ford could put a manual transmission in the SHO, put proper brakes on it and up the HP to 400 and it still will not sell. It could lay golden eggs that hatch slutty supermodels and it still wouldn't sell. People will still complain about paying over 30K for a Ford sedan. Up the price 20G and put an Audi badge on it and it'll sell like hot cakes.
The Taurus & Camry look nothing alike, but then again, you can get 4 banger, fuel miserly, soft riding Camrys for 17.5 to 18.5k all day long. It's just about as big inside, and is a nice daily driver for the driver not needing to race or track their car from red light to red light, even if I'm not a particular fan of Toyawnda. At at discount of 8k to the base Taurus, that's not exactly chump change, and the resale value on the Toyawnda will be fairly high, also.