The Wall Street Journal-20080123-Ford Plans a Taurus Redesign
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Ford Plans a Taurus Redesign
Ford Motor Co. is planning a makeover of its new Taurus sedan amid disappointing sales.
The redesigned Taurus, which could arrive in showrooms as early as next year, is "the one we should have built originally," Ford Chief Executive Alan Mulally said during a speech at an automotive conference in Detroit yesterday.
Sales of the new Taurus -- a name Mr. Mulally revived after Ford retired it -- plunged 19% last year, dealing a blow to one of Mr. Mulally's first big moves since taking over the struggling auto maker. The car has also failed to gain traction against midsize sedans and larger cars from Japanese rivals Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. In addition, sales of crosstown rival General Motors Corp.'s Chevrolet Impala grew last year, and GM also has a redesigned Malibu midsize sedan.
"They need to do something," said Aaron Bragman, an analyst with Global Insight Inc., an economic-forecasting firm, adding that Ford needs to affix some distinctiveness to any new Taurus design. "The Malibu has a tag line that it is the car you can't ignore," Mr. Bragman said. "The Taurus is the car everyone is ignoring."
The Taurus was once among America's best-selling cars, but Ford let its design languish over the years and dumped heavy volumes of the car into less-profitable rental fleets. The move damaged the Taurus's residual value and led consumers to identify the car more as a rental than as a family sedan.
The Taurus fell so far that Ford decided to kill it last January. But Mr. Mulally decided to revive the name in February, arguing that executives had too hastily retired a name with good brand equity.
Ford renamed its struggling Five Hundred sedan Taurus in the hope that consumers who hadn't heard of the Five Hundred -- and thus had never bought one -- would recognize "Taurus" and boost sales.
But such sales gains haven't materialized. Ford executives maintain that the car has increased market share in an overall declining large- car segment.
Mr. Mulally declined to elaborate further on plans for the new Taurus, saying he had already "said too much." He said that his comments shouldn't be construed to reflect disappointment in the current Taurus and that he finds all of Ford's product plans "exciting."
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Jeff Bennett contributed to this article.
