Ford Will Stop Production of the Taurus
October 22nd, 2006 | by Brian Carr |While this news doesn’t particularly deal with gas mileage, it is worth mentioning that Ford has announced that it will no longer produce the Taurus, once America’s most popular car and the “face” of Ford.
Since its release in 1985, the Ford has sold over 7 million Taurus sedans, causing many automotive analysts to claim that the vehicle is “the most influential automobile since Henry Ford’s Model T.”
After the oil and gas crises of the 1970s, smaller Japanese began to out sell their American counterparts, thanks to the fact they were more fuel efficient and were typically more durable. The Taurus was the first American car on the market designed to directly compete with foreign cars like the Honda Accord and the Toyota Camry.
Beginning in 1992, the Taurus was able to supplant the Accord and the Camry as the best selling car in America, a spot it would not relinquish until 1997.
Unfortunately, it appears the beginning of the end for the Taurus came during its massive redesign in 1996. While it appeared there wasn’t a need for the Taurus’ design to be completely overhauled, Ford went ahead with the redesign only to find out that the American public liked the old design better.
Kind of like that whole “New Coke” fiasco, only much worse.
Then, as gas prices dropped and more people began to buy Ford Explorers and F-Series Pickups, the Taurus was pushed further and further down in Ford’s pecking order. And, much like the 1970s and early 1980s, as gas prices have risen the last two or three years, Americans have returned to purchasing more fuel efficient foreign cars.
As someone who used to get carted around in a Taurus station wagon, the car sort of has a sentimental place in my heart, and I wish it the best as it takes that final trip to the junk yard in the sky.
