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News, Analysis and EditorialFord
to Dump the Taurus
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News, Analysis and EditorialFord
to Dump the Taurus
Auto on Info April 2003
Ford to Dump the Taurus
The New York Times on the Web reported on April 16, 2003, that Ford Motor Company plans to dump the Taurus name in the mid part of this decade. The article cited declining consumer interest in the cars bearing the name as an explanation and reported that Taurus sales fell from about 410,000 in 1992 to about 247,000 in 2002. It also noted that more than half of the vehicles sold in 2002 were sold "on the cheap" to corporate and rental fleets and Ford employees.
The Reliability Percentranks of the Ford Taurus were very low in the first half of the 1990s as the chart below shows.
This may have saddled the name and model with a reputation for particularly low quality and may account for its declining popularity. However, Maryann Keller, an oft quoted auto analyst, was quoted by the Times as remarking that it was a popular car until Ford redesigned it and "made it ugly." Ford executives may be thinking along these lines as well, as they hired Volkswagen's Audi division's top designer as its design director. The article reported that the new design director envisions rather "European knockoffs" with lower sticker prices and new names as replacements, at least in part.
Chrysler's retention of its U.S. new car market share over the past decade, despite its low Reliability Percentranks, accords some merit to the argument that a design flaw occasioned the sales downfall of the Taurus model. Also, it is a much more palatable argument, as a race by the Big Three to improve car quality could kill one, or more, of the Big Three in the next recession, not to mention the nearer term lost sales of replacement parts and new vehicles.
Source for New York Times on the Web quotes and data: www.nytimes.com/2003/04/16/business/16FORD.html?pagewanted=print&position=top
To express your opinion as to what doomed the Taurus, click here to go to the applicable mini-survey.
To read how the Reliability Percentranks are computed, click here to go to the Methodology Page.
To view Ford's current Reliability Percentrank Charts, click here.
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