Mulally Says All New Taurus Coming Next Year

Story by Sam Haymart

Ford CEO announces, "The all new Taurus is the one we should have made originally".

01-22-08: In the face of flagging sales of the “all-new” 2008 Ford Taurus that made it’s debut less than a year ago, Ford CEO Alan Mulally said today at a press event that Ford will be introducing a truly all new Taurus sedan as soon as next year. The car is likely to be unveiled in 2009 as a 2010 model.

"The new Taurus is the one we should have made originally," he said during a speech at the Automotive News World Congress in Detroit. Of course the current Taurus (shown above) was a last minute renaming of the face-lifted Ford Five Hundred sedan that was introduced in 2005. The dull sedan failed at gaining a significant audience with styling that was far more at home the the driveways of Sun City than in the suburbs of mainstream America.

In fact, sales of the all new re-designed Taurus failed has failed to even beat previous year’s sales of the old Five Hundred and were far off the monthly sales of even the old Taurus that was all considered nothing but a rental car. It is safe to say it has not resonated with buyers.

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What that new car will be is not known. Whether or not it will be a new front drive sedan or take on the new rear-wheel drive platform that has long been rumored is anyone’s guess at this time. Ford has been believed to be working on a rear-wheel drive platform based on the Australian Falcon, to underpin the next generation Mustang as well as full sized sedan signaled by the Ford Interceptor and Lincoln MK-R concepts.

But, the new CAFÉ legislation that passed in December will make the long term viability of such a new line of cars suspect. So whether or not Ford would soldier ahead with a risky product platform that would be heavier and less efficient than a front-wheel drive car remains to be seen.

On other products, Mulally said the Ford will indeed be offering a full range of global product platforms in the coming years. This means that the current Ford Focus will soon give way to its European counterpart. That is good news.