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Engine: 3.5-liter, 365 hpEcoBoost V-6
Price: $38,000
Features: Seats heat, cool and massage; rear camera; cruise control forward monitor; cross-traffic alert; blind spot information system; navigation system; juke box, CD/DVD player; “MyKey” system controls speed, radio volume and seat belt use
Drive: All-wheel
Transmission: SelectShift 6-speed automatic, control paddles on steering wheel
Mileage: 17 mpg city, 25 mpg highway
Start: Push button
Entry: Fob, keyless entry keypad
Assembled: Chicago
An Omahan pulled into an Interstate 80 rest stop in Nebraska recently and noticed a striking car with a familiar name: It was Ford Taurus, but unlike any of the 7 million Tauruses produced by Ford from 1986 to 2006.
Soon nearly a dozen other people at the rest stop also were checking out the car, which likely was on a test drive from the factory in Chicago where Ford is producing the next generation of the Taurus as a full-sized, high-performance sedan.
“That's a great-looking car,” the Omahan later told Scott McMullen, president of McMullen Ford Inc. of Council Bluffs.
Now McMullen wants to see one in person himself, partly to admire its lines and also to get an idea of how Ford Motor Co.'s restructuring philosophy translates into vehicles that attract buyers in an industry working hard to excite consumers.
“It's a challenge out there, no doubt about it,” McMullen said. “Everybody's doing the best they can to pull this out of the hat. In Ford's plan, it's all about the product.”
This new product's top-of-the-line model, the SHO (for Super-High Output) will be on display from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday at the downtown Omaha Summer Arts Festival, weeks before the first new Taurus is available at Nebraska dealer showrooms.
It's one of two vehicles on a 100-city introductory tour designed to acquaint Americans with the rebirth of the Taurus, once the most popular mid-sized sedan in the nation before it faded away three years ago.
The car due in Omaha Friday was in Minneapolis earlier this week and will head to Des Moines and Cedar Rapids, Iowa, after leaving Omaha. Another team is touring the southeast.
Pei-Wen Hsu, the Taurus marketing manager at Ford's headquarters in Dearborn, Mich., will shepherd the car through its paces in Omaha, including test drives by some local officials and stops at some dealerships.
“The awareness of the nameplate is definitely high,” Hsu said, but people shouldn't think of the Taurus as the standard mid-sized sedan any more.
“We're trying to bring some excitement back to the showroom,” she said, using words like “sexy” and “expressive” to describe the Taurus. “You see the car, you understand.”
Ford is going out of its way to promote the new Taurus, which replaces Ford 500, itself the successor to the Crown Victoria. Ford CEO Alan Mulally suggested bringing back the Taurus name as Ford's full-sized sedan.
“Everyone knows the Taurus brand name from the '80s when it first came out or from the '90s when it was America's best-selling sedan for five years at one point,” said Marisa Bradley, a Ford spokeswoman from Dearborn. “Although it may have had some decline over the past few years, we really are coming back with an all-new product.”
Ford wants the new Taurus to lead full-sized standard sedans and also compete with luxury sedans, Bradley said. It's sometimes called a “sleeper” because it has more speed and acceleration than you might suspect.
Besides the $38,000 SHO, Taurus comes in three lesser-equipped models — SE, SEL and Limited — starting at $26,000.
Esquire magazine named the Taurus SHO its car of the year, emphasizing the performance of its 356-horsepower, six-cylinder engine, its styling and its high-tech features.
The car is “sharp enough to impress a date and restrained enough to park next to your boss,” the magazine said.
Zach Atchley, general manager of Atchley Ford in Omaha, said dealers generally feel good about Ford bringing back the Taurus name in a full-sized sedan, now that the Fusion has had good success in the mid-sized sedan category, which is the biggest auto market.
“The full-sized sedan is certainly still an important segment that Ford wants to compete in,” Atchley said.
Bob Elet, a floor manager and salesman for Anderson Ford of Omaha, said the Taurus may end up with a relatively small portion of total sales but will appeal to some drivers.
“It's got pretty good gas mileage for a full-sized car,” he said. “Be it good or bad, people still need a vehicle to haul kids, and some folks like a smoother ride. They'll get a people-hauler without having to buy a minivan.
“I expect it to be a hit, with everything that I'm reading. I want to put my hands on it, let's put it at that.”
Contact the writer:
444-1080, steve.jordon@owh.com
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