Would you pay $45,000 for a Taurus?

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Permalink Reply by PK Koduri on July 15, 2009 at 6:47am

It may work, but will the Ford Executives stick with it if the initial results are below their business plan predictions. One cannot reposition a brand overnight, and Subura is a good examples. Once considered a low quality brand, it slowly built its reputation around offering 4X4 and other options standard only in pricier luxury brands. On the other hand, I find it easier to just launch a new car model under a new brand - it is generally easier to train the consumer about something new and avoid confusion.

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Permalink Reply by Arik Flanders on July 15, 2009 at 7:37am

To answer the question, no way.

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Permalink Reply by Tom Marsh on July 15, 2009 at 7:45am

Not in a million years. ...And neither will anybody else.

A "luxury" car or "prestige" car is bought for one of two reasons: 1) the person has more money than brains or 2) they want to show-off how much money they have. You might sell a few $45k tauruses to group #1, but group #2 wouldn't be caught dead in a Ford Taurus, no matter how much they paid for it. To get group #2's interest, they'd have to make it look like a TOTALLY DIFFERENT CAR, but that would cost so much money as to make the whole project unworkable (building a new car from scratch costs a lot more than bolting an iPod adapter to the dashboard...)

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Permalink Reply by William Waldren on July 15, 2009 at 8:21am

If it came with a lifetime supply of fuel...

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Permalink Reply by Jeremy King on July 15, 2009 at 10:06am

You can dress up a Taurus, but it is still a Taurus. They would have been better off changing the name. A BMW costs less than the new Taurus, so I would absolutely not buy a new Taurus.

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Permalink Reply by Michael R. on July 15, 2009 at 3:43pm

"You can dress up a Taurus, but it is still a Taurus."


hahaha...so true!

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Permalink Reply by Kyle Capron on July 15, 2009 at 11:40am

What is in a name? I just purchased a new Nissen Morano after driving every crossover/Suv on the market. The second place vehical was a Ford Flex. The final factor wat the gas milage. Other than that, the Flex was the hands down winner. I was surprised when I went to Ford dealer and looked at the 09 Taurus on how nice it was . So let me say this, very possibly I might purchase that Taurus. I am 46 years old and do not messure my stature by my vehical name plate anymore. Yes I still admire "fancy cars". But it is now about features , ride and performance. Ford is far and away beating the other domestic products on style,ride, fit and finish. I drive a 03 Taurus with over 100K. It still gets 25mpg hwy with a V6. The biggest question is how much technology is Ford putting in this new Taurus. Hopefully they will have serveral trim packages to choose from to make it a little more affordable and competive with the Camery and Accord. Best of luck to Ford.

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Permalink Reply by Tom Marsh on July 15, 2009 at 12:07pm

A Taurus is a good car--when it costs about $18,000. Unless it runs on water, flies, or travels through time, I'm not sure why anybody would ever pay $45,000 for one.

I also think you've left resale value out of your equation--and that is no small thing. Traditionally, except for the trucks and the high-end Mustangs, Ford's resale value doesn't hold a candle to Nissan's.

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Permalink Reply by Michael R. on July 15, 2009 at 3:44pm

I also think you've left resale value out of your equation

Resale value ain't what it used to be on any car IMHO.

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Permalink Reply by Jeremy King on July 15, 2009 at 3:25pm

Comparing marketing to Shakespeare is not fair. In marketing your branding is all that you have. Why do you think there are so many analogies stating "____ is the Cadillac of ____"?It is not about stature as much as it is about reputation. I am not sure how much you know about the car business, but Toyota (who is ruling the car world) has always played a "name" game. The Solara was the Camary Solara before going solo. The Supra was the Celica Supra. I could go on. What I am getting at is that cars models can't just double in price and expect we the consumer to see the value. Ford was better off calling it the Ford Revolution or something and trying to create value from a "fresh" perspective. The car looks great and is probably a great car, but it will be hard to shake the "image" of being a 20k Taurus. Hence the reason why the question was even posted in the first place.

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Permalink Reply by Michael Nolan on July 15, 2009 at 12:33pm

I'm replying in the hopes that someone from Ford will read this. The company's marketing and product development teams are hopelessly out of sync. Two examples:

Ads for the Fusion hybrid are all over the internet. I went to a dealer in hopes of buying one. The only Fusions on the lot have regular gasoline engines. If you want a hybrid you have to order one and that takes 14 weeks. Absurd.

Last year we wanted to replace my wife's Focus, which has been a dependable car. We wanted a new Focus with a sunroof and leather upholstery. You could only get those options on the highest-end model, and that model only comes in four colors (none of which I wanted) instead of the wide range of colors for entry-level models. In other words, if you're willing to pay more, your choices are narrowed down. The utter stupidity of this made me walk away in disgust.

Finally since Ford has no effective social media presence where people can comment freely on their products, they never get this kind of feedback from their potential customers.

I SO want to buy American, but they just keep giving me reasons not to.

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Permalink Reply by Michael R. on July 15, 2009 at 3:47pm

Interesting stuff, Mr. Nolan. Why they have less paint option choices at a higher price really is quite stupid.

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