Bottom Of The Barrel

Goodbye to the Ford Taurus

Sometime today at the Ford Motor Company assembly plant in Hapeville, GA, the last Ford Taurus will roll off the line - ending a 20-year run. The Taurus, introduced Dec. 26, 1985, was a hit from the start, thanks to a design that stood out as cutting edge by cutting, I mean, rounding off the edges. With its aerodynamic jellybean shape the Taurus quickly rose to the top tier of passenger cars. Although the Taurus became best known as a family car, there also was a hot-rod version called the SHO - for "super high output" - that was sold from 1989 through 1999. By any standard, the Taurus had an amazing run: Seven million units sold; best-selling car in the United States five years in a row from 1992 to 1996. It is sad to see such a good selling and popular car dieing a slow death because it got lost in the SUV Crazy of the late 90's. Maybe Ford will use there Bold Moves initiative to find ways to continue to build and refine popular cars while looking for the up-in-coming markets without sacrificing one for the other. Godspeed to The Flying Potato!

posted by TheWino @ 9:53 AM