FORD TAURUS
We have all seen a Ford Taurus in our life time, you or a friend of yours might have gotten one as a hand-me-down. If we are being honest, the Taurus is for lack of a better term can only be defines as the milennial of all cars. It was born into a world where it wasn't completely understood, but after it proved its worth it helped set the bar for. It did however help shape the standards of auto design from those shoe boxes with wheels to much more pleasant curved aerodynamic styles. The history of the Taurus is much longer and intriguing than you think.
I don’t know if you remember, but the Taurus was featured in Robocop (1987 original, which still has a higher rating on Rotten Tomatoes at 89% vs 49% for the remake) as a police vehicle. Robocop was about an uncorruptible police officer on the brink of death that was kept alive and given amazing strength and capabilities by making him part robot and part human. Yes, that is what America wanted then and I am sure we still want that now. Away from the movie being a little too violent and not appropriate for children, it certainly gave us an inside look of what the future might look like and the Taurus paved the way in the American auto industry. With robots and androids (Robocop 3), the movie made a good attempt at the future of science, architecture and some political issues. The Taurus was thought to be so groundbreaking it had to be put into the film as a representation of future auto designs and America loved it.
The Taurus looked so sleek and visially far from the competition that some critics said it was part “jellybean”, but it still was a very anticipated car, the most anticipated car in its time. Everything about the Taurus was exciting, even the designs of the wheels were considered revolutionary, the whole car put together just worked and people loved it. Don’t forget, at this time Mercury was still around and the Sable featured many similar designs but different comfort and luxury options. The Taurus was manufactured since 1985 until this year when Ford announced in 2018 that it would put a stop to production of the Fiesta, Focus and Taurus.
This ending of production really is a reminder of how consumers dictate the products they purchase, those shifts are guided towards SUV’s and crossovers, large and small. The auto industry has recognized how in the next few years, SUV’s and crossovers will make up more than fifty percent of the global market and some companies like Ford are realizing this ahead of the competition. Word on the street is that American manufacturers can’t compete with imports, the reality is that this market change is affecting everyone on a global scale. Ferrari has announced a SUV, Porsche, Mercedes has increased their SUV line up along with BMW, so the change is here. It is a sad truth when we get to see a small piece of history go, the name will echo in our ears when we remember riding that sedan that had enough leg room for everyone, after all more than 8 million were produced so we must be in some way familiar with it.
As a consumer I have begun to see the drastic market change across southern Arizona. SUV’s are everywhere and if you were to play Slug SUV while driving, I am sure you would end up with a sore arm. Although the Taurus wasn’t for everyone, the wide body style and its many different available options made it one of Americas highest selling mid-size sedans. We have begun to see the end of an era but the beginning of another.
