aTypical Joe: a gay New Yorker living in the rural South

Saturday, June 23, 2007

American-style Innovation

Ford has reintroduced the Taurus.

Yawn.

What makes it even worthy of my mention is the selling points: a bigger engine, a new grill, and a new ad campaign. Ford President Mark Fields said on the Today Show just now:

It’s very clear as we look at our lineup going forward that we have to have the right consistent marketing message.... The advantage now is that we have a nameplate that has a lot of awareness.

I’m not a car guy, but the sad shame appears to be that instead of innovating, Ford is diagnosing a marketing problem and simply renaming a car that’s been a market clunker. Ironically, the original Taurus was truly innovative:

The Taurus was a milestone design for both Ford and the entire American automotive industry, as well as a very influential vehicle in the marketplace, with Ford selling nearly 7.5 million examples during its 20 years of production - a longer bestselling run than the original Ford Model T. Between 1992 and 1996, the Taurus was the best-selling car in the United States, even prompting Honda to grow the US version of the Accord to a similar size. The Taurus eventually lost its best-seller status in 1997 to the Toyota Camry.

Many industry experts, including executives at Chrysler and even at Ford, believed that the Taurus was going to be a failure. They thought its design was too advanced for many customers during the eighties. This turned out not to be the case, as the Taurus became a best seller, thus making it a sleeper hit.