When Alan Mulally took over Ford, one of his first plays as the new CEO was to revive one of the Blue Oval’s best-known nameplates, Taurus. After being unceremoniously dethroned from the mid-size category for the then-new Fusion, the Ford Taurus replaced the short-lived Five Hundred as the Blue Oval’s biggest sedan. In 2009 a brand new Taurus debuted, and with it came a new generation SHO model debuting the 365 horsepower EcoBoost V6 engine to critical acclaim.
But the party was short lived, and changing consumer tastes have brought the large sedan segment to its knees with overall sales down 18% compared to last year. According to Automotive News, Ford Taurus sales are down 28%, and while the Blue Oval has debuted a new Taurus for the Chinese market, it says the large sedan won’t be coming to America. In other words, so long SHO, and thanks for all the speed.
The Taurus revival really hinged on Mulally, who recognized the importance of the nameplate to American buyers, and for a time the new/old name and fresh platform worked, helping Taurus sales jump 50% from the 2009 to 2010 model years. In 2013 Taurus sales peaked in the North American market with over 84,000 sales, but last year Ford only managed to move about 66,000 units. While Ford spokespeople continue to talk of the importance of the Taurus, any discussion of its future seems to quickly end.
After 7 full sales months in 2015, Taurus sales have barely broken the 30,000 unit mark, as customers flock to the fresher-looking midsize Fusion, which not only offers more passenger room, but starts about $5,000 less. Crossover sales are also hurting large sedans like the Taurus, and even sales of the Taurus-based Police Interceptor are being overshadowed by the preference for the Explorer-based Interceptor Utility.
Meanwhile, the Ford Taurus has received a new look for the Chinese market, where large sedan sales continue to boom off the backs of the nouveau riche. No word on whether the SHO model will live on in the People’s Republic, but if you’ve been holding off on buying what may be the last SHO ever, you might want to get going on that.