As avid readers will note, I had posted a week ago, the announcement that today the production of the Ford Taurus will end. It is a bittersweet ending for one of the most recognizable cars on the America road.

The Taurus actually had a long life brought on mostly by its early popularity among the car buying public and later as a favorite fleet car for Corporate America and car rental agencies. It would be nearly impossible to leave one’s house on a trip in America and not see one. It had a distinctive front nose and shapely headlights, which seemed to suggest that it was gawking at you as you passed it on the road (some would suggest it wasn’t gawking so much as it was yawning).

Whatever the case may be, the Taurus marked an interesting era for Ford Motor Company. For Ford, the car meant large profit. It also signifies the end of an era. For Ford, that era is one of bad design, and the company clearly feels that the latest cars to roll off their assembly lines are much different in terms of quality and design. Given Ford’s announcement that they lose more than $8 billion in 2006, there are a lot of jobs riding on their judgment being correct.

This entry was posted on Friday, October 27th, 2006 at 12:01 am and is filed under Ford. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. This post was read by 341 people until now. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.