Good news, everyone! The Dacia Sen-er, Ford Taurus X and Mercury Sable Are Dead!

Spectre

Spectre

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From: http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081204/ANA08/812049952/-1)

Ford to kill Taurus X, Mercury Sable

Amy Wilson
Automotive News
December 4, 2008 - 4:40 pm ET

DETROIT -- It's official: The Ford Taurus X crossover and Mercury Sable sedan will die early next year.
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Ford Motor Co. has notified dealers to prepare their final orders for the two vehicles before production ends in the spring.

Ford spokesman Mark Schirmer told Automotive News today that Ford will assemble the final Taurus X in March. The final Sable will roll off the assembly line at the end of April.

"Basically, it's the last call at the bar," Schirmer said.

Automotive News had reported that the two vehicles were expected to be discontinued, based on information from suppliers and industry product analysts. But Ford had not confirmed the decision until now.

Both vehicles are assembled at Ford's Chicago assembly plant. The Taurus X is the former Freestyle, introduced in 2004. It was renamed in 2007. The Sable is the former Mercury Montego, also introduced in 2004 and renamed in 2007.

CEO Alan Mulally had advocated the revival of the storied Taurus and Sable names after the original vehicle line was dropped in 2006.

The two nameplates will end as a next-generation Taurus sedan will be launched next year. As Ford restructures to lower sales levels, it can no longer support as many nameplates, Schirmer said.

The 2010 Taurus will go into production in the spring and be on sale by the end of June, Schirmer said. It is expected to be unveiled at the Detroit auto show next month.

The dying vehicles haven't been big sellers. U.S. sales of the Taurus X were 22,141 through November, down 40.7 percent. Sable sales were 15,586 for the same period, down 20.7 percent.

"It's sad to see it go because it's a great car," said Jack Straub, a Lincoln-Mercury dealer in Keyport, N.J., said of the current-generation Sable. "It's a great car nobody ever knew about."
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Good riddance.
 
There was nothing wrong with either and the Taurus X did have its own appeal. If your only problem with them was their looks then it wasn't really a problem. The Taurus X was a wagon in a sea of SUVs and it is unfortunate it is gone.
 
What I think of them is irrelevant. They weren't selling, nothing Marketing was doing was selling them, Ford can't afford to make cars that don't sell, they should have been cancelled back when they were the Freestyle and Montego because nobody's been buying them!
 
^ I've actually never seen a single one on the road... ever...
 
Vette Boss said:
I've seen literally two or three Taurus X/Freestyle since they started making them. Could it be the least successful car, ever? :p
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Perhaps advertising it as the Divorcemobile wasn't such a great idea, after all.

[youtube]CLVa3cZyGIo[/youtube]

They should just have taken the car out back and shot it after that ad. "Buy this car for your family, and you'll end up with your wife divorcing you, taking your car, your house and your kids, all of which you will get to see one weekend a month - but you still pay for all of them." Yeah, that was really going to fly. :p
 
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:rofl:
 
I don't like the wording of this line:
CEO Alan Mulally had advocated the revival of the storied Taurus and Sable names after the original vehicle line was dropped in 2006.
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It makes it sound like the cars themselves didn't exist until Alan's advocacy. These are already existed, they were just called the Five Hundred/Freestyle and the Montego...for no reason. And actually, when the name was changed back from Five Hundred to Taurus, they actually improved the car quite a bit, even though the appearance didn't change besides a minor facelift. They even changed the way the whole drivetrain was attached to the car. Most auto magazines couldn't believe a car that looked so similar could drive so differently...better.

Still looking forwards to Ford's "Superman" Taurus compared to the current "Homer Simpson" model.
 
The Freestyle/Taurus X is actually quite a solid car (XC70 and all that), the marketing just wasn't there as Ford was too busy pushing the Edge.
 
I don't know...there's a Saturn one:

Guy walks into a saturn dealership, and stops in the doorway. He looks confused, as he spots "attractive" cars like the Saturn Sky, and a Saturn Vue or Outlook. He steps back out of the door, and looks up at the dealership's large road sign, verifying that it is a Saturn dealership.

The guy walks back in and says "These are Saturns?" The two car salespeople say "Yes...yes they are." and "We've been getting that a lot lately."

What this commercial tells me is that this person was full set on going into a Saturn dealership based on what he thought Saturn cars were, even though they have changed. That proves that this man's opinion on any should not be taken seriously by anyone.
 
Yes, but that only says "If you liked the old Saturns, you're a moron."

The Freestyle ad says "If you buy this car, your life will be ruined."
 
Or, "You can't afford this car unless you can find a way to get someone else to pay for your new Freestyle."
 
"Like your soon-to-be-divorced male spouse."

Yeah, the Divorcemobile was just a bad idea.
 
Yeah, there's that, but who wants to be divorced and still be forced to pay alimony and child support???
 
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