2008 Ford Taurus, Taurus X, Mercury Sable

[adrenaline]

Ford 500 is Taurus, Freestyle is Taurus X and Montego is Sable. Wow.

Source: BlueOvalNews via Autoblog

Originally Posted by Autoblog

Let this be a lesson to Ford: if you have a web page up on your servers, it is LIVE even if you don't have a link published for it. The proof comes courtesy of Blue Oval News, where one of their forum posters played around with URL strings and found the splash pages for the 2008 Ford Taurus and Taurus X (née Freestyle), as well as the 2008 Mercury Sable (formerly Montego).

The materials were posted, and the rest, as they say, is history. The big news, of course, is the summary renaming of the Ford Freestyle, Ford Five-Hundred, and Mercury Montego to the familiar Taurus and Sable monikers. Ford honcho Alan Mulally made it no secret that he thought ditching the old names was a big mistake, and by resurrecting them, he and Ford hope that shoppers see them and welcome them back with open arms. It could work. There are plenty of people who don't follow this stuff with the level of fanaticism we (and you, the readers) do. For them, the idea of a New Taurus or New Sable will be of interest, even though we all know it's simply a matter of nameplate swapping.

It also helps that all three cars are restyled. The Taurus is the Five-Hundred that was rolled out in Detroit. The Taurus X loses the Freestyle name and gains the Edge's face, creating a family look for the crossovers. The Sable's new front end apes that of its little brother, the Mercury Milan. All the cars get the 260-horsepower V6 and some new stuff like Ford Sync will be available across the board.

While the initial reaction may be to dismiss this as an act of desperation, it very nicely sets up 2010, when the entire Ford lineup should be all-new. These are just renamed cars right now, but when they get redesigned, they'll be the all-new Taurus and Sable. They'll have had a couple of years to reconnect with the public and by then, all this naming hubbub is going to be a very distant memory. Especially to consumers.

Follow the jump for the press releases on all three.

Stay tuned tomorrow for much more on these cars, as the Chi-town crew will have live shots, full galleries, and (hopefully) video.

2008 Mercury Sable:


2008 Taurus X:


2008 Taurus:



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I like the way Mullaly thinks

[lightweight]

Doesn't the Mercury Sable look like the old Ford Five-Hundred?

[IBrake4Rainbows]

Reading the article makes you look less foolish.

It is. they've just changed the badge.

[ScionDriver]

I think those restylings are nice, especially the Taurus X (Freestyle) because I think the current one is ugly. Real ugly. And no one liked the styling of the 500 so this should help.

[Ferrer]

I'm failing to see what the Taurus X is, really. An MPV? An Estate? An SUV? A raised pseudo-SUV estate?

[lightweight]

Originally Posted by IBrake4Rainbows

Reading the article makes you look less foolish.

No comment

[nota]

Originally Posted by Ferrer

I'm failing to see what the Taurus X is, really. An MPV? An Estate? An SUV? A raised pseudo-SUV estate?

Like Subaru Forrester & Outback

But judging purey by those pics the X appears to have similar ride-height as the sedans

[Ferrer]

Originally Posted by nota

Like Subaru Forrester & Outback

But judging purey by those pics the X appears to have similar ride-height as the sedans

At least it's four wheel drive so it might not be completely useless...

[Mr.Tiv]

Originally Posted by Ferrer

I'm failing to see what the Taurus X is, really. An MPV? An Estate? An SUV? A raised pseudo-SUV estate?

They call it a "crossover"-their words; not mine.

It sits a bit higher, I think, but it's on a car platform. It basically just a wagon, or estate if you prefer.

[Kitdy]

Ok. Does anybody here actually like the grilles on all the new Fords a la Fusion? Cuz I think they're crap. The Sable and the stupidly named Taurus X (I will still call it the Freestyle) look hideous. The Taurus looks as bland as it did before, but not as bad as the thrid generation Taurus (I have to say, my pal owns a 3rd gen Taurus, and it is in the top 5 ugly mainstream vehicles ever made. I think that making the Ford family cars all look similar is a great idea - but modeling them after the Fusion is a terrible idea as that car to me epitomises that whole "We're American but going for that euro-styling thing and our cars are crappy and weak" just like the Chevy Malibu ad campaign.

Now for something completely different. What exactly is euro styling?! When someone says euro styling, I think of the cars I see when I visit Scotland that are terrible and ugly like Peugeots (especially), Renaults, Citroen, SEAT, and those other lame european brands. They don't say German or Italian styling, they say euro. I think that is a slight to the fine auto designing nations of Germany and Italy! This in now way means that I think that crappy American cars are better than crappy european cars - both suck. I just have a particular hatred of the above mentioned car companies and GM. I really hate GM. To see Ford doing all this stupid crap will make it less hard on me if they go under. They make a sweet car like the Mustang GT and GT, then they restyle their cars with some strange triple-metal-grille and blandness. I think they shoulda tried to muscle-car style all of their vehicles and tried to get the retro image going like Dodge has going on right now. However, Mr. Mullaly and Mr. Ford must know better than this idiot. Those cars are so ugly!

[adrenaline]

Originally Posted by Kitdy

Ok. Does anybody here actually like the grilles on all the new Fords a la Fusion? Cuz I think they're crap. The Sable and the stupidly named Taurus X (I will still call it the Freestyle) look hideous. The Taurus looks as bland as it did before, but not as bad as the thrid generation Taurus (I have to say, my pal owns a 3rd gen Taurus, and it is in the top 5 ugly mainstream vehicles ever made. I think that making the Ford family cars all look similar is a great idea - but modeling them after the Fusion is a terrible idea as that car to me epitomises that whole "We're American but going for that euro-styling thing and our cars are crappy and weak" just like the Chevy Malibu ad campaign.

Now for something completely different. What exactly is euro styling?! When someone says euro styling, I think of the cars I see when I visit Scotland that are terrible and ugly like Peugeots (especially), Renaults, Citroen, SEAT, and those other lame european brands. They don't say German or Italian styling, they say euro. I think that is a slight to the fine auto designing nations of Germany and Italy! This in now way means that I think that crappy American cars are better than crappy european cars - both suck. I just have a particular hatred of the above mentioned car companies and GM. I really hate GM. To see Ford doing all this stupid crap will make it less hard on me if they go under. They make a sweet car like the Mustang GT and GT, then they restyle their cars with some strange triple-metal-grille and blandness. I think they shoulda tried to muscle-car style all of their vehicles and tried to get the retro image going like Dodge has going on right now. However, Mr. Mullaly and Mr. Ford must know better than this idiot. Those cars are so ugly!

I agree they could have been better, but who cares if they aren't drop dead sexy for now, they will be replaced by all new models in 2010. The name changes are only in preparation for the new models.

Originally Posted by Kitdy

I think they shoulda tried to muscle-car style all of their vehicles and tried to get the retro image going like Dodge has going on right now. However, Mr. Mullaly and Mr. Ford must know better than this idiot.

Muscle car style all of their vehicles? No offence but that makes me laugh The current refreshed vehicles aren't Mullaly's work. The designs were frozen before he came to Ford.

[nota]

Originally Posted by Kitdy

When someone says euro styling, I think of the cars I see when I visit Scotland that are terrible and ugly like Peugeots (especially), Renaults, Citroen, SEAT, and those other lame european brands.

signature status?

[darkjedi]

nice to see the taurus coming back , time will tell if the renaming worked

here is my take on the SHO taurus (sorry the scanner sucks)



i used shitty crayons for this so

[jcp123]

Originally Posted by ScionDriver

And no one liked the styling of the 500 so this should help.

I liked it...we almost bought one.

[hobbyshopp]

F.O.R.D. = Found On Road Dead