[ausrutherford]

Looks like the Taurrus will go European for trim levels.

http://www.leftlanenews.com/ford-taurus-st.html

 

[likearock00]

They'll stick with ST for the first year then change it to SHO when it doesn't do well. After that, who knows- they may call it a GT!!

 

[Subtle_Cynicism]

^ +1.

Did they not learn their lesson the first time? The Five Hundred was a bomb, and sales went up when they rebadged effectively the same car as a Taurus.

Just call the freaking car a Taurus SHO and be done with it. Changes are NOT always for the better.

And people wonder why domestic brands are in the ****ter...idiotic little decisisons like this build up into big ones.

 

[Hitman1970]

^ +1.

Did they not learn their lesson the first time? The Five Hundred was a bomb, and sales went up when they rebadged effectively the same car as a Taurus.

Just call the freaking car a Taurus SHO and be done with it. Changes are NOT always for the better.

And people wonder why domestic brands are in the ****ter...idiotic little decisisons like this build up into big ones.

You are correct.

 

[F14CRAZY]

You are correct.

Ford's never going to learn when it comes to names. "ST"? Hardly anyone in the US has heard of that on a Ford. "SHO" has some recognition/heritage to it. If they weren't going to use that at least use GT

 

[Subtle_Cynicism]

Ford's never going to learn when it comes to names. "ST"? Hardly anyone in the US has heard of that on a Ford. "SHO" has some recognition/heritage to it. If they weren't going to use that at least use GT

Maybe my mind is just in the gutter, but when I saw "ST", the first thing I thought of was "S...T...D?"

I just really don't see what distancing the Taurus name from the SHO plate is going to benefit Ford for. The SHO Taurus was a great, great car: certianly nothing to be ashamed of. Hell, even IMPORT lovers appreciated the SHO. How many domestic cars can you say that about?

Way to shoot yourself in the foot again Ford.

 

[wescoent]

This isn't an SHO. This is a Ford Taurus which is going to get the benefit of some Lincoln add-ons (engine and suspension), cool rims, a monochrome exterior, and sporty seats.

An SHO is a Ford Taurus with a low-displacement, high-revving Yamaha engine with a manual transmission.

For those of you who know, the SHO came about because Ford has designed its Corvette competitor for debut in the late 1980's, but got cancelled at the last moment. Since the engines were already ordered, Ford decided to just put them in the Taurus as a last resort, but it caught on.

I like the sound of this car, and I agree with Ford not calling it an SHO. That would be like bringing out a FWD I4 turbo sports coupe and calling it a Mustang. It just isn't right.

 

[mgescuro]

After all the trouble Ford went to rebranding the 500 the Taurus, you'd think they'd bring back the SHO trim level.

Kinda dumb Ford.

 

[civilzues]

This isn't an SHO. This is a Ford Taurus which is going to get the benefit of some Lincoln add-ons (engine and suspension), cool rims, a monochrome exterior, and sporty seats.

An SHO is a Ford Taurus with a low-displacement, high-revving Yamaha engine with a manual transmission.

For those of you who know, the SHO came about because Ford has designed its Corvette competitor for debut in the late 1980's, but got cancelled at the last moment. Since the engines were already ordered, Ford decided to just put them in the Taurus as a last resort, but it caught on.

I like the sound of this car, and I agree with Ford not calling it an SHO. That would be like bringing out a FWD I4 turbo sports coupe and calling it a Mustang. It just isn't right.

thank you for this post. very informative!

 

[JT87]

Low to mid 6 second range? The current Impala SS is somewhere around 5.7... And 'rolling on 20s', really? Otherwise, the EcoBoost, and advanced suspensions seem like a great direction

 

[Sal Collaziano]

If Ford is dumb enough to call it "ST" rather than "SHO", than I just don't know what to think. What a bunch of morons. So anyway, I bought fordtaurusst.com. How long before you think Ford starts knocking on my door?

 

[Xenon]

So where does this leave SVT?

 

[Xenon]

This isn't an SHO. This is a Ford Taurus which is going to get the benefit of some Lincoln add-ons (engine and suspension), cool rims, a monochrome exterior, and sporty seats.

An SHO is a Ford Taurus with a low-displacement, high-revving Yamaha engine with a manual transmission.

For those of you who know, the SHO came about because Ford has designed its Corvette competitor for debut in the late 1980's, but got cancelled at the last moment. Since the engines were already ordered, Ford decided to just put them in the Taurus as a last resort, but it caught on.

O rly?
The last set of SHOs were low revving V8 saddled with automatics.

 

[paul8488]

That would be like bringing out a FWD I4 turbo sports coupe and calling it a Mustang. It just isn't right.

I don't think this comparison is valid. The SHO may have been a V8, but it was a large FWD sedan. The ST will be a large FWD sedan with a powerful twin-turbo V6. I think that's more than fitting for the SHO name. And whos feelings are they protecting by not using the SHO name? The SHO certainly had and still has its fans, but are they going to anger so many people that the ST will flop if they call it SHO? I don't think so.

What worries me most about the ST name, though, is what they'll call the diesel version when it comes out. Yikes!

 

[Uzzy]

Taurus Sport Truck? Huh?

 

[napolron]

For those of you who know, the SHO came about because Ford has designed its Corvette competitor for debut in the late 1980's, but got cancelled at the last moment. Since the engines were already ordered, Ford decided to just put them in the Taurus as a last resort, but it caught on.

quote]


Where did you get that from, my understanding is the engine was developed for a competitor to the mr2 and fiero, nothign to do with the vette. They were 'talked' into the dohc engine after yamaha couldnt get the numbers they wanted from the available pushrod engines of the time that ford was giving them to modify.

Id love to see the sho name come back but I dont think its as huge a deal as people are making it here, only a handful of people nowadays know what a sho was. Id LOVE to see an svo mustang with an ecoboost I4 and lots of lightweight parts and some factory koni's but its aint gonna happen. Changing the name of a car is one thing, changing the name of a limited run performance options package is trivial in the grand scheme of sales unless you're dealing with big name performance cars, corvette, mustang, camaro etc.

As far as st goes, thats been used before by ford and its not that bad, european focus st? yea I wouldnt have a problem buying one of those, cosworth or not.

 

[Ach]

O rly?
The last set of SHOs were low revving V8 saddled with automatics.

Actually the Yamaha 3.4 V8 had a 6800 rpm redline...stratospheric at the time for a V8 and pretty impressive even by today's standards. But the car was auto-only which killed it for many enthusiasts.

I don't understand why Ford won't revive the SHO name...it has a cult-like following and lots of performance cred. Sadly, I think that performance-oriented labels like "Super High Output" are becoming politically incorrect in this fuel-sipping age. Just look at EcoBoost vs. TwinForce...any performance oriented vehicle should have the latter name. But they won't.

 

[GMfan1111]

yet another moronic decision by ford. they should of just called it the SHO and left it at that. However ST monkier would be a good name for a Taurus Ute if Ford ever makes one

 

[blank disk]

If insurance is cheaper with only two letters vs three, then I am all for it.

An AWD performance sedan with the reputation for safety and now quality and value that comes with the name Taurus should be a hit.
I think a lot of GM fans here are talking thru their asses. This car sounds awesome and looks awesome and yet practical. Can a G8 that looks like it timewarped from the 90's say that?

 

[ohmywrd8]

This is going to be a really nice car. My dad has a 500 limited and I don't really like it that much. But oh well. Maybe he will get the Taurus in 2010.