02-06-2007, 09:46 PM
My only thought on this, when the car was killed, was why kill it and replace it with a similarly-sized car that has a different name? What's the point?
And then I remembered how American car companies like to operate. They'll cling forever to, or revisit a nameplate or trim level designation if it conjures up warm fuzzies from yesteryear (will2000, there's your answer as to the "500") but drop it as soon as it's apparent sales are tanking or some suit gets tired of it.
You watch --- in 15 or 20 years some suit will say, "Remember what a watershed car the first Taurus was? Bring it back!!!"
Why not just stick with a name and make the car better, not the name? Seems to work well enough for Honda. Ford just doesn't get it, still.
And then I remembered how American car companies like to operate. They'll cling forever to, or revisit a nameplate or trim level designation if it conjures up warm fuzzies from yesteryear (will2000, there's your answer as to the "500") but drop it as soon as it's apparent sales are tanking or some suit gets tired of it.
You watch --- in 15 or 20 years some suit will say, "Remember what a watershed car the first Taurus was? Bring it back!!!"
Why not just stick with a name and make the car better, not the name? Seems to work well enough for Honda. Ford just doesn't get it, still.