Word: tauruses
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Auto industry insiders were unimpressed and merciless. They dubbed it a "jelly bean," a "flying spud" and a "gel tab," among other unflattering appellations. The object of their scorn was the newly introduced 1986 Ford Taurus and its softly rounded contours, which defied the sharp-edged, boxy look long favored by the industry...
...critics were wrong. Welcoming the new look, buyers flocked to the showrooms, and sales of the Taurus soared--just in time to rescue Ford from the worst financial crisis in the company's history. A decade later, some 3.3 million Tauruses--as well as a million look-alike, upscale Sables produced by the company's Lincoln-Mercury division--are on the road. And the largely unchanged Taurus has been the best-selling car in the country for three years running. Together, Taurus and Sable account for one-third of Ford's U.S. auto production and also exceed U.S. sales...
...would want to tamper with that kind of success? Ford, for one. Explains Ross Roberts, general manager of the Ford division that produces the Taurus: "Taurus was the innovative leader 10 years ago, but the current owners were saying , 'I'm already on my second or third car, and I'm tired of it,' and the nonowners were saying they weren't going to come over until we showed them something totally...
...defeatist philosophy about selling cars in Japan was to keep the prices high and market the cars as novelties. But last year, when the yen rose sharply against the U.S. dollar, Chrysler and Ford could afford to cut prices sharply. To their surprise, sales of the popular Taurus doubled, and last month the Jeep Cherokee became the first U.S.-made model in Japan to rack up more than 10,000 sales in a year. Clearly the fussy Japanese buyer who demanded a museum-quality body finish is in retreat; in his place is a worker whose income has stagnated during...
...Toyota Corolla, for example, they are squarely aimed at taking away customers from the larger (and more expensive) mid-size Honda Accords and Toyota Camrys. The strategy is to squeeze the popular mid-size Hondas and Toyotas between Detroit's hot compacts and its larger models, like Ford's Taurus, the top-selling car in the U.S. Says Chris Cedergren, who tracks auto-industry sales for AutoPacific: "The battle lines are really going to be drawn in the premium-compact market, where the Japanese get about 33% of their U.S. car sales. We think the Contour and the Mystique...