I have just purchased a Mercury Sable.. in Canada, where we haven't seen Mercurys, new, for several years. The Ford dealers are bringing up U.S. Taurus Limiteds and Sable Premiers and selling them, lightly used, on their lots at discounts waaaay below the price of comparable Canadian Taurus.
This reinforces the view, no matter which car it is, that North American manufacturers are giving their cars away. They look desperate. This has to be reversed, and not by any smoke and mirrors method, but by offering cars that reflect clear and positive thinking about what a vehicle should be, and making the right design choices in regards to that.
I have owned many Taurus and one Sable over the years; they always have been decent enough road cars. Until now I have never had that special attachment to them... but this new Sable reminds me of a Merkur Scorpio I owned once that I loved dearly, as it was a PERFECT blend of true grit, road manners, handling and sumptuous, but not unnecessary, luxury in a larger sedan. The new Sable almost has all of that... it is one tweak away from perfection.
Next year will be FoMoCo’s decision time, that being forced on them by declining large car sales and a need to compete or get out. With the restyling of the Taurus along the lines of the Mondeo, Ford has a wonderful chance to bring performance into this line, something that is keeping buyers away. It wouldn’t take much... make the car about 250 pounds lighter, dial up the quality of the suspension to Autobahn standards, take that nice six speed tranny and let us play with the torque curve so we can actually DRIVE the car, tune the steering a touch... they are ALMOST there. Oh, and twin turbo options or even diesel…. all in the same car with a vareity of engine choices.
Offer gas mileage consumption variations on it from 23 right on up to 45 mpg.
Consolidate away, keep the Sable or let it go, I don’t really care, but just FOCUS on the core product so intently, from a design and customer satisfaction point of view, that it becomes an instant word beater. Ford can do it if they try... and this new platform, restyled and trimmed for 2010, perfected, can take them there if they want.
Pros:
size, comfort, utility, relative fuel consumption
Cons:
driving experience is best done in 'sedate' mode.
