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Bear in mind Mulally not only saved Ford, but saved the Taurus: "I arrive here, and the first day I say, 'Let's go look at the product lineup.' And they lay it

by erbo 13y ago

Bear in mind Mulally not only saved Ford, but saved the Taurus: "I arrive here, and the first day I say, 'Let's go look at the product lineup.' And they lay it out, and I said, 'Where's the Taurus?' They said, 'Well, we killed it.' I said, 'What do you mean, you killed it?' 'Well, we made a couple that looked like a football. They didn't sell very well, so we stopped it.' 'You stopped the Taurus?' I said. 'How many billions of dollars does it cost to build brand loyalty around a name?' 'Well, we thought it was so damaged that we named it the Five Hundred.' I said, 'Well, you've got until tomorrow to find a vehicle to put the Taurus name on because that's why I'm here. Then you have two years to make the coolest vehicle that you can possibly make.'?" - http://www.fastcompany.com/1573670/what-other-automakers-can-learn-alan-mulally http://www.fastcompany.com/1573670/what-other-automakers-can... As the driver of a sixth-generation (2011) Ford Taurus, which is in fact a pretty cool car, somehow it doesn't seem so crazy that Mulally could save Microsoft as well...

JeremyMorgan 13y ago
That's a very interesting comparison. For a while there the Taurus was the laughing stock of the company, and now they're pretty damn nice. So... we gonna back FrontPage now?
- ak217 13y ago
  Yes, that's interesting. I think the decision to keep the Taurus brand was a mistake, since Ford tarnished it with too many shitty cars over the years. They have some really good brands (Fiesta, Raptor SVT, even Focus) but I would consider Taurus irreparable, just like FrontPage. The company logo needs an update too, IMO. And they have an incredible iconic brand, "Model T", I think they would do well to use it again.
  - hackula1 13y ago
    Some new innovation in trucks would certainly be interesting. As a driver with over 200k on my F-150, I could see some sort of T-150 being a pretty sweet redesign.
  - thatthatis 13y ago
    In the world of branding, tarnished but ubiquitously known is better than greenfield. Tarnished can be polished back into good silver.
taopao 13y ago
It's enormous on the outside and tiny on the inside... not a good car.

by erbo 13y ago

JeremyMorgan 13y ago

That's a very interesting comparison. For a while there the Taurus was the laughing stock of the company, and now they're pretty damn nice. So... we gonna back FrontPage now?

ak217 13y ago
Yes, that's interesting. I think the decision to keep the Taurus brand was a mistake, since Ford tarnished it with too many shitty cars over the years. They have some really good brands (Fiesta, Raptor SVT, even Focus) but I would consider Taurus irreparable, just like FrontPage. The company logo needs an update too, IMO. And they have an incredible iconic brand, "Model T", I think they would do well to use it again.
- hackula1 13y ago
  Some new innovation in trucks would certainly be interesting. As a driver with over 200k on my F-150, I could see some sort of T-150 being a pretty sweet redesign.
- thatthatis 13y ago
  In the world of branding, tarnished but ubiquitously known is better than greenfield. Tarnished can be polished back into good silver.

taopao 13y ago

It's enormous on the outside and tiny on the inside... not a good car.