Ford Motor will announce that it's renaming the Ford Five Hundred sedan at this week's Chicago Auto Show. As first reported in BusinessWeek.com's Auto Blog on Jan. 4, the 2008 model will be renamed the Taurus.
Ford (F) stopped production on the original Ford Taurus last November. The sedan, at one time the best-selling car in the U.S., had become primarily a rental car for Ford by the end of its production run. The auto maker had two plants dedicated to making the Taurus, giving it far more supply—more than 400,000 cars annually—than the retail market demanded. In the last year, Ford consolidated assembly to one plant before closing production all together a few months ago.
Ford CEO Alan Mulally last December told BusinessWeek that he believed abandoning the Taurus name, which had built up so much recognition and awareness in the marketplace "was an incredible waste of an investment."
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