But despite the big changes, Ford is launching the car with incentives.
"The marketplace is still very tentative," Mike Crowley, Ford's marketing manager for North American cars and crossovers, said here at a media event. "Even a great product, you want to launch it and get it off to a good start."
Although the re-engineered and restyled car isn't expected at dealerships until August, an early-order incentive is under way -- $500 to customers who take delivery by Sept. 1. Ford also is advertising an additional $1,000 cash rebate on all but the base model Taurus. Lease incentives are available in markets where leasing is strong, Crowley said.
But as Ford marketers try to revive the once-vaunted Taurus nameplate, they intend to avoid the large incentives that have long plagued the car. Rebates of $3,000 and $4,000both occasionally appeared on the previous-generation Taurus that sold commonly to rental fleets.
Ford is trying to generate consumer excitement for the 2010 model by staging 450 premiere nights at dealerships around the country during a six-week period that began May 28.
Another stigma Ford aims to avoid with the 2010 model: the rent-a-car reputation that afflicted the Taurus for most of this decade, when more than half of the car's sales went were to rental fleets.
Ford will sell the 2010 model to rental companies but intends to keep the rental mix in the single- or low-double-digit percentages, Crowley said. If mix is limited, Rental fleets can be a good way to expose potential customers to new models.
+ 2010 Ford Taurus SHO Road Test
Gallery: 2010 Ford Taurus SHO
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