It's SHOtime

A spy shot of the next Taurus has emerged, and that car will be much more dynamic looking than the current model. There's word that Ford will also be using a version of its EcoBoost engine, which would be competitive with entries like the 300C and Pontiac G8 GT. If Ford is still tossing around names for this hi-po version, it's clear that they should resurrect the SHO name. Then, they should get the most famous Taurus owner, Conan O'Brien, to endorse it. 

The Blue Devil

Well, I finally got some shots of my car just the way I want it, with the right front plate (okay, i'm still waiting for VW to replace my front bumper with one without a plate bracket), and my new wheels. Without further ado, I present the Blue Devil.

Mmmm...Blue Kool-Aid

I just read something that really disturbed me. Jim Farley, who came from Toyota to head up Ford's marketing, has apparently been fully assimilated into Ford's groupthink atmosphere. He stated with utmost confidence that Ford will be able to sell 100,000 Flexes per year. Should that happen (without $10,000 on the hood of each one) I'll obligingly pick my tastiest hat to devour.

This weird-looking weiner dog of a vehicle will appeal to some, but will permanently settle into niche-land as soon as all the me-firsts are done grabbing it up to apply faux-wood contact paper to the sides. And since Farley told the press that this is Ford's production goal for the vehicle, it looks like Ford is either going to have to scramble to rearrange the production that fills that factory, or cut a deal with Chrysler to share the lots where they were holding all their unsold Commanders. 

Further along in the little snippet from Automotive News he mentions "the natural traffic historically generated by Ford's Explorer and Expedition SUVs." Ford basically killed off those two models with their recent do-nothing redesigns, meaning those trucks are going to draw in about as many interested buyers as a new Isuzu.

Probably the worst part of all this is that all this talk sounds so familiar. Whenever people at the agency would talk about why a Ford launch was going to go so well, they'd harp on old successes. The Explorer was gonna sell like hotcakes, because Ford was a powerhouse in the SUV market and people trust the Explorer name. The new F-150 will go gangbusters, cause no one can challenge Ford on trucks. Sorry, Ford, but you can't keep expecting the same customers to keep coming back to you. You've gotta keep up with the latest trends in the industry--especially when it comes to styling--and not trust that everyone's going to fall for an overgrown station wagon because it's got the same badge as the former king of SUVs. 

Jim, you're better that this. Don't just repeat what the brand managers and agency tell you. Come back to reality. We miss you.

Pot Luck

In case you don't live in the great state of Michigan, you can get a better idea of how ridiculous our pothole situation is with this Autoblog post. I'd lament the fact that I didn't know about the contest so I could enter my "favorite" potholes, but these put mine to shame.