Taurus, Sable Ad Blitz Coming

Ford Motor Co. will launch a campaign reviving the Taurus as the new rebadged Ford Five Hundred and its renamed stable-mates, the Taurus X cross/utility vehicle (Freestyle) and Mercury Sable (Montego) sedan, a top executive says.

“We have 3.7 million Taurus owners and 1.9 million Sable owners that we can market to very effectively,” says Cisco Codina, group vice president-North America marketing, sales and service.

“The whole marketing campaign will be based around the Taurus and the Sable coming back in the marketplace, Codina says.

The campaign is expected to bow in May or June, when the vehicles arrive.

Contrary to media reports, Codina says the idea to resurrect the Taurus and Sable marques was not that of new CEO Alan Mulally, although he supported the notion.

“What Alan has done is create an environment all around the company,” he says, “and people are willing to speak openly. So out of that, one of our guys from marketing said, ‘What about bringing back Taurus?’”

Codina declines to say how many new Taurus and Sable models the auto maker expects to sell in their first full year on the market.