Ford boss confirms new Taurus for 2009

There’s no denying that the launch of the current Taurus sedan was a major mistake mistake for Ford. The carmaker chose to put an end to a nameplate that had been around for 21 years and featured on nearly 7 million cars, and went instead a new, nondescript number for the name of its replacement – the 500 sedan. When Alan Mulally stepped in as CEO back in 2006 one of his first tasks was to reinstate the Taurus name, but it was too late. People were confused and the boring nature of the car wasn’t sparking any interest.

Over the next couple of years Ford will be updating its entire lineup and one of these new models will be a revamped Taurus, which Mulally has revealed will arrive in the "next year or so." He also alluded that the new car will be much better than the current model, reports The Detroit News. The new Taurus is the Taurus that originally should have been launched, he explained.

This time around the car’s development is probably being spread across the Blue Oval’s global empire. Mulally told reporters Ford’s worldwide resources should help the carmaker as regions adopt common safety and environmental requirements. We’ve already seen how the current model has benefited significantly in safety tests thanks to expertise from Volvo, and the new model is only set to improve on this.