Taurus off the bench, rejoining Ford lineup
After being dropped from the lineup last October in deference to the new Ford Five Hundred, Taurus comes back this summer as a 2008. That's when the Five Hundred will be renamed Taurus. The companion Mercury Montego, built alongside the Five Hundred at Ford's Torrence Avenue assembly plant in Chicago, will become the Mercury Sable.
Ford spokesman Jim Cain said Mark Fields, president of the Americas for Ford, will make an announcement at the Midwest Automotive Media Association breakfast kicking off the Chicago Auto Show preview on Wednesday. But Cain would neither confirm nor deny that Fields will reveal the rebirth of Taurus.
Taurus and Sable weren't supposed to go anywhere when Five Hundred and Montego arrived for the 2005 model year. But then-Ford division President Steve Lyons decreed that all future Ford car names start with the letter F and all Mercury cars with the letter M.
American automakers spark new-century renaissance
America once held the car industry in the palm of its hands. Vehicles rolling out from more than 100 independent car companies nationwide became the benchmark of progress and affluence that set the world standard. But that was the 1900s.Today, that status is a part of automotive history.Detroit's Big Three automakers finally "get it." That is, what used to be brand loyalty to a particular nameplate across family generations has turned a different direction.American auto manufacturers now find themselves struggling for the market share that was once as solid as the steel fender behemoths built at their Michigan assembly plants.Historically, the decade that started consumers' brand defection was the 1970s.In October 1973, Americans awoke to an economic nightmare that would affect their driving habits and automobile choices for generations -- the Mideast oil embargo.Domestic turmoilFor the first half of last century, the United States relied on oil largely supplied by domestic sources.
DAYTONA NOTEBOOK: Questionable substance found in Waltrip Camry
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Toyota, competing in NASCAR Nextel Cup for the first time this year, found itself in the middle of controversy Sunday before the first of its eight cars hit the track for Daytona 500 pole qualifying.
During tech inspection, NASCAR officials discovered what appeared to be a foreign substance, or oily mix, in the intake manifold of Michael Waltrip's No. 55 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota Camry.
Ice racers shun Daytona for frozen Berry Pond
While millions of Americans settled down to watch the Daytona 500, ice racers staged their own exciting competition on frozen Berry Pond yesterday afternoon.
"This is Daytona North," said Louisa Bryant of Center Sandwich as she and her husband, Bob, watched 25-year-old son, Ty, drive his coupe around the one-third mile oval in the 20-lap, four-cylinder final.
The Bryants didn't mind missing "America's Race" on television, nor did most of the spectators who stood atop snow banks to watch as the chains used on the tires of the race cars to provide traction sent rooster tails of white snow and ground up ice high into the air over the track.
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