[Shotimes] SHO a Sales Success?

[Donald Mallinson]

Bill,

I think most everyone here agrees with your statements.  I 
don't think anyone, even me, ever said it was a sales 
success, just not a horrible failure.  As I think Ron said, 
it had enough sales to chug along (trying to paraphrase?).

Personally, I loved that it came only with a manual tranny, 
but from the start I knew that would be a problem because 
Americans in general just don't buy manual transmission cars 
these days, not from Ford, not from BMW, not any 
manufacturer of mass quantities of cars.

Also, it was real expensive for something that looked like a 
regular Taurus for the most part.

That and the Ford sales force, and the average dealership 
management, just don't know how to deal with anything 
outside the Mustang, basic cars or trucks!  Sporty?  what is 
that?  :)

Don Mallinson

Bill Strobel wrote:

> Correct me if I am wrong but they are still selling the Taurus but I do not see a SHO in the lineup.  Last year was 1999.  I do not think Ford dropped the SHO because they could not keep up with demand but because nobody was buying them.  The Taurus GL and Taurus LX those are sales successes the SHO wasn't.  That does not mean it wasn't a good car it was, but the SHO was not meant to be a Halo car but a car that generated 50,000 sales it year.  It fell way short.  It has lots of company, good cars that were not sales successes like the HEMI cars, the Dodge & Plymouth wing cars, the AC Cobras, the Boss Mustangs, COPO Camaros, etc etc.  Each are doing well on the auction scene but were not sales successes and died an early death.  If the SHO had been doing well on the showroom floor, you would be able to go to Ford today and buy a new one.  The base car is still available it just was not economically feasible for Ford to order the parts and maintain the repair parts in inven
to!
> ry based
>  on the sales numbers generated.  Why didn't the car sell?  Good question.  It got lots of great press, did well in the road tests, had 4 doors for utility, they added an automatic, but when it comes down to it, the vast majority of people still buy a car for utilitarian reasons going from point A to point B.  Oh sure they would like a sporty car but just aren't willing to pay the premium.  What it comes down to is the car was dropped because it wasn't a sales success not because it wasn't a good car.  They are two different things and should not be confused.  The public buys middle of the road cars.  Always have always will.  The fact that the auto manufactures have to relearn this every once in a while keeps guys like me (you) going back to the dealership and buying cars.  There have been some exceptions through the years like the Mustang 40+ years and going strong but even there the big seller is the bread & butter models.  GM dropped the F-body even though it was a bet
te!
> r car
>  than the Mustang on paper, in the road tests, bang for the buck, but in the one arena that really counts the Mustang outsold it handily.  Lets not rewrite history or look at our favorite car through rose colored glasses.  At the conventions I attended in the 90s sales figures were a constant worry for Ford corporate and ways to increase them were always high on the list.  Look at the buildup for the 1996 model, the little sales kits given away with the video, the drawing for the driving school etc, just the automatic transmission available trying to appeal to the middle of the road guy, and still the car only generates 10,000+ sales.  That was the beginning of the end.  They gave it their best shot but could not sell it.  In 1996 the SHO was the leader in Taurus marketing and it still would not sell in numbers to make it worthwhile.  After that Ford gave up on the car eventually canceling it.  The car is a good car but it was not a sales success.                   
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Bill Strobel
> Independent Towing
> Fayetteville NC
> 		
> ---------------------------------
> Do you Yahoo!?
> Win 1 of 4,000 free domain names from Yahoo! Enter now.
> _______________________________________________
> Shotimes mailing list
> Shotimes@autox.team.net
> http://www.team.net/mailman/listinfo/shotimes