LAS VEGAS -- Ford Motor Co. CEO Alan Mulally showed dealers the yet-to-be revealed face of the new Ford Taurus sedan during a closed-door meeting Thursday.
Mulally was wrapping up the final wave of dealer meetings in Las Vegas, where the automaker has been launching a new marketing campaign, "Ford. Drive One."
Jim Farley, Ford's group vice president for marketing and communications, whose voice was hoarse from giving speeches to dealers all week, told the Free Press that dealers gave the new Taurus a standing ovation.
The vehicle was unveiled as the finale to the dealer meetings.
"They were really excited," Farley said of the new Taurus. "I think it's been a while since they had something to stand up and clap about."
It is unclear when Ford plans to bring the new Taurus to market.
Ford spokesman Jim Cain declined to comment on the meeting.
Jeff Robberson, owner of a Ford, Lincoln and Mercury dealership in Bend, Ore., would not describe the new Taurus -- but he said it is amazing.
"The closing part of the dealership meeting was just so incredible," he said.
Robberson said the confidence that dealers are feeling toward Ford right now is a big change from the frustration of recent years. His family has owned its store for 50 years.
"The change in the leadership is just so incredible," he said. "They had some people in tears. It was very emotional."
The Taurus sedan has long been a favorite of Mulally.<object height="355" width="425">
<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/MsImSciN5O8&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="355" width="425"></object>Shortly after he arrived in Dearborn in September 2006, Ford changed the name of its larger family sedan back to the Taurus from the Five Hundred. Ford also implemented several mid-cycle changes aimed at improving sales and market position.
In January remarks, he alluded to a new Taurus that would be launched in the next "year or so." That new Taurus is the Taurus that originally should have been launched, Mulally said at the time, but he declined to elaborate, telling journalists he probably had said too much already.
Dealers also warmly welcomed the automaker's new advertising campaign.
The campaign aims to highlight Ford's accomplishments and commitment in four key areas: quality, green, safe, smart.
The multimillion-dollar campaign, which is to include a variety of print and multimedia messages, will seek to show consumers why Ford cars and trucks are worthy of consideration in the four key areas.
The campaign also will invite consumers to test-drive a new Ford, not unlike the Ford campaign from the 1980s, which asked: "Have you driven a Ford lately?"
In assessing Ford's situation as he planned Ford's new "Drive One" campaign, Farley said he concluded that consumers had moved beyond skepticism to apathy when it came to Ford products.
Because of that, he said he actually consulted a psychologist to better understand how to break through and at least get people to consider Ford again.
Ultimately, he decided that getting real people, who either work at Ford or test-drive their products, to talk candidly to others about their impressions was the best way to embark on the new campaign.
Farley acknowledged that the campaign feels similar in some ways to others in recent years.
"The people side is some combination of Saturn and Wal-Mart," he said.
Still, he thought it was the best way to go for Ford because it's what the auto company is really about.
While Ford's national advertising focuses on Ford employees, dealer advertising will focus on people who test-drove a Ford in a so-called friend-to-friend program across the country.
That people focus will help Ford get the most for the $1.5 billion that the automaker spends annually on advertising.
Farley also suggested that the "Drive One" campaign is here to stay, criticizing prior efforts.
"Ford has had six campaigns in six years," he said, which he likened to putting dealers through a washing machine.
