by James Hamel

Created on: October 05, 2009

It is a tricky business finding a good name when the time comes to market your new product and it is no different in the auto industry. So many disastrous naming events have befallen automakers that it seems nowadays they have given up coming up with names altogether. How many A4s and C1s and 328s and 525s and i30s do there have to be on the world market before this trend toward alpha-numeric nomenclature finally backfires?

Let's be honestthe letter and number naming system really only works for Audi, BMW and Mercedes because they could sell their cars with names like Flaming Hot Mess or Gigantic Piece of Junk and people would still buy them. In the more mainstream end of the sector it is the icons of naming like Accord, Camry, Mustang, Jetta and Civic that hold most sway with buyers.

Other manufacturers, it seems, can never seem to stick to one name for their cars. How many times has the model formerly known as the Chevy Cavalier had a name change? Cavalier then Cobalt and soon to be Cruze. These are all Chevy economy cars and they all share the one trait of being woefully average.

But no naming story is as bizarre as that of the Ford Taurus. Launched originally in 1986 to big sales (even to private buyers) and an adoring press, the first Taurus was stylistically groundbreaking. A slug-like redesign in 1996 did not help sales and drove the Taurus forever into the unforgiving arms of the nation's rental car fleet. When Ford redesigned their full size sedan they not only sucked out any remaining personality but they also changed the name to 500. But this was not to be the end of the Taurus name.

A couple of years later as the 500 languished way behind in the sales race, then new Ford Chairman Alan Mulally decided that the Taurus name still had some cachet. But instead of attaching it to a great new design he just slapped it on the back of the dull as dishwater 500 hoping it would jump start sales. It sadly, did not. But 2009 is set to be the true test of the Taurus nameplate as Ford is using the moniker for its new drop dead gorgeous full size sedan. Yes, people, the Taurus is back and it's looking good. You might even want to buy one and not just rent one for that weekend in Boca Raton.

As philosopher George Santayana once said, Those who do not remember their history are doomed to repeat it. Let's just hope automakers are aware of this fact.

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