Ford bets new 2010 Taurus could be key to financial future

— -- Pete Reyes, engineer by training and manager by talent, had just finished the development and launch of Ford's 2008 Super Duty pickups and had been reassigned to study Ford Motor's testing methods when he had a fateful conversation.

Frank Davis, executive director of product development in North America, came into Reyes' Dearborn, Mich., office across the road from Ford's test track, closed the door and said, "I'm not leaving until you say, 'Yes.' "

That was October 2007. Since then, the corporate G-forces haven't let up for Reyes as chief engineer for the Taurus' redesign. He was taking over a pet project of CEO Alan Mulally that had begun in June 2007 and already was behind schedule.

The marching orders from Davis, a longtime colleague in developing Ford trucks: "We've signed up for an incredibly aggressive timeline. We're off. Go put it back" on track.

The big 2010 Taurus sedan will be in showrooms around Aug. 1, and for more reasons than you have fingers to count, it's the most important Ford since the original 1986 Taurus.

Taurus "is very important, a statement about Ford," Mulally tells USA TODAY. "The challenge we have is (convincing car shoppers) that 'We're back' in cars, with a full family" of car models.

He thinks he has a winner, calling the new Taurus "the neatest large sedan we have ever made."

While Ford's small Focus and redesigned midsize Fusion have hit sweet spots in the sour auto market, Ford has had no knockout punch, no flagship sedan that declares its car expertise in the way its top-selling F-Series pickups show truck prowess.

"People have always considered our trucks," says Derrick Kuzak, Ford's vice president in charge of global product development. "We're trying to get people to get serious about considering Ford cars."

Critical reasons

Other reasons Taurus is critical for Ford:

•It is a radically new body, interior and suspension riding a rework of the current car's chassis — not quite enough to be literally "all new" in industry engineering parlance, but new territory for Ford's product line, design and marketing.

•It is intended to set the tone and pace for future Ford development programs.

•It is testing new theories about what big-car buyers really want.

•Its development included Japaneselike obsessing over small details owners might not notice unless the details are missing or poorly executed.