DETROIT -- Sales of the Ford Taurus are still a far cry from the days when it was the best-selling nameplate in America. But Ford says the restyled and re-engineered sedan is off to a better start than company officials had expected in this weak market.
Ford says its other summer launch, the Transit Connect, also is surpassing internal sales forecasts.
With 2,300 sold in August, first-month sales for the new Taurus were more than double Ford's internal goal of 1,100, said Ken Czubay, the company's vice president of U.S. marketing, sales and service.
Orders for the high-performance SHO model are 50 percent higher than expected, Czubay said. Total Taurus sales, counting the outgoing model, were 3,398 in August, down 23.8 percent.
With 2,220 sold in August, sales of the Transit Connect small commercial van were 42 percent higher than internal forecasts. The Transit Connect is imported from Turkey.
"We've hit the ground running," Czubay said.
Although it's too early to judge the success of either product launch, he said, their positive start in August and the balance of sales among Ford's cars and trucks "may be a harbinger of better business conditions to come."
Ford is still building dealer stocks of the 2010 Taurus and Transit Connect. Despite what Ford calls the better-than-expected performance in August, the Taurus still has a long way to go. Taurus sales in 2008 totaled 52,667 -- nothing like the old days.
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