2016 Ford Taurus to ride atop reworked Fusion platform

[Ford_News]

Filed under: Sedan (http://www.autoblog.com/category/sedans/), Ford (http://www.autoblog.com/ford/)
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Generally, cars get bigger and heavier as they get older. That's why it looks so ridiculous when you park a classic Mini (http://www.autoblog.com/mini/) next to a modern version. The same can be said of the Corvette (http://www.autoblog.com/chevrolet/corvette/), the BMW 3 Series (http://www.autoblog.com/bmw/3+series/), Porsche 911 (http://www.autoblog.com/porsche/911/) and, of course, the Ford Taurus (http://www.autoblog.com/ford/taurus/). In the Taurus' case, though, that size has become a liability, particularly because the big brute isn't nearly as sizable on the inside as it is on the out.

For 2016, Ford (http://www.autoblog.com/ford/) is aiming to rectify that. According to Edmunds (http://www.edmunds.com/car-news/2016-ford-taurus-will-be-quicker-lighter.html), the 2016 Taurus will ride on a stretched and widened Ford Fusion (http://www.autoblog.com/ford/fusion/) platform. Ford is expecting this move to go a long way in trimming the Taurus' ample body fat.

"The problem with today's Taurus is that it is overweight and even the high performance SHO is not really competitive," said a source that spoke to Edmunds on condition of anonymity. The 365-horsepower SHO variant, "actually weighs about as much as the stretched Audi A8 L (http://www.autoblog.com/audi/a8/). Of course, Audi (http://www.autoblog.com/audi/) uses an extensive amount of aluminum, but it is a much bigger car."

It's unclear just how much fat Ford is expecting to extract from the Taurus, but for comparison, the aforementioned SHO tips the scales at 4,455 pounds, while a front-drive Fusion with the 2.0-liter EcoBoost is just 3,526. That gives Ford a lot of wiggle room. "Ford's big focus will be on light-weighting," the source told Edmunds.

Besides the diet, Ford is also planning to fit its biggest car with a new nine-speed automatic, in a bid to improve on fuel economy, according to Edmunds' source. It's unclear which engines will be featured, although we'd bet our bottom dollar that the 2.0-liter, turbocharged four-cylinder currently serving in the Taurus will be retained. Outside of that, though, it's anyone's guess. The 2.3-liter EcoBoost from the new Mustang might make an adequate replacement to the naturally aspirated V6 while the EcoBoosted engine from the SHO will likely carry on.

What are your thoughts on this? Should Ford be pushing the weight savings in a car that is so darn big and what should be the target weight? Would an all turbo lineup for the Taurus make sense? Let us know in Comments.2016 Ford Taurus to ride atop reworked Fusion platform (http://www.autoblog.com/2014/03/19/2016-ford-taurus-reworked-fusion-platform-report/) originally appeared on Autoblog (http://www.autoblog.com) on Wed, 19 Mar 2014 14:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds (http://www.mnfords.com/rss-term-of-use/).
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[ZephyrEFI]

It's unfortunate Ford swung the pendulum so far the other way from the '08-09 Taurus. My parents had a Montego and that thing was HUGE inside. They were trying to make this Taurus look tougher as the older one was pretty dull, but in doing so, they had to mess up the interior.

Whoever decided to keep using that Volvo platform WAAAYYYY longer than they should have, I'm assuming Mullaly canned long ago. That thing is a PIG. And so is everything that rides on it. Worst of all, they used it for Explorer's turning over a new leaf, but the result is only barely more efficient than the body on frame SUV it used to be.

I heard a story once of the engineer in charge or replacing the Lincoln LS went to his superiors for what direction they wanted to take. They told him to develop a FWD based large sedan based on the Volvo architecture. When he protested, he was told JFDI, just effin' do it. That car because the MKS. Just think how different things would be if they'd given the Jaguar/LS architecture the same attention they've given the Volvo crap. We'd probably have RWD Fords up the wazoo!