• USA Today, Thursday, July 2, 2009 10:35 AM

The 2010 Taurus sedan that hits showrooms around Aug. 1 is the most important Ford since the original 1986 Taurus, James R. Healey reports, and CEO Alan Mulally knows it. Taurus "is very important, a statement about Ford," he says. "The challenge we have is (convincing car shoppers) that 'We're back' in cars, with a full family" of models.

There are several other reasons besides the obvious financial ones that the Taurus is critical for Ford's future. It's new territory for Ford's product line, design and marketing with a radically new body, interior and suspension. It also sets the tone and pace for future Ford development programs, Healey writes, and is testing new theories about what big-car buyers really want.

The development included Japanese-like obsession over small details, and it has styling touches that are there just because designers liked them. "The old Ford would have said, 'Let's don't do that,' " says Taurus design chief Earl Lucas.

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