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Californians, traditionally known for not embracing vehicles out of Motown, have unexpectedly taken a liking to the redesigned 2010 Ford Taurus, says freep.com. Launched two months ago, the Taurus ’s second-best selling market for September was California, coming in behind metro Detroit.

“That’s a significant change for us,” Amy Marentic, Ford’s marketing manager for large cars and crossovers said. “The older Taurus … did not move and really wasn’t relevant in California.”

A 2007 attempt to breathe fresh life into the Taurus failed when Ford tried to rebadge their Five Hundred. Last fall as industry numbers plummeted, the Taurus saw a drop in sales of 25%, while Ford saw a total drop of 34.5%. This September however, Taurus sales totaled 5,077, a 60.1% increase over last September, according to Autodata Corp.

The Taurus is definitely in the midst of an image makeover, as popularity of the new model is surging over previous generation in markets all over. Marentic also reports that a staggering 95% of consumers are ordering higher-end Taurus models, or opting for high-end options. To illustrate her point, Marentic points out that only 4% of buyers of the old Taurus opted for the $1,9995 navigation system, compared with 25% of the current generations buyers.

Pricing for the 2010 Taurus ranges anywhere from $25,170, to $31,995, depending on the options one chooses. Those figures of course do not apply to the high-performance beast of a vehicle, the SHO, which starts at $37,995.

Check out our review of the 2010 Ford Taurus SHO.

2010 Ford Taurus:

- By: Stephen Calogera

Source: Free Press