UNBELIEVABLY, in the early 1990s when Ford Australia was losing millions of dollars, sales were down and the repuation of the EB Falcon was still under the unreliable early EA model's pall, Ford seriously considered a version of this generation Taurus as a 1998 Falcon replacement. Happily, the decision not to was made, which turned out to be the correct one soon after Ford released this front-wheel drive American-made family car in early 1996 as a prestige import. Aimed squarely at the likes of the Nissan Maxima, Honda Accord and Holden Calais (but also the in-house EF Fairmont Ghia), the Taurus tanked spectacularly both critically and commercially. As Ford was to find out all-too-well with the similarly styled AU Falcon two year later, Aussies hated the Taurus' blobby design by no small degree. In fact, it repelled consumers worldwide. In the USA this car's pretty 1986-1995 predecessor was the top-selling passenger car, but after the Mk2 came out there in late 1995 buyers headed straight for Toyota Camry and Honda Accord dealers. Anyway, Ford Australia must have felt secretly vindicated with its decision to go the Aussie Falcon route, and pulled the plug on its "American patient" barely two and a half years after its debut here. By the way, it reportedly cost Ford in the USA over one billion dollars to bring this turkey to market...