Ford Five Hundred

Mid-size car

The Ford Five Hundred is a full-size automobile that was manufactured and marketed by Ford from 2004 to 2007, and debuted as a 2005 model year vehicle. Deriving its nameplate from the ''500" suffix used by Ford on the Custom 500, Fairlane 500 and Galaxie 500 model ranges from the 1950s to 1970s, the Five Hundred was the larger of two model lines intended to replace the Ford Taurus (the Ford Fusion being the smaller vehicle). Within the Ford model line, the Five Hundred was slotted between the Fusion and Crown Victoria. Marking the debut of the Ford D3 platform, the Five Hundred marked several firsts for full-size Ford vehicles, introducing front-wheel drive, all-wheel drive (as an option), unibody construction, and the first generation sold without a V8 engine (since the Ford Model A). Along with the first completely new full-size chassis since 1979, the 2005 Five Hundred introduced two distinct full-size model lines to Ford (for the first time since the 1978 discontinuation of the Custom 500). The Five Hundred was produced exclusively as a four-door sedan, with the role of the Ford Taurus station wagon adopted by the Ford Freestyle (marketed as a CUV by Ford). The Five Hundred was marketed by Lincoln-Mercury under the revived Mercury Montego nameplate, slotted between the Mercury Milan and Mercury Grand Marquis. For the 2008 model year, for a mid-cycle revision, the Five Hundred was re-christened as the Ford Taurus; the Freestyle became the Taurus X, with the Mercury Montego renamed the Mercury Sable. Outside of North America and South Korea, the Five Hundred name remained in use through 2009. The Five Hundred was assembled by Ford at its Chicago Assembly facility (Chicago, Illinois) alongside the Freestyle and Montego. Excluding export sales, 241,402 Ford Five Hundreds were produced. From Wikipedia