Overview
The Five Hundred was introduced at the 2004 North American International Auto Show in Detroit. It entered production on July 12, 2004 in Chicago, which previously produced the fourth-generation midsize Taurus, and it became available to the public in September 2004. While the Taurus's direct replacement in the midsize classification was the slightly smaller Ford Fusion, introduced in 2005, the Five Hundred was also considered by some to be a successor as well, and it replaced the Taurus on the Chicago Assembly line.
The Five Hundred, along with the Ford Freestyle and the Mercury Montego, ended production in April 2007. The mid-generational refresh for the 2008 model year debuted during the 2007 North American International Auto Show, with the Five Hundred being rebranded as the 2008 Ford Taurus, which returned that name to the Ford retail lineup after a short absence. The previous Taurus—which used a different chassis and was slotted in the smaller category of midsize cars—was available in the 2007 model year for private fleet sale and in Canada.
The facelifted Five Hundred entered the Middle East market starting from the 2008 model year.
Read more about this topic: Ford Five Hundred