This is a Ford Taurus GL sedan, seen in central Beijing in the cold winter of 2013. The American sedan was in reasonable shape, painted in dark green and fitted with factory-original wheel covers. It also had very old black Beijing license plates.
The Ford Taurus
Ford manufactured the third-generation Ford Taurus sedan from 1996 until 1999. It featured a streamlined design and a notably rear window with rounded edges. It had twin headlights, a small grille, large bumpers, and a tiny antenna on the left-rear fender.
Ford didn’t sell the Taurus officially in China, so it is very rare here. The license plate is an indicator of an imported non-China-spec vehicle; the plate is too wide for the US-spec license plate space in the bumper. To make things worse, the owner of this particular example also added shiny license plates, which were highly popular in China in the early 2000s.
The interior
The interior design was as rounded as the exterior. There isn’t a straight line in sight! It has cloth seats, electric windows, and a busy center stack with a radio cassette player. The owner of this particular car added a warm fake-fur seat cover, a steering wheel cover, a lucky charm, and a lot of mess! There’s a tissue box, orange peels in one of the cup holders, and an extra aftermarket cup holder fitted in the air vent. What a mess! This is an old American car, so the shifter is on the steering wheel column.
Specifications of the Ford Taurus
The GL was the entry-level model of the third-generation Ford Taurus. It had a 3.0 V6 “Vulcan” engine, with an output of 177 hp and 250 Nm. Ford mated the motor to a 4-speed automatic gearbox, sending all horsepower to the front wheels. Ford claimed a 210 km/h top speed.
Black license plates
Chinese authorities issued the famous black license plates to foreign-owned companies from the 1980s to the mid-2000s. These companies could either buy a car locally or import one, with no restrictions on quantity, price, or engine type.
Other Chinese cities, including Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Chengdu, had similar black plate license plate programs. The Beijing black plates started with 京A, with ‘京’ short for 北京, Beijing.
The numbering started at 京A·00001 and increased sequentially, meaning lower numbers indicate older vehicles. This Ford Taurus has 京A·17937, so that’s an early car.
How many of these are in China?
Over the years, I have only seen a handful of the third-generation Ford Taurus sedan in China. I have never seen a wagon. Interestingly, in 2016, Ford launched a new Taurus, this time especially developed for the Chinese market, and manufactured by Changan-Ford. Production ended in 2022.