I’ve attended two presentations by Ford today. The big news at Ford: they’re going to offer “more products people want.” I must wonder how long it took them to develop this strategy.

And does this mean they’ll still offer some products that they know people don’t want? Or that they knowingly did this in the past?

I’m failing to see how this new strategy would be different.

The other part of the “new strategy” is “simplexity,” which means they’re going to take products that are necessarily complex and make them simple enough for their typical buyer. And this means? Partly new features like SYNC, which will make iPods and the like controllable through buttons on the steering wheel and voice commands.

But more than this, it apparently means “stronger brands with clear messages.” Because that’s what people want.

The first practical application: renaming the Five Hundred as the Taurus and the Freestyle as the Taurus X. Because even after two years and millions of advertising dollars no one knows what a Five Hundred is or that a Freestyle isn’t the same as a Freestar. But the public still knows the name Taurus.

They needed to hire an outsider as CEO to figure out this “bold move.” One of the Jalopnik posse put it best: “Apparently the Way Forward is backward.” (Ford’s comeback plan is titled “The Way Forward.”)

The Mercury Montego is also being renamed, as the Sable, but that’s probably a wash. Even after two decades on the market few people knew what a Sable was.