Ford will have to use another name on its new mid-size family sedan due out in the US next year after a federal court ruled the Pep Boys automotive parts chain owns the name “Futura”, the Detroit News said.
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The paper said the new car, to be built in Hermosillo, Mexico, is the eventual replacement for the ageing Taurus and is critical to Ford’s fight to regain US market share.
Philadelphia-based Pep Boys, which currently uses “Futura” on some of its tyres, reportedly sued Ford over rights to the name and a US District Court judge in Detroit recently ruled in the chain’s favour, saying that Ford abandoned the trademark years ago with no intent ever to use it again.
The Detroit News noted that this is the second time in less than two years that Ford has lost the right to use a famous marque from its past – last year, the company was forced to change the name of its new sports car from GT40 to GT because a company that makes vehicle kits had laid claim to the name that Ford made famous in the 1960s.
Ford — in keeping with its strategy to christen all Ford brand products with a name beginning with “F” — must now come up with another name for its new midsize car, the paper added.
Ironically, Ford Australia still uses the Futura name on a version of its locally designed and built rear-drive Falcon, a car about the same size as the new US sedan.
