When the Ford plant in Lima, Ohio, opened its doors in 1957, it was tasked with building the V-8 engine for the ill-fated Edsel. Since that day, the fortunes of the plant have remained tied to the popularity of certain models.

So it's understandable if the 550-plus workers at the Lima plant are holding their collective breath a bit, as the company launches its efforts to market the 2010 Ford Taurus and its Lima-built Duratec engine.

It's been a while since the Lima plant has been part of a really hot model and, by most accounts, the latest version of the Taurus is heading toward hot.

The car was officially unveiled in January at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. The car drew a lot of attention in an otherwise unspectacular year for the Detroit Three automakers. Since then, the automotive press has been largely complimentary.

"It really is a lot of car for the money," said Martin DuFresne, a freelance writer for Britain's Motorway Press. "It looks good, it drives good, and it has the kind of refinement you expect from a much more expensive car. I suspect it's going to take off with certain elements of the public, and, if the economy improves, maybe a lot of them."

That's exactly what Adrian Price wants to hear. As Lima's plant manager, Mr. Price and his crew have high hopes that the new Taurus will catch fire as it did in the mid-1980s when the Taurus bested Honda and all other comers to become the best-selling family car in America.

"We're very excited here at the plant, and we're hoping as the product launches and the public gets to see it, they'll be excited too and help increase volumes," Mr. Price said.

So far, so good It's hard to imagine a worse time to release a new car than this fall. Months of recession, high unemployment rates and a severe credit crunch had all but crippled car sales by midsummer. But just as Ford prepared to ship the new Taurus out to dealers, a lifeline was cast to the industry in the form of the Cash for Clunkers program. The federal incentive offered $4,500 to people willing to trade in their gas-guzzler on a new, more fuel-efficient car. That sent buyers to the lot and Ford, more than any other car company, cashed in.

Ford saw a 21 percent jump in sales in August, beating out every other car company except Hyundai. And while it was the automaker's fuel-efficient models, such as the Focus, Fusion and Escape, that led the way, the new Taurus sold better than most people expected.

"So far it's going pretty well. We delivered just a handful at the end of July, 300 or so. Then [in August] we delivered 2,335, so it did well," said George Pipas, director of sales analysis and reporting for Ford.

Between Cash for Clunkers and Ford's marketing campaign for the new model, the Taurus is off to a good start. But Pipas doesn't expect sales numbers to continue climbing at that rate forever.

"I wouldn't be looking for another sevenfold increase in the month of September, but we have a little more inventory, and we'll see how it goes," Mr. Pipas said.

Ford no longer releases sales projections on individual models, but early sales have topped expectations.

The base model begins at around $25,000 but can shoot up to $37,000 with options. Even at that, Mr. Pipas said, it's a relative deal given the competition.

"We've had to go outside the segment to the luxury segment to find cars to compare it to," Mr. Pipas said. "There's really no car in its class that really comes close to it."

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