Earl Lucas, designer of sleek new 2010 Ford Taurus from Dallas

The Dallas Morning News had a nice profile in this week’s business section on Earl Lucas who lead the design team of the 2010 Ford Taurus. Lucas is a former resident of Dallas who attended Booker T. Washington High School. Here are some highlights from Taurus designer has roots in Oak Cliff written by Terry Box.

• As design manager for the Taurus, Lucas oversaw the complete revamping of the sedan’s exterior, he said Wednesday at the Dallas Auto Show after the Texas introduction of the striking 2010 Taurus SHO.

• But its first in-house unveiling – to a group of high-level Ford executives – was decidedly less than a success.”They said, ‘If that’s the best you can do, we’ll cancel the whole program,’ ” said Lucas, 38, who attended Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Dallas with singers Norah Jones and Erykah Badu as well as jazz trumpeter Roy Hargrove.

• Lucas, a big, good-natured man unfazed by challenges, sat down with his designers and figured out how to fix the car – so well, in fact, that the new Taurus has been featured on the covers of at least two major car magazines and is viewed as one of Ford’s most significant new cars in decades.

• He joined Ford Motor Co. 10 years ago and designed the interior of the Ford Flex crossover vehicle. But, he said, he had been lobbying hard to do an exterior when he was assigned the Taurus – about as big a design job as you could land at Ford.Auto industry consultant Wes Brown, among others, appreciates Lucas’ work. “It’s got a real nice profile,” said Brown, an analyst at Iceology in Los Angeles.

Not sure, but I think credit for the image with the post goes to Michael Ainsworth.