When Ford started the Aluminum Intensive Vehicle (AIV) program they heralded the "promise of aluminum" in their press materials. More expensive than steel but significantly lighter, aluminum was the future of automobile production if they could figure out a way to stamp and bond the parts.

The first attempt to produce any quantity of aluminum vehicles resulted in the AIV Sable project. None of the press materials or articles indicate why they chose a Sable and not a Taurus, but the slightly more up-scale nature of the car is one possibility.

Using aluminum parts for the body panels was something new, especially on a mass production car like the Mercury mid-size sedan. This car features aluminum body panels that are spot welded and adhesively bonded together — both procedures were invented to create this car. With the addition of aluminum suspension parts and other components the car weighs 400 pounds less than a similar Taurus.