Various theories have been put forward as to why the “Ford Taunus 17M” name of the P5 was replaced with “Ford 17M” for the P7. The most likely explanation seems to be that the Ford of Germany, which for the first time since the war, now had a German general (managing) director, in Max Ueber, who had previously worked as the company’s sales director,Hobby: das Magazin der Technik vol:17/67 date:23 August 1967 “Die Ford-Weke in Koeln haben zum ersten Male nach dem Krieg einen deutschen Generaldirektor, den bisherigen Verkaufsdirektor” took the view that the longer name was for most purposes too much of a mouthful.
