[1] The entire range was first presented in September 1964 and volume production of the two and four door saloons began in November 1964.

The rear panel might have been seen as following the silhouette of a bathtub, and there were those who applied the “Wanne” (Tub) soubriquet, reminiscent of the “Badewanne” soubriquet of the P3, but the P5 appeared to be more of a committee design, which may explain why the automotive press was by now losing its previous enthusiasm for promoting a new catchy nickname for each new Ford Taunus model launched.

[3] A subsequently introduced version of the 1699 cc car came with a quoted power output of 75 PS (55 kW; 74 hp).

[3] The P5 came with a “Startautomatik” which appears to have been a form of the automatic choke originally introduced in 1960 with the earlier 17M, but still something of a novelty in this class of car.

[1] Power was transferred from the engine to the rear wheels via a three-speed all-synchromesh manual gear box controlled using a column-shift.

[3] A three-speed fully automatic “Taunomatik” transmission, modelled closely on the North American "Fordomatic" was listed from May 1966, although it was nearly the end of 1966 before a few Taunus P5s thus equipped began to be delivered.

[3] The suspension followed what was becoming, especially for Fords in Europe, a conventional pattern, applying MacPherson struts at the front and a bream axle suspended on leaf springs at the back.

The Hardtop-Coupé which appeared only in 1966[1] was virtually indistinguishable from the two-door saloon up to the car's waist-level, but a shortened roof line and an increased rake for the rear-window ensured that the price of the coupé's elegance was paid by rear seat passengers in terms of severely restricted head room.

Unusually for a German-designed Ford at the time, the P5 was produced in right hand drive in South Africa[5] and Southern Rhodesia.