Ford Taurus

First generation (1986–1991)

The first-generation Taurus was launched in 1985 as a 1986 model to strong fanfare and sales, replacing the slow-selling mid-size Ford LTD. (The full-size Ford LTD Crown Victoria remained as part of the Ford line up.) The release of the Ford Taurus was one of the most anticipated ever, mostly because it was a first in car design and also the start of new quality standards for Ford. At the time of the Taurus's debut, Ford had been producing mainly rear-wheel drive cars, and Chrysler and General Motors were offering more front-wheel drive vehicles up to midrange including the Chrysler K platform and A-body Chevrolet Celebrity. With the introduction of the Escort and Tempo, Ford was making a transition to front-wheel drive. The Taurus displayed a rounder shape than its contemporaries, often likened to a 'jelly bean' or 'flying potato', inspired by the design of the Audi 5000 and Ford's European sedan, the Ford Sierra, an updated appearance of a styling approach used in the late 1940s to early 1960s called "ponton" styling. Instead of a grille, the Taurus mainstreamed the smooth grille-less 'bottom breather' nose. The aerodynamic design of the Taurus made the car more fuel efficient, allowing Ford to meet more stringent corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standard applied by the United States government. The Taurus's success ultimately led to an American automobile design revolution; Chrysler and General Motors developed aerodynamic cars in order to capitalize on the Taurus's success. It also benefitted from sharing a similar appearance to the limited production Ford Mustang SVO introduced two years earlier in 1984.

The first generation was available with either a V6 or an inline four-cylinder engine and came with either a manual (MT-5) or automatic transmission. (The Taurus's twin, the Mercury Sable, has never offered a manual transmission in either of its incarnations.) Like its exterior, the Taurus's interior was ahead of its time, and many features originating from it are still used in most cars today. Its interior was designed to be extremely user-friendly, with all of its controls designed to be recognizable by touch, allowing drivers to operate them without taking their eyes off the road. For example, the switches to the power windows and power locks were designed with one half of the switch raised up, with the other half recessed, in order for its function to be identified by touch. To further enhance this quality, the car's dashboard has all of the controls in the central area within reach of the driver. The left side of the dash curves slightly around the driver to make controls easily accessible, as well as creating a "cockpit" feel.

The interior of the Taurus was customizable to fit buyers' needs, with a large number of options and three different configurations. This means that the interior of the Taurus can be spartan or luxurious, depending on the buyer's choice of options. On models with an automatic transmission, the Taurus's interior was available in three different seating configurations. The interior equipment depends on model. The most basic model, the L (see below), came standard, with just an AM radio and a front cloth bench seat, while the LX, the more luxurious model, came with a greater number of features as standard equipment.

The Taurus was well received by both the public and the press. It won many awards, most notably being named to the 1986 Car and Driver Ten Best List and becoming the 1986 Motor Trend Car of the Year Over 200,000 of the Taurus were sold during the 1986 model year and the millionth Taurus was sold during the 1989 model year. When production ended in 1991, more than 2,000,000 first-generation Tauruses had been sold.

Second generation (1992–1995)

The Taurus received its first cosmetic update in 1991. The second generation dropped the manual transmission and the four-cylinder engine, resulting in all second-generation vehicles (with the exception of the Taurus SHO) with automatic transmissions and V6 engines. Length was increased by a few inches, and weight was up a couple of hundred pounds over the previous generation. Every body panel, except for the doors, was redesigned. However, many of the redesigned components closely resembled those of the previous generation, leading many to falsely believe that this generation was just a minor face-lift.

The interior was also completely redesigned for 1992. The Taurus received a new dashboard that, like the previous generation, was designed to be user-friendly. All of the vehicle's main controls were located near the left side of the dash to be within easy reach of the driver. As in the previous generation, all of the controls were designed to be recognizable by touch and to be operated by drivers without taking their eyes off the road. The new dash also contained three buttons to the right of the gauge cluster that allowed drivers to operate the radio without taking their eyes off the road. The radio was also redesigned, while the rest of the lower dash was carried over from the previous generation, as was the steering wheel. The new dash was also designed to contain a passenger side airbag, making this the first time that a passenger side airbag was offered in a mainstream sedan. It was optional in 1992 and became standard in 1994, making the Taurus the first car of its kind to offer standard dual front airbags.

This generation sold just as well as the first, and became the best-selling car in the United States, a title it would retain for as long as this generation was sold. When production ended in 1995, more than 1,400,000 second-generation cars had been sold.

Third generation (1996–1999)

The 1996 model year saw the first complete redesign of the Taurus. It used a controversial new shape that chief designer Jack Telnack claimed was penned to make the Taurus stand out to sedan buyers, and likened the current Taurus to a pair of slippers. This shape was based upon an oval, which was clearly inspired by Ford's own logo, and while the previous Taurus used a flat, streamlined shape, this Taurus used a rounded shape similar to that of the Chrysler Concorde. Station wagons also got new sheet metal, although from the firewall back, the Taurus and Mercury Sable wagons again shared the same panels, with all station-wagon doors being the same as those used on the Sable sedans. As the new-generation Taurus was aimed at a more mature, affluent customer base, its exterior contained many upscale styling touches. For example, the LX offered optional chrome alloy wheels and optional chrome dual-exhaust tips. This newer model also displayed a "Taurus" badge on the back written in script, as opposed to the block letters used in previous generations.

The interior was also completely redesigned for the 1996 model year. Like that of the previous two generations, the interior was designed to be user-friendly. The dashboard wrapped slightly around the driver; all of the main controls were placed within easy reach and were designed to be recognizable by touch. The controls for the radio and climate control were combined into an oval-shaped "Integrated Control Panel" mounted in the center of the dash, which was created in response to many complaints from Taurus owners that they couldn't easily operate the main controls of the radios and climate-control systems without taking their eyes off the road. Another new innovation was the "Flip-Fold" center console, in which on bench seat-equipped cars, the middle section could be transformed into a console; the seat cushion folded out into a console with a lockable storage bin and cupholders, while the seatback folded down to become an armrest. A traditional center console with a floor-mounted shifter was installed on cars equipped with bucket seats.

Reaction to this new generation of Taurus was mixed. Ford found that customers were turned off by the car's oval shape, and although it managed to retain its title as the best-selling car in the United States, this was only because of heavy sales to rental fleets; 51% of all Taurus sales for 1996 went to rental fleets, in contrast to the Honda Accord and Toyota Camry, of which most sales were to private customers through retail outlets. In 1997, the Taurus would lose its best-selling status to the Camry. The 1996 Taurus (sedan only) was sold in Australia as a "Taurus Ghia" alongside the locally produced Ford Falcon, but imports ceased after only one year due to poor sales. However, from 1996–1998 both the sedan and station wagon Taurus were sold in New Zealand and both were quite popular, despite the New Zealand market also sharing the popular Ford Falcon/Fairmont/Fairlanes of Australia.

NASCAR

The third-generation Taurus had a presence in NASCAR, replacing the Thunderbird after the 1997 season. The Taurus became the first sedan to be approved for competition. The first Taurus driver to win the Winston Cup (now Sprint Cup) championship was Dale Jarrett, who drove #88 Ford Quality Care/Ford Credit-sponsored cars owned by Robert Yates. The first Taurus driver to win the Busch Series (now Xfinity Series) championship was Greg Biffle, who drove #60 Grainger Industrial Supply-sponsored cars owned by Jack Roush. In total, Tauruses have won three Winston Cup championships and two Busch Series championships.

Fourth generation (2000–2007)

The Taurus received another redesign for 2000, which replaced many of the oval-derived design elements of the previous model with sharper creases and corners, an aspect of Ford's New Edge styling language. To reduce the car's price and keep it competitive, Ford reduced costs on the car in 1999, such as giving the Taurus sedan rear drum brakes on ABS equipped vehicles (previously, upgrading to ABS included the addition of rear disc brakes), eliminating the dual exhaust on the higher end models, and trimming many other small features.

Ford designed the fourth generation with much more conservative styling in hopes of increasing the car's appeal. Instead of sloping back, the car's trunk stood upright in a more traditional shape, increasing trunk space by another two cubic feet. The roof was also given a more upright stance to increase headroom, which can be evidenced by the thicker C-pillar and larger area between the tops of the doors and the top of the roof.

The interior was also completely redesigned with a more conventional shape, although some features from the previous Taurus generations were carried over. The dashboard was given a squarer design instead of curving around the driver as in the previous generation. The "integrated control panel" concept was carried over but redesigned, with a bigger, squarer shape, and it was placed in the center of the dash instead of being angled toward the driver. The flip-fold center console was also carried over from the previous generation, although it was revamped as well. When folded out, it now rested against the floor instead of the dashboard, and had reworked cup holders and storage areas. In another change from previous versions, the fourth generation offered rear cup holders that either slid or folded out of the front console, depending on which console the car was equipped with.

Initial discontinuation and revival

Taurus LTD sales had slumped significantly in the years prior to its short-lived demise with model year 2007, losing significant market share to Japanese sedans. Due to waning popularity and customer demand, Ford decided to gradually discontinue the Taurus. The last Chicago, Illinois Ford Taurus Sedan rolled off the assembly line on June 25, 2004. Production of the Taurus wagon was discontinued on December 8, 2004; sedan retail sales halted after a short 2006 model year, and the Taurus became sold exclusively to fleets in the United States, while still being sold to retail customers in Canada. Production ended on October 27, 2006, as Ford idled the Atlanta plant, as part of its The Way Forward restructuring plan.

The last mid-size Ford Taurus rolled off the assembly line around 7:00 am, destined for delivery to S. Truett Cathy, owner of Chick-fil-A. Mr. Cathy's original restaurant was located across from the Ford Atlanta plant; Cathy credits the patronage he received from Atlanta assembly plant workers with making his restaurant successful enough to turn into a franchise. No ceremony marked the end of production. Ford had decided to replace the Taurus with the full-size Five Hundred (a revival of a nameplate dating to the 1960s) and midsize Fusion sedans and the Taurus wagon with the Freestyle crossover SUV.

Discontinuation of the Taurus was controversial. While many believed that the Taurus had been discontinued because it could no longer compete in the growing sedan market, others claimed Ford could have easily have saved the nameplate had it wished to. Autoblog went so far as to call the Taurus' discontinuation "the biggest fall from grace in automotive history" and even blamed Ford's current financial problems on its failure to keep the Taurus competitive, focusing too unilaterally on trucks and SUVs. The Truth About Cars published a review/editorial also showing their disappointment at how Ford neglected the Taurus to the point where it became a "rental car".

Workers thought Ford had abandoned a car that had done so much to revitalize Ford and the US industry. An October 25, 2006, USA Today editorial, "How Ford starved its Taurus", noted that the Japanese stuck with their winners and make them better (such as the Toyota Corolla, which has been in continuous production since the 1960s), while Detroit automakers retire cars and even entire division nameplates in search of "the next big thing".

But Alan Mulally, Ford's new CEO named in late 2006, wanted to revive the Taurus, saying in an interview with the Associated Press that he was baffled by the Taurus's discontinuation and believed it a mistake, adding that the Five Hundred should have been named "Taurus" from the beginning. Rumors of a possible Taurus revival were confirmed in early 2007, when the revamped Five Hundred and Freestyles were unveiled as "Taurus" and "Taurus X" at the 2007 Chicago Auto Show, a decision influenced strongly by Mulally. Later, Mulally explained that the fact that the Taurus's name recognition and positive brand equity strongly influenced his decision to revive the nameplate. The Mercury division's twin also dropped the Sable name in favor of reviving the historic Montego nameplate, used in the 1960s and 1970s, but the Sable name returned in 2008.

Fifth generation (2008–2009)

The fifth generation (5G) Taurus entered production in 2007 as a 2008 model and was developed directly from the Ford Five Hundred, chiefly with a mild exterior facelift and revised engine and transmission. Ford designated the model as the Taurus, after the demise of the concurrently marketed fourth generation (4G) Taurus and to take advantage of its customer recognition and dealer demand.

Changes to the 5G Taurus from the Five Hundred included a new front end and the 263 hp 3.5 L Duratec 35 V6, which replaces the 203 hp (151 kW) Duratec 30 3.0 L V6. The Five Hundred/Freestyle's ZF-Batavia CVT, which had a maximum torque rating of 221 lb·ft (300 N·m), was also replaced with a Ford-GM joint venture six-speed automatic with additional torque of the Duratec 35. The Aisin AW six-speed automatic which was used on FWD Five Hundred and Montegos was also replaced by the new Ford six-speed.

The Taurus sedan twin, the Mercury Sable nameplate, was revived from the Mercury Montego. For the 2009 model year, Ford revived the "SE" trimline for the Taurus. The SE sold for $24,125 according to Ford's website and served as the base model for the vehicle.

The 5G Taurus was sold in the Middle East as the Ford Five Hundred from 2008.

It was determined that Ford's strategy to redesignate new cars in the lineup with new names beginning with the letter F, as in Ford Focus, Ford Fusion, and Ford Freestyle, was not a good marketing move, as some of the renamed cars had highly recognizable iconic names. Car buyers in the U.S. did not associate the new F names with Ford, and were confused by the name changes. Mulally believed that the Taurus had an immediately strong brand equity, and that it would take years for consumers to have a similar recognition of the Five Hundred.

The 2008 Ford Taurus and Mercury Sable were awarded the Top Safety Pick ratings by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) and five-star ratings by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The five-star rating given to the Taurus and the Sable is the highest safety rating being given by the government agency.

Sixth generation (2010–2017)

The 2010 Ford Taurus was revealed at the Detroit International Auto Show in 2009 at Cobo Hall. The press preview of the Taurus and Taurus SHO was held in Asheville, North Carolina, from June 15 to June 19, 2009.

The Ford scored well in test drives and the media was pleased with some of the new features available in the 2010 Ford Taurus. Some of these features include all wheel drive, cross traffic alert, collision warning, blind spot monitoring and adaptive cruise control. However, others criticized the lack of interior room and reduced sight lines despite its full-sized exterior, and Edmunds noted that the eighth-generation Honda Accord (which competes in the midsize category) had superior driving dynamics and a more efficient design and offered almost as much interior space as the Taurus despite considerably smaller external dimensions.

The base price of the base SE model is $25,995. The mid grade SEL is priced at $27,995, and the top level Limited, at $31,995. Ford hopes to achieve a mix of 10% to 15% with its high-performance SHO model.

The Ford Taurus SHO (which stands for Super High Output), released in August, 2009, is the high-performance version of the Ford Taurus. The SHO is powered by Ford's new EcoBoost 3.5L V6 engine. The twin-turbocharged, gasoline direct injection power plant has 365 horsepower (272 kW) and 350 lb·ft (470 N·m) of torque. The EcoBoost V6 achieves 17/25 miles per gallon in AWD. The Taurus SHO base price is $37,995 which includes the EcoBoost V6, all wheel drive, upgraded 6-speed automatic transmission and numerous exterior and interior trim upgrades. A fully loaded SHO will be $45,000. There is also an available performance package on the new SHO, which includes upgraded brake pads, a 3.16:1 final drive ratio (compared to the standard 2.77:1), recalibrated electronic power steering, further suspension tuning, a re-calibrated AdvanceTrac system (Ford's combined Traction Control System and Electronic Stability Control) with sport mode and "true off", summer compound Goodyear Eagle F1 245/45ZR20 tires, and an electric air pump with fix-a-flat in lieu of a spare tire. Most options for the SHO remain available with the Performance Package including options such as Power Moonroof, Heated/Cooled Seats, Multi-Contour Seats, Auto-Sensing Lights and Wipers, Automatic High-Beams, Adjustable Pedals, Blind Spot Information System (BLIS), and Satellite Navigation. Options from the Driver Assist option group, however, are unavailable simultaneously with the Performance Package. Those options include Adaptive Cruise Control, Collision Warning System, Lane Keep Assist, and Active Park Assist.

Although the base 365 horsepower (272 kW) produced by the SHO from the factory may be considered mild in 2016, given the existence of 707 horsepower (527 kW) sedans like the Dodge Charger Hellcat, enthusiasts of the SHO have found the vehicle to be extremely compliant to power enhancing modifications, with the highest power SHO currently at 617 horsepower (460 kW) as produced by Livernois Motorsports for one of their customers. With the potential for truly competitive levels of power on an AWD platform, the largely unassuming looks of the SHO compared to the base Taurus make the SHO a cost effective sleeper.

2013 facelift and final production run

First revealed at the 2011 New York Auto Show, the Taurus received a refresh for the 2013 model year. The body features a new front fascia and slightly updated rear fascia with LED tail lamps, as well as all-new wheel options. The SHO model features revised styling elements, with unchanged power ratings from its EcoBoost V6. Refinements have been made to the 3.5 EcoBoost V6. Power in the 3.5L V6, standard in non-SHO models, is up to 288 hp and gets 19/29 MPG in FWD models, while getting 18/26MPG in AWD models. There is a new engine option for non-SHO models, a 2.0L EcoBoost Inline 4 developing 240 hp and 270 lb-ft of torque while delivering a best-in-class 22/32 miles per gallon. All models received upgrades to the steering and braking systems to improve driveability. For example, Torque Vectoring and curve control has been added as standard, and controls the cars ability to glide round corners at higher speeds. Updates to the Instrument dials have been added, they are now fully digital and clearer and more colourful. MyFord Touch will also be part of Taurus's Sync system.

Seventh generation for Chinese Market (2016–present)

A seventh-generation Ford Taurus was unveiled at the 2015 Shanghai Auto Show in April 2015. It bears a closer resemblance to the current Ford Fusion/Mondeo but with an extended wheelbase and is unique to the Mainland Chinese market. Designed in conjunction with Ford Australia and currently manufactured by Changan Ford Automobile Co., Ltd. in Hangzhou, it comes in two engine variants paired with either 2.0T EcoBoost engine or twin-turbo 2.7T V6 EcoBoost engine. Although this particular model is not manufactured outside China, there is a possibility that it will be exported to other markets in the near future.