[1] In the late 1990s and early 2000s, sales of the Taurus declined as it lost market share to Japanese mid-size sedans and as Ford shifted resources towards developing SUVs.

[7] The fifth best-selling Ford nameplate in North America, the Taurus has been surpassed only by the F-Series, Escort, Model T, and Mustang.

[8][9][10] Between 1992 and 1996, the Taurus was the best-selling car nameplate in the United States, overtaken by the current title holder in 1997, the Toyota Camry.

Ford also adopted a quality culture employing statistical process control across all aspects of automobile design and manufacture.

The Taurus displayed a rounder shape than its contemporaries, often likened to a "jelly bean" or "flying potato",[17] 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.

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 left side of the dash curves slightly around the driver to make controls easily accessible, as well as creating a "cockpit" feel.

The interior offered numerous trim levels, from spartan or luxurious, as well as various seating configurations,[20] The most trim level, the L, featured an AM radio and a front cloth bench seat, while the LX, the more luxurious model, came with more numerous features as standard equipment.

[22] The Taurus received its first redesign in late 1991 for the 1992 model year, using the same chassis and with revisions to every exterior body panel other than the doors — largely as major facelift to the first generation design,[11] gaining several inches in length and over 200 pounds in curb weight,[23] and marketed solely V6 engines and automatic transmissions.

[11] The second generation become the best-selling car in the United States, maintained the title throughout its duration,[11] and reached a production of 1.4 million before ending in 1995.

[24] In a break from the familiar styling of the previous two generations (that chief designer Jack Telnack had likened to a "pair of slippers"),[25] Ford had sought to again make the Taurus stand out for buyers of mid-size sedans, giving the vehicle a much more extensive restyling than its 1992 predecessor.

[31] The first Taurus driver to win the Winston Cup (the NASCAR sponsor of the time) championship was Dale Jarrett, who drove No.

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.

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.

[12] Having already lost its status as the best-selling car in America when it was surpassed by the Honda Accord and Toyota Camry in 1997, by 2005, it had fallen to fourth-place behind the Nissan Altima, which made Ford decide to discontinue the entire Taurus line.

Production ended on October 27, 2006, as Ford idled the Atlanta plant, as part of its "The Way Forward" restructuring plan.

The last Ford Taurus rolled off the assembly line around 7:00am,[35] destined for delivery to S. Truett Cathy, owner of Chick-fil-A.

The discontinuation of the Taurus sparked debate given its once-strong position in the market and Ford's well-publicized financial problems at the time.

Analysts, customers and some interviewed Ford employees criticized the company for failing to invest in the car and keep it competitive, instead focusing all of its resources on developing and marketing trucks and SUVs.

[39][40] A USA Today editorial entitled "How Ford starved its Taurus" noted that the Taurus's death was part of a broader trend of the Detroit Big Three willingly abandoning once-successful nameplates and divisions in search of "the next big thing", while their foreign competitors have been gaining market share by continuously improving their veteran nameplates.

[43] Newly-hired Ford CEO Alan Mulally expressed similar opinions, telling the Associated Press the decision "perplexed" him when he learned about it; he recalled asking subordinates, "How can it go away?

"[38] As the successor Five Hundred was struggling in the marketplace, Mulally viewed the decision to discontinue the Taurus as a "mistake that needed to be fixed", noting, "The customers want it back.

"[38] At the time, Ford had already unveiled a face-lifted Five Hundred at the 2007 North American International Auto Show, which had revised styling and a more powerful engine.

The fifth-generation 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.

[3][50] 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.

[54] Some of these features included 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,[55] and Edmunds noted that the eighth-generation Honda Accord (which competes in the mid-size category) had superior driving dynamics and a more efficient design, while offering almost as much interior space as the Taurus despite considerably smaller external dimensions.

The SHO (Super High Output), released in August 2009,[57] was powered by a twin-turbocharged, gasoline direct-injection EcoBoost 3.5L V6 engine.

There was also an available performance package which included 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-only tread-compound Goodyear Eagle F1 245/45ZR20 tires, and an electric air pump with a canned tire inflator in lieu of a spare tire.