Ford was suffering from a lackluster product line from the late 1970s to the early 1980s, and then-chairman Philip Caldwell staked much of the finances and future of the company on Veraldi and his team's success, giving them unprecedented leeway in developing what would become the Taurus.

The Taurus' development employed a strategy of teamwork and customer communication that would prove very influential for the automotive industry,[4] as it consolidated all of Ford's designers, engineers, and marketing staff into a group who worked on the car collectively.

Original prototypes contained a full glass roof similar to that of the Subaru SVX, though it was deemed "too radical" and abandoned.

[4] Applying lessons learned from the Edsel, customer input played an instrumental role in the Taurus' development, as many components, including radios, steering wheels, seats, wheels, and entire suspension setups were selected by large numbers of average people through a series of surveys conducted by Ford.

[4] In addition, Ford disassembled many competing cars such as the Toyota Camry, the Honda Accord, and the more luxurious BMW 5 Series[10] in order to examine their parts and components.

[4] For the unveiling, "space" music started playing, as projected stars floated around the room in dance floor fashion.

[4] Executives at Ford knew producing the Taurus was a gamble, as they ran the risk of the car being so advanced it would turn off potential customers, as was the case with the Edsel.

[4] Before going on sale, Motor Trend tested a few Taurus prototypes, and praised the cars extensively, even calling them "the shape of tomorrow.

[16] The 1986 Taurus tested by Motor Trend is currently featured in the Henry Ford Museum's Showroom of Automotive History exhibit, in which it is touted as "one of the two most significant American automobiles of the 1980s", the other being the Chrysler minivan.

Originally, the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) required that all cars sold in the United States use standardized round or rectangular sealed beam headlights.

Ford had to convince them to change the rule to allow the headlights be any shape, as long as they met federal lighting standards.

[4] Also, instead of a grille, the Taurus had a front panel to adopt a grille-less 'bottom breather' nose, first pioneered by the Citroën DS in the 1950s.

[21] The only major change came in 1988, when the Taurus received a new slimmer grille and headlights, with a full-length chrome bar underneath for model year 1989.

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

The interior of the Taurus was highly customizable by the buyer to fit their needs, as it had a large number of options, as well as being available in three different configurations.

[21] The LX was the top of the line model, which had the most standard equipment, as well as many features that were unique to this model, such as cornering lamps and side body cladding, as well as its own unique seat design, automatic climate control, light packages, luggage convenience kit, electronic cluster with onboard system scanner and fuel computer, auto lamps with timer, premium amplified stereo with six speakers "Premium Sound", 6-way electric seats with inflatable lumbar support and other equipment options at an added price.

1988 also saw the introduction of the SHO, although it was generally marketed as and considered a separate model, as opposed to part of the Taurus line.

Serving as the replacement for the Mercury Marquis, the Sable was developed alongside the Taurus, with both vehicles sharing a common chassis and drivetrain.

A prototype convertible Sable was displayed at the 1988 North American International Auto Show, featuring a custom two-door body with a power folding top that was built off a production sedan chassis.

[24] Mercury planned a Sable LTS for 1989 as a divisional counterpart of the Taurus SHO, sharing its performance upgrades (with the exception of the Yamaha V6).

Along with its performance specifications, the use of the Yamaha V6 was chosen partially to fulfill a supply contract, as Ford had shelved previous plans to use it for a mid-engine sports car intended to compete with the Pontiac Fiero and Toyota MR2.

[29] Following stronger-than-intended sales of the model line, Ford allowed continued production of the SHO as the flagship of the Taurus range.