page_title: Ford Taurus
section_title: First generation (1986–1991)
hierarchical_section_title: Ford Taurus / First generation (1986–1991)
caption_attribution_description: English: Photograph by OptaView of auto owned by same 9/18/2018. This is a 1990 Ford Taurus GL shown with original standard and optional equipment including deluxe wheel covers and the 3.0 Vulcan V6. It is one of 333,001 Ford Taurus's built for the 1990 model year. It was built in Chicago, IL, USA.
context_page_description: The Ford Taurus is an automobile that was manufactured by the Ford Motor Company in the United States from the 1986 to 2019 model years. Introduced in late 1985 for the 1986 model year, six generations were produced over 34 years; a brief hiatus was undertaken between 2006 and 2007. From the 1986 to 2009 model years, the Taurus was sold alongside its near-twin, the Mercury Sable; four generations of the high-performance Ford Taurus SHO were produced. The Taurus also served as the basis for the first-ever front-wheel drive Lincoln Continental.
  The original Taurus was a milestone for Ford and the entire American automotive industry, being the first automobile at Ford designed and manufactured using the statistical process control ideas brought to Ford by W. Edwards Deming, a prominent statistician consulted by Ford to bring a "culture of quality" to the enterprise. The Taurus had an influential design that brought many new features and innovations to the marketplace.
  In the late 1990s and early 2000s, sales of the Taurus declined as it lost market share to Japanese midsize sedans and as Ford shifted resources towards developing SUVs.
context_section_description: 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 1983.
  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.
caption: 1990 Ford Taurus GL
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