The sixth generation Ford Taurus is a full-size sedan manufactured and marketed by Ford for model years 2010-2019 with a mild facelift for model year 2013. While sharing the chassis underpinnings of the previous generation Taurus and the Five Hundred, the exterior and interior of the sixth generation received a complete redesign, replacing New Edge design language with Ford's Kinetic Design design language. The high-performance Ford Taurus SHO made its return, becoming the first turbocharged Taurus. Following the discontinuation of the long-running Crown Victoria Police Interceptor after 2011, Ford introduced a Taurus-based Police Interceptor Sedan for 2013.

The sixth generation became the first version of the Taurus developed without a Mercury Sable counterpart, as Mercury began to pare down its model line. Though never branded as an official successor to the Mercury Grand Marquis, the sixth-generation Taurus superseded it as Ford matched it against the full-size competitors of its predecessors. Ford's Lincoln brand marketed the MKS as a variant of the Taurus, succeeding both the Continental and the Town Car. The Taurus X wagon was replaced by the Ford Flex, adopting a variant of the chassis architecture, also adopted by the Ford Explorer).

As Ford moved its model line away from car-based vehicles to utility-type vehicles and other light trucks at the end of the 2010s, Ford discontinued the Taurus in North America after the 2019 model year, as well its Fiesta, Focus, and Fusion models. The Taurus nameplate remains in use by Changan Ford, marketing a rebranded Ford Mondeo for the Middle East (replacing a namesake model).

Ford assembled the Taurus, Taurus SHO, and the Police Interceptor Sedan alongside the Ford Explorer and Lincoln MKS at its Chicago Assembly facility (Chicago, Illinois). On March 1, 2019, the last Ford Taurus was manufactured in the United States, ending its 34-year American production.

In late 2006, Ford Motor Company named former Boeing CEO Alan Mulally to replace William Clay Ford Jr. as its own chief executive. In strong favor of the Ford Taurus/Mercury Sable nameplates, Mullaly hurriedly renamed the facelifted MY 2008 Ford Five Hundred and Mercury Montego as the fifth-generation Ford Taurus and Mercury Sable — after the models had been presented at the 2008 Detroit Auto Show. The Ford Freestyle was renamed the Ford Taurus X.

Despite the mid-cycle facelift of the Five Hundred for MY 2008, simultaneous with its rebranding as the Taurus and a gained 60 hp increase, the styling of its predecessor largely remained and its handling trailed its competitors.

In January 2008, Alan Mulally said a sixth generation of the Ford Taurus was in development as a planned 2010 model, calling it "the one we should have built originally". In April 2008, a photograph of a full-scale prototype mockup of the 2010 Ford Taurus was leaked on the Internet. After the styling of the prototype was seen worldwide, Ford contemplated legal action against web sites which posted the photo and Ford attorneys asked site owners to remove the photo.

Towards its launch, the Ford website introduced several videos, benchmarking the 2010 Ford Taurus against several production luxury sedans. One test video suggested the paint coat of the Taurus was more resistant to gravel chips than a Lexus LS460 while another highlighted the blind-spot detection sensor system unavailable on an Infiniti M45x. The 2010 Ford Taurus SHO was faster than an Audi A6 4.2 FSI Quattro in straight-line acceleration while the interior of the Ford Taurus was quieter than an Acura RL.