I know. I was kinda perplexed as to why they stopped making a car that businesses bought as standard fleet cars. It had decent sales throughout its life.
Ford's own studies showed that 70%+ of their target market associated Taurus with "cheap crappy rental cars".
They only bought them as fleet cars because they were cheap. Now they're (non-rental fleets) buying Hyundais, noticing the lower maintenance costs, and won't be coming back.
In addition, the sales of the Taurus tanked in the mid-90s with the "dead fish" bodystyle and they never came back.