One of the worst mistakes Ford ever made was dropping the Taurus nameplate, which incidentally was one of their most recognized vehicles (after only Mustang and Explorer.) So when Ford brought us an all-new Taurus for 2010, people got excited about the aggressive styling and the “SHO” package, which came with a 3.5 liter, 365 horsepower EcoBoost V6 engine.

But like any good car company, Ford has been listening to its customer base about what they want from the next-generation Taurus. So when they heard people like the looks, but wanted more to differentiate your run-of-the-mill Taurus from the high-output SHO version, Ford’s engineers got busy on the 2013 model, which will debut sometime next year.

You’ll be forgiven for thinking there isn’t much difference between the new-and-old Taurus models, though there have been subtle “tweaks” to the front and rear fascia. The hood also looks a bit more bulgy as well. The inside gets a new dashboard, LED lighting, and the MyFord touch system, which will be standard on the SHO model.

The 2013 Taurus SHO: Doesn't look much different, does it?

Speaking of the SHO model, there will not be an increase in horsepower as many in the automotive media (including us) speculated. Rather, the 3.5 liter EcoBoost V6 will still be joined by a smaller, 2.0 liter EcoBoost four-cylinder with 237 horsepower and 250 ft-lbs of torque and a highway rating of at least 31 mpg. The SHO also gets a different mesh grille, 19-inch wheels, and a few other changes to help it stand out from the regular Taurus (though to be honest, it still doesn’t.) The standard 3.5 liter V6 gets a 20 horsepower bump to 290 horsepower to help motivate the two-ton Taurus, and both the SHO and regular models get new “torque vectoring control” systems that will help dole out power better in the corners for better handling.

While improving the handling of 4,000 pound large sedan might seem counter-intuitive, it is probably the first building block towards adding more horsepower down the road. We were also hoping the SHO model would become even more distinguishable. Alas, it is not to be, and while we aren’t necessarily disappointed with what Ford brought to the table, we weren’t exactly impressed either. Guess it is up to Shelby…