This is the first image of the new Ford Mondeo, which is due to be unveiled at the Detroit motor show on Monday.
The image was shown on the Ford iPad app counting down the days to the car's reveal. It will go on sale in America first as the Ford Fusion, before being launched in Europe with very minor styling changes in 2013.
The key detail that the picture reveals is the Aston Martin-esque front grille, which was first shown on the Ford Evos concept, which previews all future Ford design themes, at the 2011 Frankfurt motor show.
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Re: New Ford Mondeo - first pic
Let's hope it's a tad bigger than the out-going model as that was a little cramped.
Re: New Ford Mondeo - first pic
Yes, they have all increased in size Ron. The Mondeo seems to dwarf just about everything on the roads these days but it's a generous average for the class. It is wider than the new shape 5 Series and the E-Class for heavens sake but is marginally shorter than either of those two. The Insignia has very similar dimensions (of course) but it hides it's bulk much better. The Accord is the same, although the Avensis seems to offer much more 'compact' proportions.
I guess the lesson learned is that you can't upsize the Mondeo class in order to better compete with the perceived 'prestige' offered by the compact execs of this world (which are no longer compact either). Making the Mondeo class the size of the exec class hasn't helped sales any. In fact it has probably damaged sales even further.
Re: New Ford Mondeo - first pic
Let us hope that Ford haven't copied the "one size fits all" approach that they gave to the new Focus, with the hideous mobile phone dash and suspension designed for the North American market. From Autocar's report over Christmas, it does at least seem that Ford have realised that European suspension tastes are not the same as Americans.
You can criticise the Mondeo for not having an aspirational polyester suited, Barratt home owning, 92" TV watching badge, but not for being crap. It just isn't. It has always had a damn good chassis and powertrain, especially in the V6 models.
People seem to think that Ford have a special factory for UK Mondeos. They don't, they are made in the same factories as LHD ones. If there is is lower UK demand they make fewer RHD models, as simple as that. They don't need to close anything if the UK sales drop below a certain level. The economies of scale are still there.