When Ford premiered the all-new 2013 Fusion sedan at the Detroit Motor Show this past January, the Blue Oval also released two images of the car’s European sibling, the next Mondeo in pre-production form.
At the time, Ford told us that the new Mondeo would go on sale across Europe at the end of the first quarter of 2013. But that won’t be happening as Ford has postponed the production start at its Genk plant in Belgium for up to three months, according to a report from Autonews Europe.
Ford originally planned to roll out the first new Mondeo from its Genk facility on April 6, 2013, following a world premiere of the final production model at the Paris Motor Show this fall.
“It is caused by problems related to homologation and specification levels. We do not want to go too much into the details, because it is an internal problem,” Ford Belgium spokesman Arnaud Henckaerts told the news site.
“It is not an unusual problem. April 6 was just an internal date for the production start,” he added.
Henckaerts said that Ford has not yet set a specific date for the start of production of the new Mondeo, while he also pointed out that the company is in the process of deciding whether it will build the next S-MAX and Galaxy MPVs in Genk. The two minivans will continue in their current form throughout 2013 with their successors to be presented in 2014.
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