The family car that Ford launched in North America as the Fusion made its way over to Europe as the all-new Mondeo, with its world premiere taking place at the 2012 Paris Auto Show.
Whereas the Fusion is offered exclusively as a four-door sedan, the Mondeo will also be available as a five-door liftback and a station wagon that was developed especially for European consumers.
Even though the concept of a small 1.0-liter engine under the bonnet of a D-segment car may sound absurd to some, the new Mondeo comes equipped with the Blue Oval's 1.0-liter turbocharged three-cylinder petrol unit, which is a first for its class. Despite being small in size, it produces a zippy 123bhp, which is more than what you will find in many regular 1.6-liter naturally aspirated units.
“The Mondeo has always been at the forefront of Ford’s European passenger car range, but the all-new model is a watershed moment for large car customers and a new benchmark for features in this competitive sector”, said Ford’s vice president of product development Barb Samardzich.
The rest of the engine range includes 1.6- and 2.0-liter turbocharged EcoBoost petrols with up to 240bhp and a 1.6-liter diesel with ECOnetic technology that iFord says delivers best-in-class fuel consumption.
For the first time in its history, the Mondeo will also be available in a petrol-electric hybrid version that combines a 2.0-liter petrol engine with a 35kW lithium-ion battery for an output of 185-horses and an all-wheel drive diesel variant.
Transmission options will include six-speed manuals and dual-clutch automatic units.
Like its U.S. kissing cousin, the Mondeo will be equipped with a plethora of technology such as Advanced Active Park Assist, which supports perpendicular parking, Ford’s SYNC with MyTouch infotainment system, voice control, an 8-inch color touchscreen and the ability to act as a WiFi hotspot.
In the safety department, apart from the usual equipment such as airbags and stability control systems, the new Mondeo’s standard equipment includes rear inflatable seatbelts. By rapidly expanding in the case of an accident to disperse the forces generated at a body area five times bigger than conventional seatbelts, this safety feature aims to reduce neck and chest injuries of rear-seat passengers.
By Andrew Tsaousis
17 Comments:
Ford would be wise to offer these models in the US market. I said "wise"...never mind, it's useless as usual.
UGLY FACELIFT just puked.
Image 9 is of a different Ford...
The only thing that would make it better, other than being state side that is, is if it came with AWD and EcoBoost V6 option! Then it could be a Fusion ST/E the E is for estate. It just sounds more civilized than wagon.
The only things that would make this better, other than being available state side of course, is if it was available with AWD and EcoBoost V6. Then it could be a Fusion ST/E. The E stands for estate of course. Just sounds more civilized. As if Ford would be kind enough to grace the planet with something in the market of the Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG Wagon. Yep, I feel some photoshop coming. This Mondeo with a Focus ST front and rear bumper and center mount exhaust. Yummmmmm
I think that looks beautiful. Very graceful looking design. Only thing the cheapens it, for me, is the central section of the dashboard - a backstep from recent Ford dash design. Other than that - top notch!
That 1 liter engine is going to be spinning its turbo an awful lot pulling a thing that size.
Fuel economy in the real world will be poor.
Looks far more cohesive than the current Mondeo, though, from what I've read, Ford would do well to ditch the MyTouch system.
Wow, they've stolen the front seats from Volvo! Just pay attention to lower center of the seat and the headrests.
First, the Aston moustache then Volvo chairs... But they give popular EcoBoost engines to Volvo (all models in lineup except C30 and dinosaur XC90) here in Europe so no problem I guess.
Escape
I have to say. Sometimes Ford really p!$$es me off!!! Europe get's the wagons and 5 doors and the US doesn't. I can understand that because they just don't sell well in the US and they encroach on the sales of suv's which, like it or not, bring in the bulk of the profits for automakers. If I'm seeing things correctly in the pics, Europe appears to be getting a panoramic sunroof where we here in the US are getting the sunroof from the Ford Fiesta. Europe is getting the new led headlamps and the US is'nt. That may be the subject of US DOT approval though but who knows... In the US, you can have any color interior you want as long as it's black for the higher end models. In Europe they obviously can get red leather seats and trim at least as an option. In Europe you can get a REAL tachometer and in the US you get the dinky little tach even on the manually equipped models. And they get nicer rims too, I think. I realize that these complaints may seem a bit nit-picky to some but to me they are all things that add up. Some car magazines have made some of these complaints too. I also realize, AND THIS IS IMPORTANT, that Ford built a heck of a car here and that they had to water it down some so it wouldn't hurt sales of the new MKZ. Lincoln is hurting bigtime and if some people out there see a very good and cheaper version of almost the same car, well, Lincoln might be concerned with losing some sales to the Fusion.Now, before someone out there thinks I'm a Ford hater, consider this. This will most likely be my next car. I do like it a lot. The exterior looks great, it's very fuel efficient, it has good performance, great capability and is relatively affordable. I believe Ford built a very good car here. BUT with a few more little things I think it could have been a great car. Maybe we'll see some of these improvements in future versions...
By the way, I like that dark silver color a lot. Is that the sterling grey color?
Huh? It's a totally new vehicle that doesn't look much like the old Mondeo and Fusion it is replacing.
I know, the grill is sort of Aston-like. But every car company is trying to find a sort of face based on some real or imagined tradition. But somehow the whole car, even though really modern, somehow reminds me of Fords of the 50's or 60's. It's like the designers immersed themselves in Fords of that period, then intentionally forgot the whole thing, then designed something original that inevitably included a lot of sort of unconsious elements of the past.
Disregard my rim comment. I see they're pretty much the same.
Aston Martin for everyone (which isn't bad at all).
Alarmingly generic styling together with Aston grill gives it a cobbled-together feel. One is left with the uneasy feeling of it having commited crude copyright infringement....the sort of thing you associate with the far east...
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