Ever since Ford decided the put a three-liter V6 under the bonnet of the third-gen Mondeo, back in the early 2000s, the idea clicked in many people’s heads that there’s certainly a lot of performance appeal to the formula.
However, the Blue Oval lost interest in making a Mondeo ST, and by the time the current generation came about, they’d already ditched the idea – the most powerful you could get featured the same 2.5-liter Volvo engine you got in the smaller Focus ST; now it’s shrunken to 2.0-liters and lost one cylinder.
It would be really swell of Ford to do a new ST variant of the upcoming Mondeo (already sold in China and in the US as Fusion), even if the plush Vignale hints at the kind of direction they’re heading towards.
The industry seems to have lost interest in hot versions of non-premium family saloons, aiming to give them a more luxurious feel rather than a sporty one. Only Mazda still offers a sporty entry in the sector, with its 6 sedan, though even they’ve dropped the very capable all-wheel drive 6 MPS.
In regards to Ford, they haven’t announced any kind of hot Mondeo, so all we’re left to contend with is the believable rendering posted below, courtesy of Auto Projeções.
It’s suggested that it could draw power from the same 2.3-liter EcoBoost set to power the Mustang and Focus RS – realistically, it wouldn’t be that much of a stretch for Ford to make one; it’s as if they don’t want to please the fans on purpose…
By Andrei Nedelea
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