Ford Mondeo

The Ford Mondeo is a mid-size or large family car manufactured by Ford from 1992 onwards. The name comes from Latin mundus, meaning "world". The Mondeo was designed to be a "world car"; the North American models were marketed as the Ford Contour and Mercury Mystique until 2000, and as the Ford Fusion from 2013 onwards.

Versions

Motorsport

The Mondeo competed in the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) between 1993 and 2000. The cars, prepared by former series champion Andy Rouse, did not enter the 1993 season until the 8th round at Pembrey in Wales. Rouse and Paul Radisich were the drivers in the Mondeo's first season. Radisich went on to win the FIA World Touring Car Cup in both 1993 and 1994 driving a Mondeo.

Ford ran a factory-sponsored team, called Ford Team Mondeo, for eight seasons. As mentioned above, Andy Rouse Engineering ran the cars from 1993 to 1995, at which point West Surrey Racing ran the works team from 1996 to 1998, with Prodrive taking over beginning 1999. In 2000, the team expanded from two cars to three when drivers Alain Menu and Anthony Reid were joined by 1998 series champion Rickard Rydell, recruited from the disbanded Volvo team. The team dominated the 2000 season, finishing 1-2-3 (Menu-Reid-Rydell) in the drivers' standings and winning the manufacturers' championship by a staggering 104 points.

Ford Mondeo (first generation)

The Ford Mondeo (first generation) is a mid-size car that was produced by Ford that launched on 23 November 1992, with sales beginning on 22 March 1993. It is also known as the Mk I Mondeo; the 1996 facelift versions are usually designated Mk II. Available as a four-door saloon, a five-door hatchback, and a five-door estate, all models for the European market were produced at Ford's plant in the Belgian city of Genk. In December 1992, Autocar published a section on the Mondeo, and how it would conquer rivals.

Intended as a world car, it replaced the Ford Sierra in Europe, the Ford Telstar in a large portion of Asia and other markets, while the Ford Contour and Mercury Mystique replaced the Ford Tempo and Mercury Topaz in North America. Despite being billed as a world car, the only external items the Mondeo shared initially with the Contour were the windscreen, front windows, front mirrors and door handles. Thus, the CDW27 project turned out not to be a true world car in the sense that the original Ford Focus and newer Ford developed under the "One Ford" policy turned out to be—that being one design per segment for the world. The first generation Mondeo was replaced in 2000, by the larger second generation; in the United States and Canada, the Countour/Mystique were replaced by the Fusion.

Ford Mondeo (fourth generation)

The Ford Mondeo Mk V (fourth generation), also known as the 2013 Ford Fusion, codenamed CD391, was unveiled by Ford at the 2012 North American International Auto Show.

With a design team based in Detroit for the planning and global launch phase, the new model takes many styling cues from the European Ford Evos concept unveiled in 2011 at the Frankfurt Motor Show, the previous generation Ford Mondeo, and previous generation American Ford Fusion. Like the newest redesigns of the Focus and Fiesta before it, the new Mondeo is set on a global platform shared with the now identical Fusion sold in North America. However, the Fusion name will be used in South Africa, despite the Mondeo having been previously sold in that country.

The range does not include five- or six-cylinder engines, and on launch will have a complete range of Ford EcoBoost engines. From September 2013, Ford added an three-cylinder 123-bhp Ecoboost, claimed to produce 125 g/km of CO₂ emissions. In 2014, a hybrid equipped with a lithium-ion battery pack and a 185-bhp Atkinson cycle 2.0-litre petrol engine was added .