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Ford Mondeo

The Ford Mondeo was a hugely important landmark in its maker’s history. Of course, it’s retrospectively viewed as inoffensively styled, which was a lingering consequence of the Sierra’s avantgarde aerodynamics of a decade previous.

Because that car sold slowly from launch, and buyers took years to grow into it. And as manufacturer used to building number one sellers, this would never do.  But while the Ford Sierra floundered during the mid-1980s, the Escort and Fiesta took up the strain, with the former becoming the UK’s best seller.

Problem was that when these two cars were replaced, in 1989 and 1990, their inoffensive styling also underpinned cost-constrained engineering… and they were panned in the media for being sub-standard, the 1990 Escort especially so. Sales held up, of course in the UK, but this victory for the accountants had serious repercussions on European sales where Ford lost ground.

The 1993 Mondeo was the answer to the poor performing Escort and Fiesta. Whereas these cars were poor to drive and powered by archaic carry-over drivetrains, Ford ensured that the Mondeo boasted state-of-the-art double overhead-cam engines and class-leading suspension set-ups. Being new from the ground up, the Mondeo was expensive to develop, costing the company a cool $4bn, and every aspect of it was honed to the nth degree.

Marketing was massive – Jackie Stewart was drafted in to explain the magnificence of Richard Parry-Jones’ suspension set-up to enthusiasts, while blanket media bombing took care of the rest. And after years in the doldrums, Ford headed straight to the top of the class with the brilliant Mondeo. It was offered with a wide range of engine and trim options – the Zetecs were good, the V6 near-brilliant – and let’s not forget that the Mondeo could also be equipped with traction control and four-wheel drive.

Replacing the controversial Ford Sierra after a 10-year production run, the Mondeo was the older car’s conceptual opposite, featuring conservative styling and a high-tech all-new front wheel drive platform. It’s been a success, despite falling sales – as Ford buyers switched to smaller cars in the 2000s and ’10s.


Reviews, blogs and news stories

Development story

The cars : Ford Mondeo development story

7 August 2019 Andrew Elphick 140

The Mondeo has eased past its quarter century, meaning it should have gained access to the classic car world. To mark the occasion, Andrew Elphick recounts the story of its […]

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Drive Story

Drive Story : Geneva’s counterpoint to Pearly

28 February 2017 Steven Ward 3

Steven Ward’s account of a three-car dash from Geneva to Menton, via the Alps, involving two Ford Mondeos and a Citroën C5 hire car.  Read on to see how the team […]

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Drive Story

Drive Story : From Calvin’s City to the Côte d’Azur

28 February 2017 Robert Leitch 5

Robert Leitch recounts his hired Ford Mondeo-bound trip from Geneva to Monaco, via the Alps. His car was in convoy (sort of) with Andrew Elphick’s borrowed Citroen C5 and Steven Ward’s […]

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Ford Mondeo

Video : Twenty years of the Mondeo

25 September 2013 Keith Adams 33

The Ford Mondeo is celebrating its 20th anniversary and more than 4.5 million sales in Europe, including 1,400,000 in the UK. To mark the occasion, the company has released a […]

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Ford Mondeo

Concepts and prototypes : Ford Mondeo design sketches

4 February 2013 Keith Adams 0

Cab forward Mondeo The Ford Mondeo, CDW27, went through a long and considered design process – here are some design sketches early in the development process, around 1988. As you […]

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