Before emailing a rave review of the new Ford Mondeo, I wanted to understand why an automaker with such great products in the Eurozone has such a mediocre reputation. Posing as a potential purchaser, I phoned to make an appointment for a test drive. Employee of Dealership A: "We have one Mondeo you could try out, but we are booked for the next ten days, I think." Sales guy at Dealership B: "Sorry, I just started here six months ago, the guy in charge is on sick leave.” His stand-in? On vacation. “Please call again in a week or so.” See? It’s NOT all about the product. But I digress…
The Ford dealer experience is miserable, but the Mondeo’s visual delights are marvelous. For me, a handsome car needs three basic characteristics: strength, cleanliness and character. The Mondeo nails all three. The four-door Ford’s long wheelbase (much longer than, for example, the Passat) accentuates its wide, muscular stance. Its sleek headlamps and taut taillights render it instantly recognizable; the detailing is flawless. It's just what America needs: a non-bland, better-proportioned, more modern Taurus.
The Mondeo’s interior may not be a high-style zone, but it’s a satisfying, well-thought-out piece of work. Plastics invite intimacy, sound good to a rapped knuckle, smell fine and are aligned to the dot. The ergonomics excel, in that thoroughly unobjectionable way you expect from a carefully-considered mass market appliance.
On the downside, from a back-seat perspective, the middle console looks like it has labia (not an association its designer should be trying to achieve when there’s a stubby gear shifter in view). The cabin’s fake-aluminum steering wheel buttons look cheesier than Cheddar. And the three-quarters rear visibility is poor. But let's concentrate on the fact that the Mondeo has impressive (above E-class, better-than-Fusion) space for five, and a giant trunk to boot.
In case you were wondering, the Ford Mondeo is a front wheel-drive (FWD) vehicle. The sedan completely violates the pistonhead principle that FWD’s packaging and weight advantages exact a major penalty from the driving dynamics.
My tester holstered Ford's 2.0-liter, 140hp diesel. The oil burner is an extremely refined unit, significantly smoother than the highly respected Volkswagen TDI. On paper, the diesel Mondeo’s 10.6 second zero to sixty sprint time seems, as the French are wont to say, insupportable. But the Mondeo serves-up a wave of torquey thrust from 1800 – 4500 rpm that helps Mondeo man maintain momentum. Using the standard light-action six-speed manual, I never ran out of gears. No matter how hard I thrashed the powerplant, I never saw less than 29 mpg. At a more sedate pace, I averaged 35 mpg.
Thanks to Ford chassis guru Richard Parry-Jones, the Mondeo’s handling is a revelation. Accelerating briskly from rest on a dusty back road, there was a bit of scamper from the inside front tire. But the Mondeo’s electronic damper control system, which pitches the car forward on low-traction surfaces, gave great grip. During a pedal-to-the-floor exit from a roundabout, the feedback-intensive tiller produced a slight tug and then… nothing.
When I lifted off the gas pedal in a high-speed curve, and then floored it, the Mondeo remained unruffled, with no nonsense from the electronic stability Nanny. While we’re at it, how about a 90-degree merge and full-thrust run into an uneven-camber secondary road? Well, in this case, the steering wheel needed a bit of coercive correction, and, to paraphrase Dorothy, I have a feeling we’re not in a BMW anymore. But the Mondeo is inherently fun, agile, and composed– aside from the snatchy brakes (the bane of so many contemporary cars).
The Mondeo rides well, too. On the freeway, over secondary undulations, the Mondeo is bettered by world-leading softies from Lexus, Mercedes and Citroen. In all other conditions, the Ford product rides like the low, long-wheelbase, wide car that it is: well-controlled, comfortable and calm. On a quiet Autobahn morning, I found myself passing other cars as if they were standing still. I peeked at the odometer and saw an indicated 135 mph. Bliss.
So what is the Mondeo? We could quote Germany's famously chauvinistic Auto,Motor & Sport, who said the Ford family sedan is better than the C-Class Mercedes. But let's just say it's a lower-profile, less-roomy Ford S-Max with slightly better handling and somewhat better fuel economy.
But more than that, the Ford Mondeo is exactly what its American admirers believe it to be: four-wheeled proof that Ford can build a world-class, value-priced car that satisfies both practical and emotional desires. So why haven’t they? That’s a discussion for another time. For now, I’ll say this: if Ford can’t send the Mondeo stateside at a profit, they should send the people who built it. And if they build it, customers will come. It’s as simple as that.
99 Comments on “2008 Ford Mondeo Ghia Review...”
Back to TopLeave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
You can also login using Facebook Connect.
The plastic wood (awful…) is only in the Ghia trim… just take a Titanium or Titanium X with shiny silver stuff instead of the polymer wood.
As an added bonus, they have the huge color LCD between the tach and the speedometer standard.
The interior picture in the review shows a Titanium X model – silver interior bits, leather/alcantara seats and LCD…
Edit: Now the picture has been changed to show a Ghia model.
As the current owner of a Euro Focus (only in the US we call it the Mazda 3), I so want one of these.
Sad that Ford can make a world-class car and not offer it to, well, the WORLD! Man, I remember even the old Euro-Escorts of the late 80’s made our variants look like trash. Give me a spirited engine mated to a nice manual tranny, wrap it in stylish clothing and toss in a bit of handling fun and I’m there. Now will Ford perhaps smell the coffee and consider sending this Camcord killer over?
Makes me wonder if Alan Mually is even aware of Ford’s European operations.
Mullaly’s aware, all right. He wanted to bring the new Ford Kuga crossover, but we can’t afford it stateside due to the devaluation of the dollar.
Are those miles per Imperial gallon or per US gallon? The Imperial gallon is about 20% larger than the US gallon, and I find a lot of reviews of Euro products that quote good economy numbers that seem less impressive when converted to US units.
If I was in the market for a mid-size sedans and that baby was around, I’d run to my Ford dealership ASAP!
Heck, even if I was not in the market for a mid-size.
If I remember correctly, Mullaly originally wanted to bring more “kynetic design” to the US, because European Fords look so damn hot, but the US designer responsible for the “Red, White, and Bold” opposed the move…what a joke!
@Brian E
“Are those miles per Imperial gallon or per US gallon?”
Martin Schwoerer is German, so why would he use Imperial gallons, which are used in exactly zero countries in continental Europe? We use l/100km and are well aware of the difference between Imperial and US gallons. Ve haff vays to do unit conversions.
35 mpg is not unusual for that size class of car. My father has a 2006 BMW 530d (231 hp) and averages 34 mpg over the life of the car.
Instead of having 3 platforms for midsize cars in production at the same time (Mazda 6, Mondeo, Fusion/Milan/MKZ) perhaps Ford could gain some economies of scale by producing 1 platform with brand/country specific body panels/chassis tuning/nvh/etc and give everybody a great car while still making a profit. The Mondeo is awesome, start with that.
The faux wood is terrible, as it is in any car. Get the aluminum finish. This car would be great stateside. Even though it is a looker, by the time it gets here, if it gets here, it will not be the style statement that it is now. I’d hate for the Mondeo to come here and for it to flop because of bad marketing and poor product positioning. As a Mercury, it wouldn’t get the marketing resources or dealer network it would need. As a Ford, it would conflict with the successful Fusion and cannibalize marketing dollars. Even if they find a market niche for it at all, if it takes more than six months for Ford to bring it here, I don’t think they should bother until the next generation. Part of the trick of marketing products properly is being timely. Bringing over an afterthought is often an expensive flop.
@guyincognito
“perhaps Ford could gain some economies of scale by producing 1 platform with brand/country specific body panels/chassis tuning/nvh/etc”
Mazda6 and Ford Fusion are on the same platform, Mondeo/S-Max/Galaxy, Land Rover LR2 and Volvo S80/V70 are on the same platform (EUCD).
It would make sense to go from these two platforms to only one, though, as they seem to have the same basic character anyway.
“The oil burner is an extremely refined unit, significantly smoother than the highly respected Volkswagen TDI”
The VW unit is a really old pump durse thingy. It has many attributes, but if you ask anyone who has ever used one, they would not put refinement as one of them. It is a really noisy rattly thing, which is why WV is replacing at the moment in its newer models…
Mirko, thanks for answering Brian’s question for me — all I can do is add that I got an average of about 6.8L/100 km, equivalent to about 42MPG imperial, 35MPG U.S.
Which I think is pretty neat for a car that feels strong, sounds quiet and likes to cruise at 100 mph (U.S.)
@BigChiefMuffin
…with a 143hp common rail diesel, which should bring NVH parity with the competition. It’s already in the Audi A4 and VW Tiguan.
My favourite 2.0 diesel is the one in the BMW 320d. 0-62 in 7.9 seconds and a 49 mpg rating. Best selling engine in the 3-series.
@Martin Schwoerer
It is. I wonder how the upcoming 2.2 175hp twin-scroll turbo diesel will do in the Mondeo. So far, it has done well in all it’s previous applications (manual Citroen C6, Peugeot 607, 407, Mitsubishi Outlander and it’s badgineered twins)
Clarkson sung the praises on this car, too, saying no one needs to buy BMW’s, Merc’s, etc. when this is on the market. We all know he can be pretty tough.
The problem with selling this in the USA is that Americans won’t buy a $35k Ford sedan. And it’s not just the exchange rate…it took lots of investment in expensive, high quality parts and engineering to create this vehicle. That is what it takes to sell a midsize sedan in Europe, and people will pay for it. In the USA, cars are engineered more to meet cost restrictions…even the Camry’s and Accords. Even if they moved Mondeo production to the US or Mexico, I bet they’d have to decontent the vehicle or change some of the quality on the parts in order to be able to sell the car at a profit and compete pricewise with the Camcords. That would piss all the Americans off, and we’d be crying foul again.
NN:
bet they’d have to decontent the vehicle or change some of the quality on the parts in order to be able to sell the car at a profit and compete pricewise with the Camcords. That would piss all the Americans off, and we’d be crying foul again.
Here’s a weird idea: forget profit. Go for market share.
If Ford NA continues to shrink, its overheads will kill it– and the rest of the company, At some point, they need to hold the line, no matter what.
A killer app is the dish of the day, if they but knew it. Because even if it loses them money, it could well save the brand. And the brand isn’t everything. It’s the only thing.
BTW: inconsistency spotters may note that Saturn/GM is importing the Belgian-built Astra with this philosophy. One problem: it’s not a killer app. Is the Mondeo? With the right marketing, it could be. It’s certainly got a lot better prospects than a new new Taurus.
Or bring it over as a Lincoln or maybe even a Mercury. Wouldn’t it be nice to have Lincoln (or Mercury) that wasn’t just a Ford with a fancy grille?
@RF
“Is the Mondeo [a killer app]? With the right marketing, it could be. It’s certainly got a lot better prospects than a new new Taurus.”
Didn’t Ford announce there would be a new Taurus for the 2009 model year? Maybe we’ll be in for a surprise…
“Presenting the 2009 Taudeo”
Some thoughts on the economics of building such a car in the U.S. / (in Mexico).
The development costs are already sunk, as it were. That’s why Daimler can con itself into thinking they can sell the Smart in the U.S. at a profit.
Material costs are identical, no matter where.
Labor costs are sky-high in Europe; The Mondeo is built by what Clarkson would call Northern-African immigrants, in Belgium. Yet over here it competes, price-wise, with anything offered by the Japanese or Koreans.
Thus, I find it hard to believe that Ford could not offer a superior car in the U.S. if they really wanted to. My reasoning may be simplistic but to me it smacks of the “not built here” syndrome — of a bureaucracy at war with itself.
Sure, a $38K price would kill the car, but if production went worldwide, and they weren’t supporting so many platforms, then unit cost would drop.
Ferd’s big mistake is that they have thes eengineering silos that effectively mean that Euro cars are not engineered for the US market, and vice-versa (though it rarley works that way). Had the new Mondeo been designed and engineered as a world platform and used to replace the Taurus, they could have kept the price in line.
Ford has some excellent product in Europe now, (Mondeo, S-Max, Kuga, etc.), while NA is stuck with some truly boring cars.
AM needs to get this sorted out pronto. They need this car in NA, and now.
Mirko Reinhardt :
I disagree. The Fusion/Milan/MKZ were conceived with the plan to use the Mazda 6 platform but grew enough and created enough unique components to be defined as a new platform entirely, IMHO.
ed. Also, re: building the Mondeo here, it wouldn’t be a straight drop in to the US. There are changes that need to be made to support US regulations/cost concerns (unless it was designed from the beginning with all market requirements in mind) and it takes alot of discipline to make these changes without changing everything else, ref my comment above.
Folks – it’s all about cost. Most Americans probably wouldn’t pay $30K for this car – they are used to 4cyl FWD mid-zizers to start at $20K or below. That’s why Ford developed the Fusion for the US market as they can build it cheaper and meet price expectations.
This car will cost 5-series money in US$.
10.6 second zero to sixty sprint time @ 29 mpg is not that impressive when Accords and Altimas are 2 seconds faster with while returning mpg in high 20s with chepaer fuel (regular undleaded v diesel
Labia?, what labia?
the same people who say people won’t pay 35k for a Ford are the same people who claimed that Lexus wouldn’t work because who would pay huge money for a warmed over toyota. with bling.
In the past you would have right not to because it was “meanly engineered” in the words of LKJ Setright or too small in the case of the Contour but this is a good car. A car would go some way to restoring the ford brand. (Now to work on the dealers)
NA should have this instead of a warmedover Mazda 6,and the 08 orion falcon from OZ should be the taurus.
I don’t understand why losing money on this car is a problem.
Ford already loses money, so wouldn’t it be smarter to lose money on something people want?
Alan, if you’re reading this BRING THIS CAR STATESIDE! I know you have to MAKE it here for it to be profitable, so start re-tooling and maybe you’ll be ready the next time I’m in the market for a new car. Honestly, I like Ford’s over any other American brand, but I still don’t like the Fusion enough to jump out of my Legacy just yet. This could bring me back to the domestics – just keep making fantastic progress in the reliability department and bring/make better products for us American consumers!!
Aren’t we essentially getting this in a few months in the form of the new Mazda 6?
Even if the price is too high to sell it as a Ford here, if they could cut two or three thousand off the price they could sell it as a Mercury…
My favourite 2.0 diesel is the one in the BMW 320d. 0-62 in 7.9 seconds and a 49 mpg rating. Best selling engine in the 3-series.
0-60 in under 8 seconds with a 49 mpg rating!? What’s not to love, and why can’t we have it here!
If the price of the Ford Mondeo would be in the mid $30k if brought to the US, the obvious solution, as others have already pointed out, would be to sell it as a Mercury or possibly a Lincoln. If it truly is on a par with a BMW 3 Series/Mercedes C class, Lincoln or Mercury would be the brand it belongs in anyway.
On the downside, from a back-seat perspective, the middle console looks like it has labia
Expect a not-very-pleasant e-mail/message from a San Francisco newspaper….
Martin, perhaps considering the uproar here about bringing this vehicle to market begs a question:
IS this Mondeo superior, in any way, to the inbound Mazda 6?
Mulally is rolling a boulder uphill trying to change a corporate culture steeped in cronyism and mediocrity. Couldn’t he do a leadership swap for a year? Get top level and line managers from NA to visit Europe to understand better ways of doing things, and bring the bright minds of Ford Europe over here to make changes. Empower the guys from across the pond to make changes and handcuff the bueracrats from stateside to limit any damage they can do.
Getting rid of overpaid welders was a good start.
This car’s existence says it all about the differences in design language, coherence and engineering compared with Ford NA. Ford NA design doesn’t want it?? Couldn’t imagine why.
Excellent review, Martin. Further proof that my hypothetical Mercury Mondeo would not only save the brand, it would eat VW’s lunch (and other premium family sedan brands) in the States. If only people would forget about money.
But…One post on the blogosphere said that J Mays is now in charge of creating a global design language…which kinda sounds like Ford plans on making the next generation Taurus look very much like this Mondeo. Not a bad idea.
—————————
guyincognito: I’m curious, just how different is the Fusion from the Mazda 6? From what I’ve seen, engines, transmissions, even rear sway bars interchange. It sounds like when Ford made the MN-12 chassis and renamed it the FN-10 for the Lincoln variant.
So if I put a Fusion/Mazda6 on a chassis lift, if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck… :)
Makes me wonder if Alan Mually is even aware of Ford’s European operations.
Ford has a poor history of selling its European and Euro-based cars in this country. When Mondeos were sold here as Contours and Mystiques, they flopped. The Merkurs flopped.
Those who sell the highest volumes in this segment — Toyota, Honda and Nissan — all make mid-sized sedans specifically with the US in mind, touting different cars to the Europeans. Meanwhile, Ford attributes the failure of the 500 to its “European styling” and its success with the Mustang to its American retro look. With all that, I wouldn’t get my hopes up that this will ever be sold in the United States, in any form.
socsndaisy : According to my memory, the Ford is somewhat more spacious, has better-adapted Diesels, a slightly better ride-handling compromise, and better insurance ratings in Europe. The Mazda has (even) better reliability statistics. I haven’t driven the Mazda though. And if anybody here knows better, pls feel free to correct these off-the-cuff statements.
The American automotive industry was built up based on the principal of: make it simple, make it quick, and make a lot of it. Americans needs cheap affordable tansportation right now! Cars in the good ole USA were considered a right or a necessity and the job of Detroit was to get as many cars as possible into the hands of Americans. Today it is very hard to remember a time of such growth and prosperity that we could actually envision an industry experiencing growth into the unforseeable future.
The european auto industry has always seen the automobile as a luxury item of which ownership was a previledge. Have a car in Europe even today is NOT a given as it is in America.
It is time for Americans to understand and accept teh differences between the two markets. Stop looking at European Ford and claiming that they are better than our domestic products without considering the major price difference.
In all Honesty the European car buyer IS a bit more savvy than the American counterpart and they do demand more from their cars. Hell, for that matter Americans have always expected more out of European branded car than a doemstic.
Euro Fords are designed to serve as more of an investment to its owner than their doemstic counterparts(Kinda like foreign cars in America).
The average Joe in the USA would be insulted at the idea of a $35,000 Accord competitor at their local Ford dealer. That is not how we buy cars in the USA. $35,000 is the price of an upmarket brand not a Ford.
When the new Mondeo was introduced a Ford Europe exec told CAR that, “To sell it in the U.S., we’d have to de-content it so much we could probably sell it as a cave.”
I like the Mondeo and the Euro Focus, but the dismal reliability of the U.S.-spec version of the previous Focus (and details like its godawful seats) leave me skeptical that the European-market products would be game-changers for Ford in the U.S.
I would like the see the advanced common rail turbodiesels here, though. The four-cylinder petrol Accord and Camry have less real-world grunt, and I’d be surprised if you routinely got better than 22-23 mpg in mixed driving (sure, you could get 30 mpg on a steady, legal-speed highway trip with cruise control, but that’s not the same thing).
Stop looking at European Ford and claiming that they are better than our domestic products without considering the major price difference. In all Honesty the European car buyer IS a bit more savvy than the American counterpart and they do demand more from their cars.
A lot of it isn’t a matter of savvy, but of who is paying for the car. Many cars sold in Europe in this class are company cars. Unlike the US, where most of us have to buy or lease cars on our own, cars in Europe of this sort are frequently perks provided to middle managers, as tax treatment favors driving fleet vehicles over receiving marginally higher compensation that would allow one to buy the vehicle for himself.
I’d say that in this equation, Americans are the more demanding of consumers. Americans drive more and demand higher reliability. Aside from tariffs and distribution barriers, one reason that Toyota, etc. have not quite gained the traction that they have in the US is because reliability is not as critical to European consumers, which reduces their competitive advantage in those markets. Europeans can afford to prioritize driving dynamics over reliability when they’re often not paying for it.
Even if they brought this to the US how would Ford overcome the impression held by many consumers about the brand – they are unreliable!
I have two Fords in my past – both had severe transmission failures at around 80k miles. Fix that with your 5 star Euro box for over $30k!
I’m getting God damn sick of reading these Euro Ford reviews…it’s like “hey, you’d love it but alas you can’t have it.” Some Domestic supporters may point to these Fords as proof of Ford’s abilities, but I tend to hate Ford just that much more.
Well, even IF Ford decided to bring the Mondeo to the US, here is how it would probably turn out:
First of all, it would be considered an “experiment”, so instead of building it in the States, they’d import it. However, European prices are higher than US prices, so the bean-counters would have the US-Mondeo to be decontented in order to minimize the loss (that’s the spirit).
The whole process would also take lots of time (I’d say 3 years minimum), so when the US-spec Mondeo would finally hit the shores, it would be the stripped version of an already outdated car that would probably still be offered at too high a price point. So it would fail miserably and all the bean counters would say: “See, I told you, Americans just don’t want European cars.”
A few words on prices.
Of course, the Mondeo at Euro 17,800 looks extremely expensive at the current exchange rate, which would mean US$ 26k. But quite honestly, given the wide exchange-rate swings of the past few years, I think this way of looking at it is a duck that doesn’t fly.
A more sensible approach to the question of whether the Mondeo is marketable in the U.S. would take purchasing power parity into account. A simple (albeit slightly silly) metric is the Economist’s Big Mac Index, according to which the Euro is about 30% overvalued.
From that perspective, we have a price of around 19k US $, for an advanced car with ABS, ESP, active headrests, 7 airbags, ISOFIX rear seats, Brake Assist, Cruise Control, remote locking, 16″ aluminum wheels, fog lights, heat-filter windows, rain sensors, automatic lights, leather steering wheel, iPod-ready Sony audio.
So really, I can’t agree with all this talk about the Mondeo being too sophisticated and expensive for the U.S. market.
Of course, the Mondeo at Euro 17,800 looks extremely expensive at the current
Actually, this sounds extremely cheap. I looked at the prices and the official document said that the Ghia starts at €25.775
Also, I don’t think that the US-Dollar will gain in value compared to the Euro any time soon. Most experts rather predict another massive drop. The only thing keeping the Dollar afloat is the fact that lots of countries (especially China) mostly use Dollars as reserve currency. But this won’t save it forever.
Anyway, If Ford wants to sell the Mondeo in the States at a profit, they will have to build it there (IMHO).
Even @ $25K, a US Mondeo would flop.
1) The kind of people who buy Fords in the USA, don’t care about European styling, handling, or quality. These are people who’d be happy with a motorized Conestoga wagon.
2) US buyers who appreciate Euro-cars will never buy a Ford. Ever. At any price. The Ford oval appears to them as skull and crossbones — a warning to stay as far away as possible.
3) Ford wants out of manufacturing in the US and Canada — despite what jet-boy says publicly.
In the near future, Ford NA will offer a few truck models manufactured locally for the ever dwindling Redneck/NASCAR/Half-wit demographic. Their US car offerings will be cheap-ass strippers made in Mexico/Brazil/China for “sub-prime” US buyers.
Everybody is right that there’s no way you could sell it as a Ford, but you COULD sell it as a Mercury (or maybe even a Lincoln). But they won’t, because the Milan and the LKXZSHJKBNBNUI (whatever the Lincoln version of the Fusion is; I forget which three letters it uses and I ain’t going to go look it up) are decent cars and sell fairly well and are probably much more profitable than importing these.
In any case, that 10.6 second 0-60 time would be unacceptable in a Mercury or Lincoln stateside; you would need a more powerful engine. To put it in perspective, that’s about how fast a Toyota Prius is. Fast enough in the real world, but unacceptable in an upmarket US-spec car.
Two five-star Ford reviews back-to-back… What is that I hear about anti-domestic bias?
I’m not sure why people are expecting this vehicle to edge into BMW territory. On the mainland the Mondeo starts at €22k. The 320d starts at €33k and the 520d at €38k.
The problem would be selling it. As a Mercury they would be lucky to move 4k per month. As a Ford there is no way it would be cheaper than the Mazda6 assembled by third-world labor that they are peddling now.
“As a Ford there is no way it would be cheaper than the Mazda6 assembled by third-world labor”
The 6 is built in Flat Rock, Michigan right now.
NetGenHoon: but is the Mondeo really a domestic car?
Oh, and if everyone hasn’t googled it already, the Mondeo Titanium is a much cleaner/sharper looking interior than the Ghia.
Even if Ford found a way to bring Euro spec vehicles here they would have to seriously decontent them and cheapen the interiors to make the price point acceptable to US consumers. And cheap interiors are ONE of MANY resasons Ford is losing customers faster than the Titanic sank !!!!!!!!! That, plus every vehicle made by Ford has Japanese and European compitition that is better in countless ways(espically quality, reliability and resale value). As i have said in other posts, Ford WILL not maybe but WILL be in bankruptcy court on or before 12-31-08. The ship is SINKING and sinking FAST !!!! Man the life boats now !!!!!!!
P.S: Since the captain is supposed to go down with his ship, i wonder if Mr. Mullaly will go down with the Ford ship as it continues to sink????
@red dawg:
I’ll take that bet. Seriously, the sale of Land Rover/Jaguar will infuse enough money to survive this year. On top of that, the new owner will be dependent on Ford parts for the foreseeable future, which will get them even more money. And after that, Volvo will be next to go.
Of course, selling parts of your company won’t save you forever, but at this point, Ford is still in a position where they can sell, so it’ll get them to live for a couple more years. And maybe that’s enough time to get the company healthy again – sorry, I guess that was me dreaming…