European Ford Buyers, At Least, Get a Tiny Amount of Sedan Optimism
Over the weekend, the future of Ford’s Mondeo midsize sedan (and wagon) looked as bleak as that of its U.S. Fusion twin. Britain’s Sunday Times, citing anonymous sources, claimed the automaker was poised to ditch the Mondeo, as well as a crop of other models, in an effort to shore up its sagging European operations.
Not so, claims Ford, though the murky timeline for the Fusion’s demise has us wondering if this reprieve for the Mondeo stands to be short-lived.
The report claimed Ford would ditch the struggling Mondeo amid a streamlining effort that could see 24,000 employees dropped from its worldwide roster, many of them in Europe. On the product front, the Mondeo suffers from a widespread contagion known as “not being an SUV.”
In the U.S., the Fusion is expected to shuffle into the afterlife by 2021, though the model name might remain, likely affixed to a high-riding vehicle with a liftgate.
Responding to the report, Ford stated, “We have upgrades coming for Mondeo later this year, which will see new powertrains as well as exterior and interior updates as well as enhancements to the Mondeo Hybrid range.” Should the new content fail to budge the sales needle, it’s not hard to imagine the Mondeo passing away at the same time as the Fusion. The other vehicles mentioned in the report — the Galaxy and S-Max minivans — went unmentioned. All three vehicles share a Valencia, Spain assembly plant.
Ford’s European division lost $73 million in the second quarter, and its continued lack of strength is just one of the anchors holding back the automaker’s dismally low stock price. Last month, Moody’s downgraded the company’s credit rating to one step above junk status.
[Image: Ford of Europe]
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Ford announced that they cancelled development of Fusion's update. How in the world they are going to come up with updated Mondeo when it is nothing other than Fusion with some European tweaks? I cannot believe that, sorry.
the main flaw with Ford sedans was and will forever be their fluctuation in model names. European car buyer don`t fancy an everchanging brand, since THIS is what the are buying in the end... a BRAND. and with that all the fancy attributes, your common merchandize puppet can recite ad infinitum. They should have sticked with the Sierra badge for what its worth and made it a car they would have been PROUD of, instead of following some idiotic `world car`agenda... everything about this idea is unsexy in the first place- you buy a car, which is a huge investment in the first place,and you get to know, that EVERYONE else on the friggin planet is (potentially) driving the same car aswell? thank you very much,Ford. Hackett is doing everything right; UNSEXY CARS DON´T SELL. period