European Ford Buyers, At Least, Get a Tiny Amount of Sedan Optimism

by Steph Willems

Published: September 4th, 2018

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]

#Ford #FordMondeo #FordOfEurope #ProductPlanning #Production #Sedans

Steph Willems

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14 of 32 comments

Inside Looking Out on Sep 04, 2018

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.

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- Ce he sin on Sep 05, 2018
  
  They mean a mild update in the few years remaining to the Mondeo, not a major facelift.
  
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- Big Al from Oz on Sep 05, 2018
  
  Inside Looking Out, I thought the Fusion was based on the Mondeo? Isn't this the case?
  
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- JimZ on Sep 05, 2018
  
  @Big Al from Oz it's more complicated than that. the Fusion for 2013 changed from the Mazda-based CD3 to the Mondeo's EUCD platform (and became the "CD4" platform.) But the actual 2013+ Fusion/Mondeo top hat/vehicle was led by North America. so it's an NA vehicle from an EU architecture which was then "Europeanized" for the 2015+ Mondeo.
  
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- Inside Looking Out on Sep 05, 2018
  
  @Big Al from Oz BAFO JimZ answered your question. I would add that Mondeo/Fusion is developed for NA because this class of vehicles a.k.a. D class is not popular in Europe. For Europe Fiesta is a mainstream car. And Mondeo does not compete with Mercedes/BMW/Audi anymore either. Ford dropped both Scorpio and LS.
  
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- Big Al from Oz on Sep 05, 2018
  
  @JimZ Jim, Thanks. I know the CD4 platform was Ford's early 90s EU design to replace multiple mid size Fords. The CD4 didn't arrive in the US until the late 90s.
  
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- Big Al from Oz on Sep 05, 2018
  
  @JimZ Jim, the Mondeo was a CD4 since 92.
  
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- JimZ on Sep 05, 2018
  
  @Big Al from Oz Amazing. Every word of what you just said was wrong.
  
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- Big Al from Oz on Sep 05, 2018
  
  @Inside Looking Out Inside, The Mondeo using Ford's global CD4 platform came out in 92. The US started using the CD4 platform at a later period. There will be US involvement.
  
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- Big Al from Oz on Sep 05, 2018
  
  @Big Al from Oz Jim and Inside, My apologies. I just Goggled the CD4. The CD4 being US makes sense as the EU moves away from midsize vehicles.
  
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- Inside Looking Out on Sep 05, 2018
  
  @Big Al from Oz Originally Mondeo was a much smaller car - compact in US terms or C-class in European classification. Mondeo replaced Sierra. Mondeo was very good car from the beginning. Original platform was called CDW27 which meant to be a world car. But in US it did not work because Ford already had compact car Escort for much less. Mondeo was better car than Escort but Americans normally do not care - they just want cheapest cars possible. CD4 is the latest generation of Mondeo which is aimed more on USA, Russia and China than Europe/Japan etc.
  
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- Inside Looking Out on Sep 05, 2018
  
  @Ce he sin "They mean a mild update in the few years remaining" Then it is no different from Fusion. Means in few years they gonna kill it as they did with Scorpio before that.
  
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- WallMeerkat on Sep 06, 2018
  
  Original Mondeo was sold as the Ford Contour. The original 'CD' code came about as it straddled the traditional C/D segments (compact/mid-size) The way I see it the Mondeo faces 1 of 2 futures: - It is axed. Plenty of European market sedans have been axed, Honda Accord (though strangely they will try and sell a Civic sedan), Nissan Primera, Citroen C5 (in the UK at least), Toyota Avensis (though strangely they will try and sell the Camry hybrid), Subaru Legacy/Impreza sedan etc. - They continue to develop the Mondeo/Fusion primarily for the Australian and Chinese markets, the European Mondeo is based on this. With axing the Falcon they need a large sedan for Australia, and China still likes a side of large sedan with their SUVs. At one point it looked like it may be spun off to it's own brand, Vignale, but that is now being used as a trim level.
  
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Iddqd on Sep 06, 2018

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

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