The Ford Mondeo was introduced in 1993 as a ‘world car’. It replaced the Ford Sierra in Europe, the Ford Tempo in North America and the Ford Telstar in Asia and Australia. The first-generation Mondeo – available as sedan, liftback and station wagon – was very boring in appearance, but received a sensational facelift in 1996: with an oval grille and huge headlights and tail lights. In the United States, the Mondeo was known as Ford Contour and Mercury Mystique.
Second Ford Mondeo was no longer a world car
The second generation was presented in 2000, was considerably larger than its predecessor and was available again as a sedan, liftback and station wagon. The Mondeo was no longer a real world car, because in North America, Ford opted for a different model in the mid-sizeclass: the Ford Fusion. The sporty top model of the Mondeo series was the ST220, with a 226 hp 3.0-liter V6 on board. From 0 to 100 km / h went in 7.4 seconds. The top speed of the ST220 was 250 km / h.
Star in the James Bond movie Casino Royale
Ford made the third generation Mondeo bigger again. It stood on the platform of the Ford Galaxy and S-Max, which was also used by Volvo for the second S80. The Mondeo’s Kinetic design was based on that of the 2005 Ford Iosis concept car. Months before the Mondeo was unveiled, the model starred in the James Bond film Casino Royale. Again, the Mondeo was not sold in North America. There they still had the Fusion.
Ford will focus on SUVs and crossovers
With its second generation (2012 – 2020), the current Ford Mondeo shares a large part of its technology. Ford is discontinuing the model because the popularity of SUVs and crossovers is still growing. In the United States, Ford has already decided to focus on that. Last year, European Ford sales were 39 percent SUVs and crossovers. In addition, Ford wants to focus on electrification. In 2026, the delivery program should only consist of fully electric cars and plug-in hybrids.