The all-new Ford Mondeo has been launched at the Detroit motor show. The car isn’t due to go on sale until March next year, but Ford has announced it early because the Mondeo’s sister vehicle, the US-market Fusion, has just been revealed at the Detroit show.
As part of the company’s ‘One Ford’ policy, the European and Asian-market Mondeo and the US Fusion have merged to become essentially the same car.
Sources say the new car, which has been engineered primarily in America, is based on an all-new, “10 per cent stronger” platform that replaces the one under today’s Mondeo and the Mazda 6-sourced platform used by the current Fusion. It retains MacPherson struts at the front and gets all-new multi-link rear suspension. Ford claims the Mondeo has again been conceived as a driver’s car.
For now, most of the technical information relates to the Fusion, but Mondeo buyers can expect 168bhp/172lb ft 1.6-litre and 234bhp/250lb ft 2.0-litre turbocharged Ecoboost petrol engines, as well as Ford’s 1.6-litre and 2.0-litre diesels.
The US market also gets the Fusion Hybrid, which uses a 2.0-litre Atkinson cycle petrol engine, electric motor and CVT transmission to deliver 56mpg-plus economy. A plug-in hybrid version has also been announced which promises fuel economy equivalent to around 100mpg with a range comparable to the Chevrolet Volt.
Sources at Ford say although no decision has been made on whether hybrid and plug-in hybrid variants of the Mondeo will be sold in Europe, an electrified C/D segment car is scheduled for a 2013 launch.
The new Mondeo platform has also been engineered to accommodate all-wheel drive, which will be an option on the US-market car powered by the 2.0-litre petrol engine. Stop-start will also be an option on the new model, activated by brake pedal pressure. Lane Keeping Assist, adaptive cruise control, Active Park Assist and a Blind Spot Information System will be available as options, as will a new Active Noise Control set-up, which use the audio system to help cancel out road noise. SYNC, Ford’s in-car internet service, will also be offered on the new Mondeo, after appearing later this year in the UK in the Focus.
Thanks to: Autocar
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