A mid-size family car named after the Latin word for world, the Mondeo entered the Ford lineup in 1993 to much critical acclaim. Last redesigned from the ground up in 2014, the family car will be dropped in March when the Valencia, Spain assembly site will end production of the Mondeo.
What’s the successor going to be called? That’s up for debate, but the Blue Oval has already received the rights to the Mondeo Evos trademark from the European Union Intellectual Property Office. Alternatively called Fusion Active in North America, the next-gen model is currently undergoing hot-weather testing in the southernmost part of Europe in preparation for a 2022 launch.
Camouflaged like there’s no tomorrow, the pre-production mule shows a shark-fin antenna, pop-out door handles, a conventional trunk lid instead of the liftback design of the Evos for the Chinese market, and pretty much the same front-end styling as the Evos for the Middle Kingdom. The door-mounted side mirrors give this fellow a low-slung appearance, while the sloping roofline creates the impression of a coupe rather than a sedan.
Shod in summer tires wrapped around double-spoke alloy wheels with a black finish, the Mondeo-succeeding model is equipped with tiny brake rotors that feel lost within the barrels of the wheels. That may indicate a relatively small motor, and FWD is a given based on the car’s overall proportions.
Be it the outgoing CD4 platform or the C2 vehicle architecture of the Maverick unibody pickup truck, Ford will obviously roll out all-wheel drive as an optional extra. The same can be said about the 2.5-liter Duratec hybrid and PHEV engines of the Kuga, which are entering production at the Valencia, Spain complex in late 2022, according to the Ford Motor Company.
Speaking of electrification, the Blue Oval intends to go fully electric by 2030 in the Old Continent. In the first instance, Ford promises that every single passenger vehicle in the European lineup will go plug-in hybrid or electric by the middle of 2026 unless another chip shortage spoils this plan.
Camouflaged like there’s no tomorrow, the pre-production mule shows a shark-fin antenna, pop-out door handles, a conventional trunk lid instead of the liftback design of the Evos for the Chinese market, and pretty much the same front-end styling as the Evos for the Middle Kingdom. The door-mounted side mirrors give this fellow a low-slung appearance, while the sloping roofline creates the impression of a coupe rather than a sedan.
Shod in summer tires wrapped around double-spoke alloy wheels with a black finish, the Mondeo-succeeding model is equipped with tiny brake rotors that feel lost within the barrels of the wheels. That may indicate a relatively small motor, and FWD is a given based on the car’s overall proportions.
Be it the outgoing CD4 platform or the C2 vehicle architecture of the Maverick unibody pickup truck, Ford will obviously roll out all-wheel drive as an optional extra. The same can be said about the 2.5-liter Duratec hybrid and PHEV engines of the Kuga, which are entering production at the Valencia, Spain complex in late 2022, according to the Ford Motor Company.
Speaking of electrification, the Blue Oval intends to go fully electric by 2030 in the Old Continent. In the first instance, Ford promises that every single passenger vehicle in the European lineup will go plug-in hybrid or electric by the middle of 2026 unless another chip shortage spoils this plan.