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Ford to Replace Mondeo, S-Max With Subaru Outback-Style Crossover

You don't need a crystal ball to see the future of the Ford Mondeo. Its American sister car is being killed off, along with all the other normal cars, while the European model witnesses aging and sales declines. However, Ford may have something interesting planned as a replacement.
Ford to Replace Mondeo, S-Max With Subaru Outback-Style Crossover 15 photos
Photo: Ford
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According to a new port, the Blue Oval wants a wagon+crossover combo, which would rival the Subaru Outback and Volkswagen Passat Alltrack. Now, that's a pretty vague description, since the German car is more of a trim level and the Japanese rival is standalone with a much taller body and off-road abilities.

Autocar claims that the yet-unnamed model will replace not only the Mondeo but also the Galaxy and S-Max. We have a soft spot for all these nameplates. However, if it's not shaped like an SUV, carmakers apparently can't sell it.

It's likely that the new model will be based on a bigger version of the C2 platform, which itself just gave Europe the new Focus hatch and wagon, which itself has an off-road version calle the Active. Obviously, the Mondeo replacement would be much larger, perhaps big enough for the third row of seats.

This British media report perfectly lines up with one from America saying that the Fusion (closely related to the Mondeo) would be swapped out for a crossover-style wagon after the turn of the decade. It's yet unclear if Ford will keep the current names, especially since its American SUVs usually start with an E - EcoSport, Escape, Edge, Explorer, Expedition. Meanwhile, the Europeans get a bunch of wild cats like the Puma and Kuga.

The engines would obviously be tailored to the market, with Europe getting the 2-liter EcoBlue diesel and 1.5 turbo while America offers higher displacements. But the two sisters models will probably share hybrid and/or PHEV systems.
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About the author: Mihnea Radu
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Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida.
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