One of Ford’s most iconic and successful models will reach the end of the road in 2022 after almost 30 years in production. We look at why the US carmaker decided to pull the plug.

First launched in Europe in 1993 to replace the lackluster Sierra, the Mondeo became a huge success and was Ford’s first ‘World Car’.

First, let's take a look back at the Mondeo.

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Via WhatCar

The car that changed Ford’s fortunes

The Mondeo came in the nick of time for a company that had been struggling with a substandard model range for years. Its predecessor, the Sierra, was a thoroughly mediocre sedan (save for the RS Cosworth version), and Ford desperately needed to come up with a winner to retain the loyalty of sales reps and car rental companies.

In 1986, Ford invested more than $4 billion and appointed a team of 800 engineers headed by chief executive John Oldfield to come up with a replacement for the Sierra - and design a winner.

Following its 1993 launch, the Mondeo - derived from the Latin ‘mundus’ (‘world’), as it was intended to undergo the minimum of changes in each market - was named ‘Car of the Year’ by the prestigious What Car? magazine, one of many awards it would go on to win, including European Car of the Year in 1994.

The Mondeo was praised for its build quality, handling, interior design, and overall refinement. Motoring critics also raved about its stylish good looks, but the front-wheel-drive Mondeo was also way ahead in terms of safety and was the first Ford to have a driver’s airbag as standard.

Via AutoExpress

Four generations of Mondeo

The Mondeo adapted well to market changes for many years. Four generations of the car saw the model become increasingly better, but also bigger, heavier, and more expensive.

While quality has certainly improved, the latest generation Mondeo lacks the fun and poise of its original predecessor, although it is still an attractive-looking car with its faux Aston Martin grille, certainly when compared to the awkwardly-styled SUVs currently dominating the market.

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Falling sales signal the end of the Ford Mondeo

But despite selling about five million Mondeos worldwide, Ford recently announced that production would end in March 2022.

Justifying its decision, the company said it was adapting to “changing customer needs”, which is another way of saying the Mondeo fell victim to the rising demand for SUVs and crossovers.

In the UK, Mondeo sales reached a peak of almost 894,000 units in 2004 but dropped steadily every year after that. In 2019, fewer than 294,000 were sold, and it’s been pretty much the same in the rest of Europe.

By contrast, sales of SUVs have increased year-on-year, accounting for virtually 40 percent of the blue oval’s sales last year, up by almost 10 percent compared with a year earlier.

In the US, production of the Mondeo’s sister model – the Fusion – was halted even earlier, in July 2020.

To add to the Mondeo’s woes, Ford’s ubiquitous sedan has also been facing an onslaught from EVs, forcing Ford to announce that its car line-up will be all-electric by 2030.

 

Via Motor1

Inevitably, Ford is now focusing on building cars more like the Mustang Mach-E, an electric crossover SUV totally unlike its previous namesake.

To make the point that traditional sedans are on the way out, the company will invest $22 billion in electrification technology.

But it’s not quite the end of the road for the Mondeo yet, at least for a while. In China, where sedans have not yet fallen out of favor with consumers, the Mondeo will linger on, albeit with a heavily revised dashboard that includes a massive 12.8-inch vertical screen a la Tesla.

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