“One Ford”
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“We feel we’ll be able to get to a common design language that’s bold, as it should be for the American market, and is absolutely applicable to the European market as well”
That’s a statement from J Mays about Ford designs.
They now want US and Euro Ford to share a common “design language”.
Does that mean the 3 bar grille they are spending so much money putting on everything here is already obsolete?
More similar cars?
On a side note, does anyone else notice the shape of the license plate on the Mondeo?
Not very European is it?
It’s a numberplate from the Bahamas. They were used in the latest James Bond movie. Nevertheless, the new Mondeo is still only available in Europe.
the Mondeo would wipe-out the Fusion if Ford chose to introduce it to the U.S. market. I never liked the styling of the Fusion. I hate the “aftermarket” tail lights. I hate the Altima’s aftermarket tail lights too. They look cheap as though they stopped refining the design mid point and never finished.
Here’s Ford’s problem: They don’t still don’t have a replacement for the Taurus, once the best-selling sedan that was just the right size to compete with the Camry/Accord/Malibu, et al.
The Fusion is too small and reminds me of my 1997 Accord. The 500 is too big and too stodgy.
Ford needs to bring the Mondeo to America. The Mondeo photo you posted shows a handsome front end. Indeed, the “design language” (ugh) appears to be an antecedent of the Jaguar C-XF concept revealed with great fanfare earlier this month. (But that’s a different worry . . . )
The Fusion is a nice car. They clearly need to design cars from the start with whatever common design they decide on, because throwing it on as an afterthought doesn’t look as good in my opinion (see 500).
Anythings better than having smoke and steam billowing from under the hood be the signature visual cue.
“On a side note, does anyone else notice the shape of the license plate on the Mondeo? Not very European is it?”
Also not very not Photoshopped in either.
The Fusion is a nice car – for being a rebodied version 2.0 of the Mazda6 platform (which Mazda itself is moving to next year).
But, yes, lets hope the goadawful 3-bar and the rice taillamps become history some day. Not a good sign that the Five Hundred has adopted them too.
I’d take the Mondeo just as it is. We never got the full Mondeo treatment before in this country – the Contour was just a watered-down version of what was a premium car in Europe. Now that it’s size is right, the time isn’t right. Thank to Billy Ford and his dreams of playing Executive.
-Jeff
http://www.DrivingEnthusiast.net
“Also not very not Photoshopped in either.”
You beat me to it. Also, the Fusion is a nicer looking car than the Mondeo.
Ford sells the Mondeo and Fusion side by side in Mexico. Mexico also gets the C1 Focus ST. No wonder they lost 12 billion dollars last year.
Keep the Fusion for those who like it, and have the Mondeo as an entry level Mercury, say 20K starting price, if possible.
I’d buy one, the 5 door version, if not overly pricey.
That is one sharp car!
Even a younger person would not mind driving it(not talking kids,necessarily, but mid-late 20’s, at least)!
My brother in law has a 99 taurus with 130K, only needed heater work, and the fan blade fell off at 93,000 miles, but was cheap to replace.
Got it used, no less. H eis not thrilled by Fusion, or too crazy about the 500, nad he is 32.
He might consider a Mondeo, though.
I’m from Europe but the US Fusion loks much better to me than our Mondeo, being the current or the coming one.
You have nothing to envy us. We indeed have interresting and superbly engineered small cars, but they’re mostly still umbrellas on four wheels with small 4-cylinders, a stick and pretty basic equippment. A/C is becoming standard simce as late as 5 years.
I envy you a lot more: the overpoweredness of your cars, the size, the equippment and sometimes also the designs.
“The Fusion is a nicer looking car than the Mondeo” ????!!!
The Mondeo makes the Fusion look like Noah kept a pair of them on the ark!
Both the Mondeo and the Fusion are nice looking cars. Maybe the grass is greener on the other side, but I think I prefer the sporty European styling of the Mondeo, If both were available in the states, I’ll bet most people would prefer the smart conservative sedan styling of the Fusion. But I’m just guessing without having both to compare.
I don’t see how these two vehicles could live in the same showroom as the same brand. But I don’t see the Mondeo as a Mercury either. Mercury doesn’t generally get the marketing resources or expansive dealer network necessary to make a Mercury-dedicated R&D vehicle like this successful.
I loved the Iosis-Mondeo concept but the production Bondeo lost its stance & looks a bit ‘busy’. Unless some Euros are at the Chicago autoshow (rumor), the big things will be (1) hanging in with refreshes until (2) the global-style global-platform EUCD gets here. Fusion vs Mondeo arguments are just spilt milk…. woulda-coulda-shoulda
If you’ve acutally DRIVEN the last/outgoing Mondeo, you’d know that the ride is excellent, the handling is quite engaging, it’s roughly Accord-sized or a bit smaller, and it gets great fuel economy with a host 4 cylinder gas and diesel engines.
Problem is, I doubt that any one of the above is a value that has any relevance for the folks at Mercury.
Comparing the two – I think the new Mondeo looks more exotic compared to the vanilla looking Fusion. I find the new Mondeo wagon concept to be quite striking also – I would even give up my Volvo wagon for it. However, I know that it will never arrive on our shores so I will keep the Volvo. I will NEVER purchase any current Ford/GM product. If the Mondeo arrives on our shores then that would be a different story.