Mondeo eager to get its mojo back in Europe

Ford reckons that by platform sharing the upcoming new Mondeo with various US market Lincoln models, it can make its new four-door saloon more competitive in a shrinking, but still hotly contested, European market for such cars. The original Mondeo, introduced in the early 1990s, would have sold more than 300,000 units every year.

The model has since then had its position steadily eroded, and now Ford has managed to shift just 20,000 European Mondeos in the first five months of 2014. Admittedly, that is an ageing model, and customers know a new one (oft-delayed thanks to the closure of the Ford factory in Genk, Belgium) is coming down the track, but the solid sales figures of cars such as the BMW 3 Series and Audi A4 indicate where much of the Mondeo's customer base has gone.

The all-new Mondeo, though, is based on Ford's new global CD4 platform, which will also spin off into new Galaxy and S-Max models as well as Edge SUV. In fact, including the Lincoln models Ford will use the platform for (starting with the MKX SUV), the CD4 chassis will eventually underpin a total of 10 models with total production of 1.2-million vehicles.

That sounds impressive, until you remember that VW shifts around 1.1 million Passat saloons and estates every year (including the slightly different US market Passat) and that the Passat shares its platform with the Golf, the Audi A3, the Skoda Octavia etc etc.

The scale of Ford's challenge to keep customers interested in mid-size saloons is clear from the fact that industry analysts IHS Automotive expect the market for such cars in Europe to slip to around 500,000 units, down from 800,000 in 2011.