I remember that when evos was officially released at the Shanghai Auto Show last year, many media asked Ford when the new generation of Mondeo would appear, but Ford was silent. More than half a year later, with the opening of the design center, Ford China officially unveiled a new generation of Mondeo, so that this suspenseful topic finally has an answer.
In fact, from the appearance pictures first released by the new generation of Mondeo, it can be seen that the front face design is in line with EVOS, using Ford's new "potential energy aesthetics" design concept. There are obvious differences in the rear, especially the three-line taillight design, which is reminiscent of the taillights of the Ford Mustang sports car at a glance. In my opinion, Ford wanted to emphasize Mondeo's athleticity by borrowing elements from Mustang's designs, as well as what Ford has always said about the athletic genes.
Ford did not release more details about the new generation of Mondeo, and it is estimated that it will not be much different from EVOS. Obviously, more about the new generation of Mondeo will be told by Changan Ford, after all, it will be the most important and real replacement car for Changan Ford to go public this year.
And why did Ford make Mondeo the unveiling work when the design center opened? In my opinion, there are two reasons.
First, in the development of Ford in China, the importance of Mondeo is self-evident. However, with the change of consumer buying habits and the impact of the slow pace of ford product updates before, Ford's car system in China is not as fast as the development of SUV system. And as mentioned in the just-released 2021 sales report, SUVs and high-end cars have accounted for more than 70% of Ford brand passenger car sales in China. In line with the upward development direction of Ford's products, Mondeo is just right to take the lead in taking on the important responsibility of the renewal of the Ford sedan series.
Second, since the release of the "Ford China 2.0" strategy in 2019, Ford has been changing around the needs of Chinese consumers from enterprises to brands, from research and development to products. The opening of the design center, together with the innovation center, product center and new energy center, is a testament to Ford's brand transformation. The Mondeo familiar to Chinese consumers took the opportunity to show us that the new design direction of Ford products led by the Chinese design team will continue to be implemented here.
After all, when evos was launched, this Ford car, which many people think is "not like Ford", from the appearance to the interior, from the configuration to the intelligence, has added very obvious Chinese characteristics, keeping up with the Trend of China, and even many unique innovations, such as movable grille scales, 27-inch 4K screens and so on.
Moreover, after Ford North America has completely abandoned the car market, it is clear that another large market is needed to take on the development of car products, and there is no doubt that Ford China is more suitable for this responsibility than Ford Europe. This further confirms why Ford's sixth sustainable design center in Shanghai, China, has the ability to design vehicles in the whole process from design trend research, interior and exterior design, color material design, digital interaction experience design to digital model and full-size sludge model production. While Ford China says the design center is focused on designing and developing products for the Chinese market, Ford has never said that the new EVOS and Mondeo are only available in China.
The "Martin Face", which was born on the EVOS concept car released in Europe ten years ago, is also time to start waving goodbye, and the new image of Ford products has been opened in China. It is even a bold guess that the Chinese design team will have a positive impact on the development of Ford's global sedan products in the future. After all, the design or technology used in the leading global automotive market in the development of intelligence and electrification can bring a lot of positive suggestions to other regions, and I believe it will also give great support to Ford's global product transformation.