"I have a car" original innovative car report: After 9 years, Ford Mondeo is finally going to change....
Since 2013, the current Changan Ford Mondeo has been in service in China for 9 years, although the "Martin Face" appearance with the original tail wing on the high-end model is not outdated, but the comprehensive product strength is indeed inferior to those rising stars. So at the beginning of this year, Ford debuted a new generation of Mondeo in the world, which is a new masterpiece of Changan Ford under the "Ford China 2.0" strategy, in order to be customer-centric and bring a better travel experience to Chinese users.
▲ To be honest, the old Mondeo is really fierce
In 1986, Ford invested nearly $6 billion to develop the Mondeo, one of Ford's most important models at the time. Even if the car was hung with a Ford logo, the home field at that time belonged to the European market, especially in the United Kingdom, Mondeo was once called a national god car, and even gave birth to the term "Mondeo Man", which refers to a group of owners of the Small and Successful Middle Class in the United Kingdom, who can afford and drive on the Mondeo.
In 2000, Mondeo brought the second generation of models, and in 2004, Changan Ford introduced domestically, winning more than 30 awards such as the domestic "Wind Cloud Car of the Year", and its comprehensive strength was indeed very strong in the domestic automobile market at that time.
The third generation of Mondeo was introduced to China in 2007, the model was named Mondeo - Zhisheng, this model compared to the overseas version basically did not change much, basically maintained the original taste, coupled with the exposure effect of the 007 movie at that time, the market sales are also very good.
The real fire of Mondeo in China is the fourth generation of models, the arrival of the "Martin Face" version in 2013, once made it the focus of the car circle, but also made it one of the hottest models in the mid-size car market, sales exceeded 100,000 units for four consecutive years. However, due to the long-term failure to launch replacement products, the sales of this generation of models in recent years have been really unsatisfactory, and the dealers who have been crowded in the past have also lost the hustle and bustle of the past.
Of course, the marginalization of Mondeo is inseparable from the reputation and brand image influence of Changan Ford in recent years, such as the classic phrase "a hundred years of Ford was destroyed in Changan", "Wing Tiger broken shaft door", etc., which have made Ford's brand value fall rapidly. Another very important factor is that Ford in previous years did not understand the Chinese market, even if it brought many original global models to the Chinese market, but the practice of pushing the three-cylinder engine by the head iron did bring a lot of impact to China.
So can the arrival of a new generation of Mondeo revive Changan Ford?
▲ What kind of Changan Ford is the new generation of Mondeo?
The new generation of Mondeo is based on the Ford C2 platform, which also has Lincoln Z, Adventurer and Ford Ruiji, EVOS and other models, and the new cars will only be sold in the Chinese market in the future, and the design process is also involved by many Chinese staff.
The new car from the C2 platform is not surprising, on the one hand, the manufacturer can save a certain development cost to directly benefit the user, on the other hand, the car is consistent with other models in the family in terms of quality, the production process naturally does not have to be entangled, such as the adventurer from the C2 platform, Ruiji and other models have excellent reputation, I believe that the future performance of the new car will not disappoint.
According to the current known news, Mondeo has stopped selling overseas, and it is EVOS that will replace it in the future, in fact, if you look at the essence, EVOS is a new generation of Mondeo Crossover models, they all follow strict global development standards, but Mondeo this time is designed by the Chinese team.
Different from the previous European design, the new generation of Mondeo design is completed at the Ford China Design Center, which is a design by a Chinese designer, both in shape and space size, in accordance with the Chinese people's preferences for atmosphere and masculinity.
The following is about the design, configuration, etc. do not mention too much, then we mainly say what are the strong selling points of this car.
The first is that the new generation of Mondeo looks really beautiful, the car is based on the "potential energy aesthetics" family design concept, compared to the current model is more imposing. The two-color body version of the new car was displayed at the previous press conference, and the ST-line version may be provided for users to choose in the future.
The second is that the new generation of Mondeo is fully enlarged compared to the old model, the former has a three-dimensional 4935x1875x1500mm, wheelbase of 2945mm, of which the wheelbase has approached the Ford Taurus, and has a leapfrog performance in the same level of products. In addition, after our tests, the 2945mm wheelbase and the length of more than 4 meters 9 give the rear row a fairly generous passenger space, with more than one palm of legroom and excellent lateral space.
Like the same platform Lincoln Z and EVOS, the new generation of Mondeo also has a huge horizontal screen up to 1 meter 1, which is composed of a 12.3-inch LCD meter and a 27-inch (4k) screen, and has a new generation of SYNC+2.0 Zhixing interconnection system built-in, and the sense of technology is directly full.
The fourth point is definitely the power, the new generation of Mondeo uses the same powertrain as evos, the maximum power of 238 horsepower (175 kW), matching the 8AT hand automatic transmission, in the same level of power is very advantageous. In addition, in the future, Mondeo may also have a new energy version, according to foreign media, EVOS is likely to provide two power modes of PHEV and pure electric in the European and American markets, of which the latter will transplant the power unit on Mustang Mach-E, and perhaps Mondeo will follow this practice in China in the future.
▲ How does the new generation of Mondeo break the game?
In terms of the positioning of the new generation of Mondeo, its main competitors in the future are Camry, Maiten, Passat, Accord, Tianlai, Asian Dragon, etc., the strength of these models can not be underestimated, of which the Camry sold as many as 216,700 vehicles last year, such as Accord, Tianlai, Maiten in the same period of 201,300 units, 162,000 and 137,000 units, while Passat and Asia Dragon achieved 114,700 units and 117,100 vehicles respectively.
In contrast, the current Mondeo has sold only 33,300 new cars in the whole of last year, even if it has been under the influence of no epidemic and no lack of cores, the peak period is 120,000, compared with the current model of the same level can only be regarded as the mainstream, not in the head position.
And the new generation of Mondeo, whether from the technology configuration, space, power and shape design, we can see ford's degree of intentions, if the new car wants to sell more than 10,000 units a month is not without hope, if the future can give sincerity in price, while the service experience and production standards have been improved, it is still expected to return to the glory of the past.
"I have a car" summary: The sudden fall of Changan Ford before is undoubtedly lamentable, but fortunately, the previous setbacks have completely awakened Ford, whether it is the launch of a new generation of Mondeo or the Fox that is about to be rebuilt to replace the 4-cylinder, we can see the efforts they have made behind it. If this pace of development only takes time, probably Changan Ford will usher in a new transformation, when the Detroit tiger will be able to threaten again. "I have a car" there are more original innovative car / price reduction market reports yo, come to get the first-hand purchase of cars, car information!