The new generation of Ford Mondeo is officially out of the production line. The new model is the 5th generation of the Mondeo family, and to be honest, among the mid-size cars of the joint venture brand, Mondeo is a relatively young model and does not have many iterations. Because Volkswagen Magotan has developed to the 8th generation. The Accord has grown to the 10th generation.
Looking back at the previous generation, the 4th generation of Mondeo, it was launched in 2013, and it has been nine years since then. As a joint venture brand mid-size car, the advent of the fifth generation model is not easy. In the same period, the joint venture brand mid-size sedan has been completed. So can Mondeo after the replacement still be able to reproduce the sales glory of the fourth generation of that year?
[1] Without Martin's face, can the 5th generation Mondeo still impress in terms of design?
The biggest design highlight of the 4th generation Mondeo is the use of design elements from Aston Martin. This was refreshing at the time. At the same time, the body size of the 4th generation Mondeo is also relatively large. It has a length of 4860 mm, a width of 1854 mm, a height of 1480 mm and a wheelbase of 2850 mm. Compared with the contemporaneous joint venture brand mid-size car, the size of the Mondeo is not small.
Photo note: Fourth generation Mondeo
The new generation of Mondeo has undergone earth-shaking changes in its design. It is very recognizable in design, and the overall style is more youthful. But it doesn't feel as advanced as the front face of the 4th-generation Martin. And in terms of body size, it is actually further enlarged, the length of the body reaches 4935 mm, and the wheelbase is 2945 mm. With a body length of nearly 5 meters, it is already a bit like a C-class car.
【2】Specially built for China, the fifth generation of Mondeo is more like an independent brand car!
At present, Ford Motor is actually in a stage of strategic contraction in the field of cars, including Ford's cars and Lincoln's cars have been discontinued. The suspension I am talking about here mainly refers to the US market, while ford in the United States mainly sells SUVs and pickups.
Therefore, the development of the 5th generation Ofd Mondeo is done by China, so the new generation of Mondeo is also a model that cannot be seen abroad, and Ford is tailor-made for the Chinese market.
So we see more of a style like our own brand on the new generation of Ford Mondeo cars, such as a large screen with a length of more than 1.1 meters, which is very rare in other joint venture brands. Then in terms of the car system, it can also log in to WeChat and QQ, so the system function is also tilted towards Chinese users.
[3] Is there still a place for Mondeo in the joint venture brand mid-size car market?
At present, the competition in the joint venture brand mid-size car market is very fierce, showing the following characteristics.
First of all, the sales of models of first-line joint venture brands are relatively good. The first-line joint venture brands I am talking about here mainly refer to Toyota, Honda, and Volkswagen. For example, their Camry, Accord, Tianlai, Passat, and Magotan sales are very good.
Second, the sales of models of second-tier joint venture brands are very average, such as Citroën Versailles C5X, Kia K5 Kaiku, Citroën C6, Hyundai Sonata.
Therefore, the sales of Ford Mondeo are good or bad, in fact, a large part depends on the level of brand influence. In fact, from the perspective of Ford's brand influence in China, Ford is also between the first and second lines. And at present, Ford's sales in the Chinese market are mainly SUV products, not cars, and whether it is the fourth generation of Mondeo or Ford Focus, the current sales volume is very low. So it's not easy for Ford to regain sales in the mid-size sedan market with the 5th generation Mondeo.