End of the road for Ford Mondeo
MONDEO Man is drinking in the last chance saloon.
Ford chiefs yesterday announced they are ending production of the topselling Mondeo, after nearly 30 years.
Assembly lines will stop next March due to changing customer tastes, such as a demand for more versatile cars.
Launched in 1993, the Mondeo was Ford’s first “global” car and quickly became a best-seller in both saloon and estate versions.
Around five million have been sold since its launch in Europe, including 1.2million in the UK.
Its success sparked the rise of the term Mondeo Man, popularised by
Labour leader Tony Blair at his party conference in 1996.
He used it as a reference to the centrist, no-nonsense, hard-working voter Labour thought it needed to win the following year’s General Election – which it did by a landslide.
However, Mondeo sales have fallen rapidly in recent years as families switched to SUVs (sport utility vehicles) and crossover cars: just 2,400 were sold in the UK last year.
The US car giant said: “As a result of this growing change in customer preference, Ford will phase out the Mondeo next year.”
From 1993 to 2014, the car was made in Genk, Belgium, before production switched toValencia in Spain.
Jim Holder, editorial director at What Car?, said: “The rise of Mondeo Man in the 1990s put Ford’s flagship at the heart of British society – and sales towered as a result.
“But times and tastes change and the rise of the SUV and the push to downsizing has eaten away at its popularity.
“It marked a moment in time – but Mondeo Man is now more likely to be found driving a premium German SUV.” at the end of
March