Autoblog

We wrote about it earlier, just as a rumor, but it looks like an announcement is imminent: the Wall Street Journal says that Ford is going to make European cars on this side of the pond. However, it isn't merely North American plants that will be changed over, but American plants. The Journal doesn't give any further indication of where those plants might be or what those cars might be, only saying that the strategy could be revealed during Ford's Q2 earnings announcement this Thursday. But we'll say again: come on, Mondeo! (And Focus and Focus Coupe and Ka and...)

[Source: Automotive News, sub req'd]

There has been plenty of support for Ford to bring its rest-of-the-world products to the North American market, and with the truck market doing a Roscoe P. Coltrane E-brake turn away from profitability, the Blue Oval's global efforts are becoming increasingly important for its survival. The plan going forward is to utilize small and medium sized vehicles from Ford's European arsenal globally. In North America, the cars will be spiffy, though Ford will be robbing Peter to pay Paul on that count -- spreading the costs of America's premium cars over the breadth of the entire program's worldwide scope.

According to Automotive News, we're getting a big list of Euro-Ford based cars in the near future. The Fiesta will slot in under the Focus, and will share a new platform with Mazda. Also on the Fiesta's underpinnings could be a small crossover or minivan. The Euro Focus will finally get here in 2011, when the next generation drops. 2012 will bring the C-Max, a Mazda 5-ish people mover. The Fusion moves to the EUCD platform, though we hope it doesn't grow too much, lose its joyous demeanor, or come up short on fuel economy. It looks like Ford's going to try to stack the B, C, and D segments with sedans and MPV-type offerings, as well as seriously tweaking all of its offerings to match the new and looming reality.

[Source: Automotive News - Sub Req]

Click above for high-res gallery of the Ford Mondeo Titanium X Sport

The Ford Mondeo has been a well received car in Europe, and Ford says that there's so much demand for high-end models that it's decided to introduce a new top-of-the-line version called the Titanium X Sport. Dubbed "the most desirable Mondeo yet" by Ford, the Titanium X Sport will be available either as a saloon (sedan) or estate (wagon) and be powered by Ford's 2.5L turbocharged inline five-cylinder engine or its 2.2L TDCi diesel mated to a standard six-speed manual transmission. New 18-inch alloy wheels, side skirts and chrome dual exhaust tips add a premium punch to the visuals, while the interior benefits from red stitching on its leather seats, as well as a cow hide-covered steering wheel and shifter. You'll find no wood veneer on this car's instrument panel, as aluminum inserts and piano black inlays give the Mondeo's domicile a more stark and modern feel. There is a "sports suspension", but it appears that the Titanium X Sport is more show than actual go. Buyers will, however, get a nice long list of standard features to keep them company while accelerating to 62 mph in 8.4 seconds in the diesel-powered version.


[Source: Ford Europe]

Despite not being official, we've known for some time that Ford CEO Alan Mulally wants to increase the number of platforms shared by its U.S. and European divisions. It's something Ford fanboys have been demanding for some time, and yesterday Mulally officially confirmed that the next-gen Focus and Fusion would be global vehicles, sharing platforms with their counterparts across the pond. This will be in addition to the B-class car that's coming in the form of the new European Fiesta small car that will slot below the Focus in Ford's U.S. lineup.

The amount of overlap between Ford in the U.S. and Ford of Europe was one of the first things that surprised Mulally when he arrived at Ford exactly one year ago. He's quickly set about fixing the redundancy, but we won't likely see the fruits of his labor until 2010 or 2011 when the next Focus is expected to debut for both markets.

Ford execs have said that these cars will wear different styling and be tuned differently, but we've heard from inside the Blue Oval that a conflict between U.S. and Euro designers is growing, with the former group upset that its delicate balance of three-bar grilles will be upset by the Fiesta, and possibly other models, arriving with FoE's "Kinetic Design" theme.

[Source: Automotive News, sub. req'd]

Motor Authority just posted a photo of a special long-wheelbase version of the Ford Mondeo, apparently made for the Chinese market. This has been a popular pastime for automakers of late, as LWB versions of sedans from Cadillac, BMW, Audi and others have surfaced as psuedo-limos for the Chinese market.

The picture of the stretched Mondeo was apparently found on the Chinese forum SoulImage, and shows an obviously-lengthened Ford Mondeo sedan with a longer wheelbase to accommodate its extended rear door. It's a bit strange to see cars that have just debuted going through the taffy puller and coming out with different proportions than the press photos, especially before we have yet to see the real thing in person, but this Mondeo manages to still look handsome and stylish even with the extra inches. No word on whether or not this Mondeo plus will make it to other markets, though.

[Source: Motor Authority]

We apologize for the tardiness of Autoblog Podcast #59, as sometimes it's a devil to coordinate schedules. We managed to get our act together for this week though, and in episode 59, Dan Roth fills in for Damon Lavrinc, who's in Geneva. Alex and Dan recount their visit to the Consumer Reports track day, which provided insight into the organizations testing methods and showed that there are real car guys within the belly of the beast. A great time was had by all, and the CR folks were eminently gracious. After talking about that for longer than we should have (whoops!), we move on to the newly-unveiled Mazda 2, and our lust for it. This time, it looks like we won't be met with denial from Ford, as the 2's platform-mate, the Ford Fiesta, heads this way for 2009. We take the time to do some general Ford pontificating, move on to a tangent about styling trends and wrap up with breathless praise for the swagger of the Opel GTC Concept's lines. Enjoy!

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Even more news on the Mondeo front. This crucial new model for Ford is getting some serious playtime, and justifiably so. It's handsome and sporty and has a lot riding on it. OK, we've seen a bazillion photos of it already, both spy and official. And we know it will play a part in the new Bond movie, Casino Royale. We also have most of the specs and details about features and content. So it was only a matter of time before we got to see the upcoming Ford Mondeo, in action. In this clip, we get to see some brief action shots of the Mondeo interspersed with new Bond, Daniel Craig, doing some typically 007-like acrobatics, but this commercial clip is actually for the car's baby brother, the Focus. Click and enjoy.

Daniel Craig, the next James Bond, has already endured his fair share of controversy, and now the poor guy will have to while away the opening sequence in Casino Royale in a Fiat W190 bulldozer. This word, after we we reported last month that he'll also be driving a Ford Mondeo in the film.

But don't shed a tear for Daniel Craig. We're quite sure that he'll still get to shack up with some ridiculously hot beauty in an exotic locale, bide his time with lots of too-cool spy gear, and save the world in his free time. Oh, and we're quite sure all the product placement in the film will result in a sizeable paycheck for the inconvenience of it all. Besides, 007 can always ditch the ditch-digger (and the Blue Oval rep-mobile) and drive off into the sunset in the Aston Martin he's also scheduled to drive. Life is tough, eh, Craig?

Casino Royale is slated for a November release.

[Source: Reuters via CNN; Fiat]

World Car Fans has produced this computer generated image of the next Ford Mondeo based on spy shots of the vehicle it has obtained. It’s clear looking through the heavy camo of the spy shots that the next Mondeo will have an Iosis-inspired face. Whether or not the rest of the Mondeo will look as good as this artist’s interpretation remains to be seen. The new Mondeo will launch in 2007 and be built on the same platform as the new S-Max while riding on the same suspension as the latest Ford Focus.

Photo Credit: Copyright by Lehmann Photo-Syndication