The Ford Mondeo family cars are well known throughout Europe and other parts of the world, but where does its name come from. No “Mundane-o” jokes here, we promise.
The Mondeo name is derived from the Latin word mundus, which means world. Its name derives from Ford’s desire to create a single mid-size family car for the world, a so-called “world car”.
The original Mondeo, launched in 1992, replaced the Sierra in Europe, and the Mazda 626-based Telstar in Australia and Asia.
In the USA, the Mondeo received new front and rear ends, and other engineering changes, and were sold as Ford Contour and Mercury Mystique, and replaced the Ford Tempo and Mercury Topaz.
Whilst a success in Europe, the Contour/Mystique were too small and cramped, especially at the rear, compared to the larger Toyota Camry and Honda Accord.
The Contour and Mystique were eventually replaced by the Mazda 6-based Ford Fusion, Mercury Milan and Lincoln Zephyr/MKZ.
The Mondeo continues on to this day throughout the rest of world, and is essentially a hatchback and wagon version of the North American Fusion.
