Celebrating the Ford Mondeo
23 October 2025
We recently wrote about Gar Cole’s splendid Mondeo 1.8LX Mk.I and its adventures have included a 2,000-mile charity drive around Scotland for Bowel Cancer UK. And so, in tribute to a remarkable car, here are 25 facts about the Ford devised for world markets:
1. Ford started work on £3billion Project CDW27 in 1985.
2. ‘C’ and ‘D’ represented the design’s intended market sectors and ‘W’ stood for ‘World Car’.
3. The brief given to John Oldfield, Ford’s Executive Director of Engineering Staff, was that CDW27 was to replace both the Sierra and the US-market Tempo/Topaz. The European cars were to be made in Belgium.
4. CDW27 was to be front-wheel-drive as Ford believed this reflected the market’s direction.
5. In 1988 Ford evaluated a range of CDW27 competitors: the Honda Accord, the Opel Vectra, the Peugeot 405, the Toyota Camry, and the Volkswagen Passat.
6. Power was from 1.6-litre, 1.8-litre, and 2.0-litre Zetec engines, all with four valves, with a choice of four-door saloon, five-door hatchback, and estate bodies.
7. The project’s engineers tested the drivetrain with CD27Ws disguised as Sierras.
8. The CDW27 was the first front-wheel-drive Ford in its market sector and shared very few components with the Sierra.
9. Production at Ford’s Belgian plant in Genk began on the 23rd of November 1992.
10. Ford unveiled the Mondeo in January 1993 and UK sales began on the 22nd of March. US sales commenced in 1994.
11. As Ford intended Mondeo to be a ‘World Car’ its name derives from the Latin word ‘mundus’ - world.
12. According to one gem of sales copy, the Mondeo represented “Beauty with inner strength”.
13. Not to mention a television commercial designed to lure viewers to their friendly local Ford dealer.
14. Your choice of five trim levels ranged from Base and LX, to GLX, Si, and Ghia.
15. The Si could be specified with the “Full RS Dress Up” kit which gave the proud owner a front spoiler, five-spoke alloy wheels and any colour they craved provided it was Citron Yellow.
16. The Mondeo defeated the Citroën Xantia and the Mercedes-Benz C-Class to become Car of the Year 1994.
17. Ian McAllister, the Chair of Ford UK, described as the Mondeo as “the best thing we’ve ever done”.
18. The front cover of Autocar & Motor exclaimed “Mondeo is king! Brilliant new Ford is best family car”.
19. Autocar & Motor also said: “We were so knocked out by the Mondeo at its St. Tropez launch that some of our fellow press thought we had gone soft on Ford”.
20. The Telegraph found the Mondeo’s styling “inoffensively modern”.
21. When Car evaluated the Mondeo 2.5 24v Ghia opposite the Renault Laguna V6, the Rover 620ti, and the Saab 900 SE, they referred tp the Ford’s “svelte refinement” and “excellent traction control”.
22. In 1993 Ford held 28% of the UK fleet sales market, with Vauxhall in second place at just under 25%, and Rover in third place with 18.1% of the market.
23. The Mondeo had to win conquest sales from the Cavalier, then the country’s most popular fleet car.
24. Tony Brigden, Ford’s Fleet Operations Director, told The Observer: “Within six weeks of the Mondeo’s launch, 40 per cent of fleet managers had already driven it, and 100 per cent knew all about it because we made damn sure they did”.
25. The early Mk. Is even came with a ‘Ford Mondeo’ pen to slot into the centre console pen holder.
With thanks to Gar Cole for his time.
With thanks to Gar Cole for the permission to use the images in this blog.