SUVs have killed the Mondeo in Oz

Wednesday, 1 April 2020

Ford has electrified the Mondeo. And it works rather well indeed.

Ford Australia has confirmed the last Mondeo models will be landing there later this year as SUV demand pushes the mid-sized sedan out.

The Mondeo has been around in our neck of the woods since 1996 and has spanned four generations, the most recent landing in 2015. As buyer tastes have evolved to prefer high-riding SUVs, Ford New Zealand has been forced to slowly reduce the Mondeo line-up, ending up with just the Hybrid and Ambiente models as we started 2020.

Competing against the likes of the Toyota Camry, Mazda6 and, once upon a time, the Holden Commodore, Ford's mid-size offering is based on the North American Fusion. However, despite being a solid performer, sales tanked over 2019.

The long-standing Ford Mondeo could well leave our shores later this year.

Ford New Zealand sold 349 Mondeos last year. While the bulk of them were Ambiente variants, just less than a third were higher-specced Titanium models.

**READ MORE:

The culling is a result of the market shifting towards SUVs over sedans.

* Sick of SUVs? Here's something better

* Will Ford NZ ditch cars in favour of SUVs and trucks?

* It's a sad year for the Aussie vehicle assembly industry

* Top Ford Mondeo wagon is a safe bet**

The Aussies have already confirmed the culling of the model, which will leave just the Mustang, Fiesta and Focus models as Ford's passenger offerings. Ford NZ hasn't confirmed if it will follow suit yet, meaning the Ambiente and Hybrid Mondeos are still available for purchase. Don't be surprised if we follow the Aussie's lead, though.

Interestingly, the mid-spec Trend model is still listed on Ford NZ's website, which means a few might still be floating around.

If Ford NZ does ditch its sedan, local buyers will also be restricted to the Mustang, Fiesta and Focus for their non-SUV passenger options.

It might sound grim for fans of passenger cars but it could be worse. Ford over in the US is pushing to drop all passenger cars aside from the Mustang in favour of SUVs and trucks by 2021. This will include the Fusion model, which is closely related to the Mondeo but it seems Ford may keep the badge alive on a new high-riding wagon competitor to Subaru's Outback. This hasn't been confirmed by Ford though.