Ford Sierra
The Ford Sierra is a mid-size car or large family car, built by Ford Europe from 1982 to 1993. It was designed by Robert Lutz and Patrick le Quément; the code used during development was "Project Toni" Its name came from the Spanish word for mountain range. The Ford Sierra was first unveiled on 22 September 1982 at the British International Motor Show hosted at the NEC in Birmingham. With sales beginning on 15 October 1982, replacing the Ford Cortina, its aerodynamic styling was ahead of its time and as such, many conservative buyers did not take fondly to the Ford Cortina's replacement. It was manufactured in Germany and the United Kingdom, although Sierras were assembled in Ireland, Venezuela, South Africa and New Zealand. By 1978, Ford Europe was working on a new mid-range model to replace the Cortina/Taunus during the early 1980s, working under the codename "Project Toni". Ford had confirmed during 1981, a year before the Sierra's official launch, that its new mid-range car would carry the Sierra name, signalling the end of the Cortina nameplate after 20 years and five generations.
In September that year, it had unveiled the Probe III concept car at the Frankfurt Motor Show, hinting at what the new car would look like when the final product was unveiled 12 months later. At first, many found the design blob-like and difficult to accept after being used to the sharp-edged, straight-line styling of the Cortina, it was nicknamed "the jellymould", it was nicknamed "the salesman's spaceship" on account of its status as a popular fleet car in Britain. Sales were slow at first - the situation being exacerbated by heavy discounting by Ford dealers of surplus Cortina stock from the autumn of 1982 onwards, with more than 11,000 new Cortinas being registered in 1983, though the Sierra still managed nearly 160,000 sales in Britain that year, outsold only by the smaller Escort. Ford had launched the more conservatively designed Escort-based Orion saloon that year, which found favour with buyers who would otherwise have been the Sierra's target customers. In West Germany, it was proving popular from an early stage.
It was in the Sierra's life that the styling began to pay off. The most notable changes came at the start of 1987, with a major facelift and the addition of a 4-door saloon; as other manufacturers adopted similar aerodynamic styling, the Sierra looked more normal. At its peak, it was Britain's second best selling car in 1983, 1988 and 1989, was still Britain's fifth best selling car in 1992, its best year was 1989. However, it was outsold by the Vauxhall Cavalier in MK2 form during 1984 and 1985, from 1990 until its demise by the MK3 Cavalier, it comfortably outsold its second key rival, the Austin Montego, launched in April 1984. Between 1985 and 1988, the Sierra faced fresh competition in Europe from the likes of the Renault 21 and Peugeot 405, while Japanese carmaker Nissan was producing its Bluebird model in Britain from 1986. Early versions suffered from crosswind stability problems, which were addressed in 1985 with the addition of "strakes", on the rear edge of the rubber seals of the rear-most side windows.
These shortcomings saw a lot of press attention, contributed to early slow sales, when it was outsold by its key rival the Vauxhall Cavalier in 1984 and 1985. Other rumours that the car hid major crash damage harmed the car's reputation; this reached near-hysterical heights in its early months on sale, with UK press making a report that Ford would reintroduce the previous Cortina model out of desperation. These reports were swiftly denied by Ford. However, sales began to rise during 1983, it finished as Britain's second best selling car behind the Escort. After being outsold by the Cavalier for the next two years, it regained its lead of the market sector in Britain during 1986, a refreshed range enjoyed a surge in sales from 1987, though the MK3 Cavalier outsold it in 1990. In 1992, the Sierra was still Britain's fifth best selling car. Additionally, earlier models used the 1.6- and 2-litre versions of the Pinto engine paired with a four-speed manual gearbox. At a time when the rival Vauxhall Cavalier was offered with a five-speed option, this led to some critics commenting that the Sierra was somewhat underpowered.
In the mid-1980s, many smaller cars featured five-speed gearboxes. At its launch, some of Sierra′s external styling differed depending on the specification. In place of the model's regular two-bar grille, unpainted on the lowest-specification model, the Ghia featured a narrower blanked-off grille between wider, but still inset headlights, while the front bumper was restyled and featured combined indicator/foglight units compared to the lower-spec model's slimmer but wider indicator units; the XR4i had an identical front end to the Ghia, bar the bumper, different. The rear lights of the Ghia were the same shape and layout as other models, but featured tiny horizont
Tom Walkinshaw Racing
Tom Walkinshaw Racing was a motor racing team and engineering firm founded in 1976, in Kidlington, near Oxford, England by touring car racer Tom Walkinshaw. The company handled privateer work before entering works touring car racers for manufacturers such as Mazda and Rover. However, TWR became most associated with Jaguar, a relationship which started in 1982 with the successful entry of the Jaguar XJS into the European Touring Car Championship, chalking up a number of wins that year; the relationship continued and by 1988, TWR-Jaguar had taken its first Le Mans victory in a V12-powered XJR-9. Further success followed with a Le Mans win in 1990. TWR and Jaguar formed JaguarSport to build tuned versions of Jaguar road-cars, culminating in the production of the XJ220 and XJR-15 supercars at a new facility at Bloxham. With Jaguar falling under Ford's control in 1989, the TWR relationship declined and by 1994, JaguarSport had been liquidated, with the Bloxham factory being turned over to production of Aston Martins.
TWR nonetheless continued to achieve racing success with other manufacturers, notably winning Le Mans again in 1996 and 1997 in a Porsche-powered WSC-95. However, it was the costs resulting from the purchase of the Formula 1 team Arrows in 1996 that led to the demise of TWR in 2002; the UK assets and facility were bought by Menard Competition Technologies. The facilities were used as Arrows Grand Prix International, Super Aguri and Caterham F1 teams headquarters; the Australian part of the business was sold to Holden. TWR started by modifying BMW 3.0 CSLs, but soon was contracted to head Mazda's works program in the British Touring Car Championship. The TWR developed RX-7, with Win Percy in the driving seat, won the title in both 1980 and 1981. Walkinshaw himself took a win in the Spa 24 Hours. After preparing the Dakar winning Range Rover for René Metge in 1982, TWR began an association with British Leyland, preparing the Jaguar XJS and Rover 3500 Vitesse for both the BTCC and European Touring Car Championship.
Success in the latter series with both cars led to a partnership to develop a Jaguar prototype for Group C racing, for use in both the World Sportscar Championship and the IMSA GT Championship. John Egan, Jaguar chairman, was keen to put Jaguar back on the map after being freed from the yoke of British Leyland in 1984 and felt that a return to sports-car racing would give Jaguar a much needed boost in international markets; as Bob Tullius' Group 44 ran Jaguar powered cars in IMSA, Jaguar partnered with both Group 44 and TWR. However, it soon became clear that a single partner could run in both WSCC and IMSA and so by 1988 TWR had secured the contract to run in both series. TWR Jaguar cars won the WSCC outright in 1987, 1988 and 1991 and won the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans and the 24 Hours of Daytona in 1988 and 1990; the series started in 1985 with XJR-6, designed by Tony Southgate, with a chassis built from carbon-fibre and power provided by a tuned Jaguar V12 engine. This was followed by XJR-8, which won the WSCC Team's Championship in 1987 XJR-9 which won the WSCC Team's Championship in 1988 and secured victory at Le Mans the same year, returning in much the same form as the XJR-12 to win Le Mans again in 1990.
TWR developed its own engine for the next series of cars, the XJR-10 and XJR-11 of 1989 and 1990, a V6 turbo-charged 3.5 litre, capable of far more power than the V12 but was less suited to 24 hour racing. However, rule changes made the 3.5 litre turbocharged cars defunct within just one season of the WSCC and so TWR developed the all-new XJR-14 for 1991 - the first full Ross Brawn car - for the final year of Jaguar racing in WSCC. Although this car won both the WSCC Driver's and Team's championship, Jaguar decided that it no longer had any interest in WSCC due to unfair rule changes. For IMSA in 1991, TWR ran a development of the XJR-10 turbo car. In spite of six wins in fourteen races, TWR-Jaguar was placed second overall to the more consistent Nissan team. For IMSA in 1992, Jaguar's last season in sportscar racing, XJR-14 was brought to America, but lack of development to deal with tighter, bumpier US circuits, meant that it could not repeat the result of the previous year in WSCC, taking second in the Driver's championship and third in the Manufacturer's Championship.
In 1991, in parallel with production of the XJR-14, TWR developed the £500,000 XJR-15 for privateers, based on the Le Mans winning XJR-9. This was raced in its own series, the Jaguar Intercontinental Challenge, supporting F1 races at Monaco and Spa; the winning driver, Armin Hahne, took a US$1m prize. The car was road-legal, the only road-car to be designed and built by TWR. In Australia, Walkinshaw Racing has competed in the Australian Touring Car Championship, including spells as factory-back teams under the names Holden Racing Team and HSV Dealer Team. TWR modified its Jaguar XJR-14 design into the TWR WSC-95 for Porsche. Porsche decided against using it in 1995 due to a sudden rule change, but in 1996 it was entered at Le Mans by Joest Racing and won the race, a feat it repeated the following year at the 1997 24 Hours of Le Mans. In 1997, Nissan Motorsports turned to Tom Walkinshaw Racing to help them develop the Nissan R390 GT1 race car to compete in sports car racing. In the 1998 24 Hours of Le Mans, Nissan was able to achieve considerab
2000 British Touring Car Championship
The 2000 Auto Trader RAC British Touring Car Championship season featured 24 rounds across 12 meetings, it commenced at Brands Hatch on 9 April and concluded at Silverstone on 16 September.2000 marked the final year for Super Touring specification cars in the championship. The champion was Alain Menu driving a Ford Mondeo, his teammates Anthony Reid and Rickard Rydell finished 2nd and 3rd respectively; the Michelin Cup for Independents was won by Matt Neal driving a Nissan Primera. The newly introduced Class B, for Super Production specification cars, was won by Alan Morrison driving a Peugeot 306 GTi. There were several changes of driver for the 2000 season. Nissan and Volvo retired their works teams because of the rising costs of staying competitive in the BTCC, thus leaving only three manufacturers with factory supported entries: Ford and Vauxhall. 1999 Drivers' Champion Laurent Aïello did not return to defend his title. His place was taken by 1997 24 Hours of Le Mans co-winner and former Super Tourenwagen Cup driver Tom Kristensen.
In the meantime, Peter Kox switched to competing in the European Super Touring Car Championship. Honda planned to run two cars but to level the playing field with Ford and Vauxhall decided to draft in 1994 champion Gabriele Tarquini in a JAS Motorsport prepared car that would have been driven alongside Kox in the European championship.1998 series champion Rickard Rydell joined that year's runner-up Anthony Reid and 1997 overall winner Alain Menu at the Prodrive Ford team following Volvo's departure. At the Vauxhall team, Yvan Muller was partnered by Jason Plato and Vincent Radermecker, having joined from Renault and Volvo respectively. After a difficult 1999 season, former double champion John Cleland announced his retirement from the BTCC. Independent driver Matt Neal drove a 1999 Nissan Primera fielded by Team Dynamics, who had semi-works support from the manufacturer and running with updated 2000 body work. A second Nissan was entered by PRO Motorsport for rookie Colin Blair. David Leslie would race the car at selected rounds in the season following Blair's withdrawal halfway through the season.
Lee Brookes appeared on the entry list but his plans of competing in the championship in 2000 did not come to fruition. Michelin, now the series' control tyre supplier, developed new compounds of tyres for the drivers but an intermediate option would no longer be available; the only choice for drivers was slick dry tyres or full wet compounds which meant tyre choices in greasy or changeable conditions was more crucial than before. To make matters more difficult, tyre warmers were no longer allowed in advance of the race; as a result, the drivers had to take to the track on ill-handling cold tyres at the beginning of all races and after the mandatory pit stops. All teams were restricted to 28 sets of dry tyres for all race meetings and test sessions to lower operating costs but no limitations existed for wet-weather compounds. Success ballast to help the championship have close and competitive racing and to prevent any team from dominating the series was introduced for the 2000 season; the top three finishers of the sprint and feature race at a meeting were allocated a ballast to be applied at the next meeting.
It was distributed as 40 kg for a winner, 30 kg for second place and 20 kg for third place, with the ballast capped at 40 kg. No team was permitted to change the engine of their cars between the second qualifying session and the sprint race or the driver would incur a grid penalty that would see him start at the back of the grid. Replacement cars were not allowed except in force majeure when he would be allowed to drive his teammate's entry; the points scoring system for the Drivers' and Teams' Championships remained unaltered from the 1999 championship. However, the Manufacturers' Championship was now limited to each team nominating a maximum of three cars for points, up from two from the previous season, to reward committed manufacturers. Furthermore, a dropped; this meant all drivers would be required to drop their four worst results from the season before tallying his overall points haul. From 1 March 2000, a complete ban of private testing at any licensed motor racing circuit in the world was enforced, except for official test sessions organised by the series promoter TOCA that lasted for half a day and held before each race weekend.
The ban was enacted to reduce operating costs for all teams and to restrict the amount of available time for drivers to setup their cars for each track to ensure a greater variation in performance and less predictable racing. Furthermore, test cars were barred from all official sessions unless they had been driven in the preceding race meeting; the 2000 season saw the introduction of a type of car regulation called "Class B" to bolster the number of entrants on the grid. The class was open to all vehicles that complied with the FIA Super Production regulations and the National Saloon Championship. To allow for suitable grid sizes, Class B entries were accepted on a "first-come, first served" basis from teams who could commit to competing in the BTCC full-time. Class B was created as a consequence of a request to series promoters TOCA from potential competitors in the National Saloon Championship in December 1999 as a means of promoting themselves in a more visible national motor racing series.
TOCA subsequently formed a partnership with the British Racing Drivers' Club-organised PowerTour series in January 2000, so that the two championships could work with rac
Ford Tempo
The Ford Tempo and its twin, the Mercury Topaz, are compact cars that were produced by Ford for model years 1984 to 1994. They were downsized successors to the boxy Ford Mercury Zephyr twins; the Tempo and Topaz were part of a rejuvenation plan by Ford to offer more environmentally friendly, fuel efficient, more modern styled models to compete with the European and Japanese imports. While the car sold well, its innovation and aerodynamic design paved the way for the more groundbreaking Ford Taurus; the Tempo and Topaz were replaced for 1995 by the "world car" platform sold in North America as the Ford Contour and Mercury Mystique. Although built on a different platform, the aerodynamic Ford Sierra was somewhat of a European counterpart to the Tempo, it replaced the boxy, rear-wheel-drive Ford Cortina while the Tempo did the same for the Fairmont in North America. The Sierra too was succeeded by Ford's world car platform in the form of the Ford Mondeo; the design and life of the Tempo began in the late 1970s as Ford was gearing to build towards a more ergonomic, more efficient, more aerodynamic design philosophy.
The new design philosophy rested in part due to the aging Ford Pinto and Ford Maverick, two oil embargoes which led to a rise in more fuel-efficient import vehicle sales. Taking note of this, Ford set out to revolutionize the automotive industry, would lay the groundwork for three revolutionary vehicles: The 1983 Thunderbird, the 1984 Tempo, the yet-to be released Taurus; the Tempo and Topaz would be based on a stretched version of the front-wheel-drive platform used on the Ford Escort, but with a radical new body. Being based on the Escort meant the Tempo and Topaz, unlike its Fairmont and Zephyr predecessors, were front-wheel drive. By making them front-wheel drive, interior space was much larger than if they had been rear-wheel-drive; the transaxle designs borrowed from the Ford Escort. However, there were few common components due to Topaz's larger size. In December 1978, wind tunnel testing began on the Tempo, with more than 450 hours of testing resulting in more than 950 different design changes.
As part of these changes, the Tempo and Topaz both featured a 60° windshield, matching that of the new Thunderbird and Cougar. New were the aircraft-inspired door frames, which appeared on the Thunderbird/Cougar; these door frames wrapped up over the edge of the roof which improved sealing, allowed for hidden drip rails, cleaned up the A-pillar area of the car significantly. The rear track was widened, creating more aerodynamic efficiency; the front grille was laid back more and the leading edge of the hood was tuned for aerodynamic cleanliness. Wheels were pushed out to the edges of the body, decreasing areas where air turbulence would be created; the rear of the cars were treated to just as many changes. The rear window was laid down at 60 degrees as well, the trunk lid was raised higher than the side windows; this allowed the air to flow off the car more smoothly, allowed for greater fuel efficiency. From the side view, this raised trunk created a wedge look to the car, prominent on the two-door coupe versions.
All of these changes created a coefficient of drag of 0.36 for the 2-door car, equal to the Cd of the new "Aero" Ford Thunderbird. The final design of the cars was reached so that the car looked good on every trim level, not just the top-of-the-line as some of the competition had done; when the Tempo was released in 1983 as a 1984 model, it became an instant hit, with more than 107,000 two-door models and more than 295,000 four-door models being sold in the first year alone. Initial advertising featured a Tempo sedan performing a loop on a stunt track; the commercials touted the Tempo as being "America's all new aerodynamic sedan" and listed features such as "the world's most advanced automotive computer", called EEC-IV, that claimed to have the ability to monitor up to seven vital engine functions, noted the interior to be roomier in the rear seat than a Mercedes-Benz 300D. Other ads featured the slogan "Pick up the Tempo of your life!" The first generation Tempo and Topaz were released in 1983 as 1984 models, equaled the length of a Chevrolet Cavalier at the time, to which it was a response.
The Ford Fairmont, last produced in 1983, was more directly replaced by the Ford LTD, introduced for the 1983 model year. Despite the Fairmont being sized larger than General Motors' front-wheel drive Chevrolet Celebrity mid-size car and having a similar length to the Fairmont's predecessor, the Maverick, the Tempo had been intended as the sedan and coupe versions of the Ford Escort, both vehicles were in similar classes, similar to how Volkswagen's sedan and coupe answer to the Golf hatchbacks would be the Jetta; the Tempo was Ford's first compact car downsizing, just four years after GM downsized its compact cars in 1979 for the 1980 model years. The front windshield and rear window were both set at 60° angles, with the trunk of the car being placed higher than the side windows to allow for greater fuel efficiency and air flow. On the Tempo, a rear quarter window was present while the Topaz received a more formal C-pillar arrangement minus the window; the front of the car featured a set of two sealed-beam halogen headlamps recessed in chrome "buckets" and the grille in between the headlights featured four horizontally thin rails each swept back to
Ford Taurus
The Ford Taurus is an automobile, manufactured by Ford in the United States from model years 1986–2019, by Changan Ford in China since model years 2016. Produced in six generations for the North American market, the Taurus was introduced in 1985 for the 1986 model year, had remained in near-continuous production for more than three decades, it has a Mercury-branded twin, the Sable, as well as a performance variant, the Ford Taurus SHO. It was a front-wheel drive mid-size car until 2007, has been a "global" full-size car since 2007, available in front- or all-wheel drive since 2007; the original Taurus was a milestone for Ford and the entire American automotive industry, being the first automobile at Ford designed and manufactured using the statistical process control ideas brought to Ford by W. Edwards Deming, a prominent statistician consulted by Ford to bring a "culture of quality" to the enterprise; the Taurus had an influential design that brought many new features and innovations to the marketplace.
Since its launch in 1985, Ford had built 7,519,919 Tauruses through the 2007 model year, making it the fifth-best-selling North American nameplate in Ford's history. However, between 1992 and 1996 the Taurus was the best-selling car in the United States losing the title to the Toyota Camry in 1997; the 1986–1995 Taurus was built on the DN-5 platform, the 1996–1999 Taurus was built on the DN101 platform. The 2000–2007 Tauruses were built on the D186, a modified DN 101 platform. All generations of the Taurus have been built at the Chicago Assembly, they were produced at the Atlanta assembly plant until it was closed. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, sales of the Taurus declined as it lost market share to Japanese midsize sedans and as Ford shifted resources towards developing SUVs, it was discontinued in 2006, with production ending on October 27, 2006, 2007 being the last model year. Ford had decided to replace the Taurus with the fullsize Five Hundred and midsize Fusion sedans, as well as replacing the Taurus wagon with the Freestyle crossover SUV.
However, Ford revived the Taurus name during the 2007 Chicago Auto Show a few months by renaming two new models, intended to be updated versions of the Five Hundred and the Freestyle, the "2008 Taurus" and "2008 Taurus X", respectively. A new model of fullsize Taurus was released for the 2010 model year, the 2013 mid-generational refresh was unveiled at the New York Auto Show with minor exterior changes and interior technology options; the Taurus was the first car resulting from introduction of a new quality culture at Ford. Between 1979 and 1982, Ford had incurred $3 billion in losses. In the Spring of 1980, Ford Chairman Donald E. Peterson initiated a new "team" approach to the design and manufacture of automobiles at Ford, that resulted in the creation of the Ford Taurus. Ford's newly appointed Corporate Quality Director, Larry Moore, was charged with recruiting the famous statistician, W. Edwards Deming to help jump-start a quality movement at Ford. Deming told Ford that management actions were responsible for 85% of all problems in developing better cars.
Based on Deming's advice, Ford management was charged with primary responsibility for automobile quality. Ford adopted a quality culture employing statistical process control across all aspects of automobile design and manufacture; the Ford Taurus was the first Ford model resulting from this statistical approach to manufacture. In a letter to Autoweek, Donald Petersen Ford chairman, said, "We are moving toward building a quality culture at Ford and the many changes that have been taking place here have their roots directly in Deming's teachings." This new emphasis on quality in the manufacture of the Ford Taurus was reflected in Ford's advertising and marketing. The New York advertising firm Wells, Greene took on the Ford account in 1979 and Robert Cox was assigned to the Ford account and by the summer of 1981, “Quality is Job 1” became Ford’s calling card in marketing; this emphasis on quality was used in marketing of the Ford Taurus. The first-generation Taurus was launched in 1985 as a 1986 model to strong fanfare and sales, replacing the slow-selling mid-size Ford LTD.
The release of the Ford Taurus was one of the most anticipated mostly because it was a first in car design and the start of new quality standards for Ford. At the time of the Taurus's debut, Ford had been producing rear-wheel drive cars, Chrysler and General Motors were offering more front-wheel drive vehicles up to midrange including the Chrysler K platform and A-body Chevrolet Celebrity. With the introduction of the Escort and Tempo, Ford was making a transition to front-wheel drive; the Taurus displayed a rounder shape than its contemporaries likened to a'jelly bean' or'flying potato', inspired by the design of the Audi 5000 and Ford's European sedan, the Ford Sierra, an updated appearance of a styling approach used in the late 1940s to early 1960s called "ponton" styling. Instead of a grille, the Taurus mainstreamed the smooth grille-less'bottom breather' nose; the aerodynamic design of the Taurus made the car more fuel efficient, allowing Ford to meet more stringent corporate average fuel economy standard applied by the United States government.
The Taurus's success led to an American automobile design revolution.
Ford Mondeo (third generation)
The Ford Mondeo Mk III, codenamed CD345 was unveiled in five-door production form by Ford in late 2006. Based on the EUCD platform developed with Volvo, the platform was the same as that used in the new large MPVs Galaxy and S-MAX, but not the North American Ford Fusion or the Mazda Atenza in Japan, it was used for several Volvos starting with the Volvo S80 II. The Mk IV Ford Mondeo was released in May 2007 in the United Kingdom, where it was available in five different trim levels: Edge, Ghia and Titanium X. In February 2008, Ford announced that in some European markets the Mondeo will be made available with a new Titanium X Sport trim; this model aims to add an more'sporty character' than the current Titanium series. In March 2008, a new 2.2 175 PS TDCi common-rail diesel engine will be available on Mondeo providing acceleration to 0-60 mph in 8.4 seconds on the saloon and fuel consumption of returning 45.6 mpg combined. In March 2008, a new Mondeo ECOnetic based on the Zetec series was released.
The Mondeo ECOnetic is powered with a 1.6 115 PS TDCI diesel that returns CO2 ratings of just 139 g/km on the 5-door. Although the fourth production model, after the Mk III Galaxy, S-Max and C-Max, to adopt Ford's current'kinetic' design language, the Mondeo's design theme was first shown at the 2005 Frankfurt Motor Show, which gave an indication to the look of the Mk IV Mondeo; the new car, in estate bodystyle, was pre-launched in'concept' form at the Paris Motor Show on 30 September 2006. The new platform allowed for the use of Volvo's five-cylinder petrol engine featured in the Focus ST and S-Max. Ford dropped the two V6 engines for this platform; the petrol engines include a 1.6-litre with two power outputs, the 2.0-litre, 2.3-litre for 6-speed automatic models only, a 2.5-litre five-cylinder turbo with 220 PS. It was believed performance models may have featured engines from Jaguar and Volvo, but following Tata's purchase of Jaguar/Land Rover, performance variants are more to feature other'in-house' Ford engines such as an uprated 2.5l T5 petrol or Volvo's D5 diesel and Mazda's 2.3l petrol.
The new Mondeo uses the new electro-hydraulic steering system, first used on the C-Max, that sharpens the steering response, helps to save fuel Inside, the Mk IV features Ford's Human-Machine Interface first seen on the Galaxy and S-Max whilst an enhanced instrument cluster featuring a 5-inch LCD for displaying trip computer and satellite navigation is available as an option on all models. Like the facelift Mk III, base specification models have a manual heating/air-conditioning system in place of the climate control system. New on the Mk IV is the option of keyless starting of the engine via a "Ford Power" button on the dashboard. A product placement promotional initiative made the Mk IV Mondeo James Bond's car for one incidental scene in Casino Royale, introducing the new model to global audiences in November 2006, on the launch day of the movie; as with the previous model, the Mk IV Mondeo was not marketed in the United States or Canada because Ford sold the same-class Fusion, launched in 2005.
The new Mondeo was not sold in Venezuela, Brazil or Colombia because the Fusion is sold locally, nor is it offered in Mexico, although the Mk III model was popular there. It was, sold in Argentina. In Middle East and Central America, it was sold along with the Ford Fusion until 2013, when the fifth Mondeo was introduced, it was not sold in South Africa because Ford South Africa did not want to sell it after the MK II Mondeo went out of production, which meant that the Ford Fusion became sold in South Africa in 2015. Thus replacing the Mondeo altogether; the 2007 Mondeo marked the return to the Australian market after a six-year absence, due to a resurgence in popularity of medium-sized cars in the last few years. This is in no small part the result of high fuel prices making people reconsider purchasing large cars like the Ford Falcon. Marketing for the Mondeo in Australia focused on the theme that the Mark IV Mondeo looks good but offers more than style, with television commercials showing silly quotes from celebrities such as Britney Spears interspersed with scenes of the vehicle and the slogan "more than just good looks".
Initial sales have been good in Australia, despite supply constraints from Europe limiting the car's success there. The Mondeo was sold as a sedan and liftback body styles in the Australian market, with diesel or petrol engines, in four trim levels: LX, TDCi, Zetec and XR5 Turbo. In June 2009, Ford Australia announced that the'Titanium' badge would be used on Australian spec Mondeos, along with the release of the Mk IV Mondeo station wagon. Only the 2.3L petrol, 2.5L petrol and 2.0L diesel engines were offered there, the 2.5 being the only model available with a manual transmission. The ECOnetic Mondeo was considered for the Australian market, but was never launched. In September 2010, a facelifted Mk IV Mondeo was introduced with some changes, such as the new ecoboost engines and LED daytime running lights; the final changes were shown at the 2010 Moscow International Motor Show. The front and rear of the car had minor changes, the biggest being the new Kinetic Design; the interior was improved, with a use of better materials.
The Ghia trim line was removed in the United Kingdom, so the Titanium takes over as the top of the range models, along with the saloon. The new econetic has higher mpg and further reduce
Lincoln MKZ
The Lincoln MKZ, is a four-door, five-passenger mid-size sedan manufactured by Ford and marketed as the Zephyr and as the MKZ by Ford's Lincoln brand — across two generations in both gasoline and hybrid gas/electric models. Along with the badge engineered variant Ford Fusion, the MKZ is manufactured at Ford's Hermosillo Stamping & Assembly plant in Mexico; the 2006 Lincoln Zephyr was unveiled in concept form at the 2004 New York International Auto Show as a new entry-level luxury sedan, with several revised design elements from concept made their way into the production model. The front featured Lincoln's signature waterfall jeweled quad projector beam headlights. Chrome trim extends along the Zephyr's beltline while the car's rear fascia features LED taillights and dual chrome exhaust tips. All Zephyrs featured low-profile tires on 17x7.5-inch wheels with painted aluminum versions standard and chrome versions optional. Lincoln revived the Zephyr name in the fall of 2005 as a rebadged variant for the Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan.
Lincoln had used the Zephyr name in the late 30's for the smaller Lincoln-Zephyr line of mid-size vehicles. The "Zephyr" name had previously been used by Mercury during the late 1970s and early 1980s, for several vehicles built on the Fox Platform; the Zephyr's sole powertrain was a 3.0 L DOHC Duratec V6 mated to an Aisin 6-speed automatic transmission. The interior is unique to the Lincoln, along with different equipment packaging; the 2006 Zephyr started at a base MSRP of $28,995 USD, ranging up to $35,340 USD when optioned. Though smaller and front-wheel drive, the Zephyr was marketed as a replacement for Lincoln's previous entry level mid-size, the rear-wheel drive Lincoln LS. To facilitate a smooth transition, the Zephyr and LS were sold parallel to each other during the 2006 model year, the first model year of the Zephyr and the last for the LS. For 2007 the model was renamed MKZ, took over the LS' market with sales beginning in September 2006. Lincoln's decision to resurrect the Zephyr name refers to the early days of Lincoln before World War II.
At that time, the only Lincoln manufactured was the Lincoln K-series, a full-size sedan, Lincoln, under the direction of Edsel Ford, Henry Ford's only son, hoped to introduce a smaller product to compete with the Packard One-Twenty, the LaSalle, a smaller sibling offered at Cadillac dealerships. The Zephyr featured a revised interior from the Milan; the design featured shapes with real maple wood inserts in metallic frames. These surfaces were contrasted with chrome-bezeled gauges, chrome-finished vents and a metallic center stack where the radio and climate controls are housed; the Zephyr's steering wheel was leather-wrapped with real wood grips and satin-nickel audio and cruise control buttons. White LED backlighting was used for instrumentation. Leather seating surfaces were standard in all models. In terms of luxury and convenience features there was little that distinguished the Zephyr from the Fusion or Milan. Most of the features that were optional in the Fusion or Milan were standard in the Zephyr.
Some of these standard features in the Zephyr include: cruise control, automatic headlights, fog lights, power door locks, "global" power windows, power adjustable and heated mirrors with puddle lamps, remote keyless entry, a tilt and telescoping steering wheel with redundant audio and climate controls, dual-zone automatic climate control, a universal garage door opener, 10-way power driver and front passenger seats, rear-seat reading lamps, a six-speaker audio system with an AM/FM stereo radio and a six-disc, MP3-compatible CD changer. Optional in the Zephyr was a power moonroof, a DVD-based satellite navigation system, HID headlights and cooled front seats, an industry-first THX II-Certified audio system with a six-disc, MP3-compatible CD changer and ten speakers. Safety features include standard dual front-side airbags, front seat-deployed side airbags, curtain airbags that extend from the front to rear seats. Mechanically the Zephyr was related to the Fusion and Milan; as mentioned, all three cars were based on Ford's CD3 platform, in turn derived from the Mazda 6.
Like these cars the Zephyr is natively front-wheel drive. The Zephyr uses a coil-over damper, short- and long-arm front suspension with double-ball-joint control arms while the rear suspension is an independent multi-link design with lower control arms and a 17 mm stabilizer bar. Spring rates and dampers have been specially tuned for the Zephyr to provide excellent ride comfort without compromising handling. All Zephyrs feature standard four-wheel anti-lock disc brakes with traction control; the sole engine offered in the Zephyr was an all-aluminum 3.0 L DOHC Duratec V6 producing 221 hp at 6250 rpm and 205 lb·ft of torque at 4800 rpm. This engine was mated to an Aisin 6-speed automatic transmission and had a final drive ratio of 3.46:1. This powertrain was identical to the V6 powertrain available in the Fusion and Milan from 2006-2009. With this powertrain the Zephyr could accelerate from zero to 60 mph in 7.5 seconds. The FWD Zephyr came with a 16.5 US gal fuel tank and is rated to deliver 17 mpg‑US in city driving and 26 mpg‑US on the highway based on the revised 2008 EPA fuel efficiency measurement standard
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