SPY PICS: Ford Mondeo Evos outed

An all-new Ford fastback crossover has emerged as the likely replacement for the Ford Mondeo in Europe, North America and potentially Australia.

Expected to be called the Ford Mondeo Evos – based on a recent trademark filing with the EUIPO – the coupe-style five-door crossover was spied at a Ford proving ground in Germany.

It is identical from the B-pillar forward to the Ford Evos – an all-new crossover revealed in Shanghai for the Chinese market in April – with which it shares its headlights, grille, side mirror, pop-out door-handles and even its double-spoke wheels.

However, this vehicle appears to have a lower ride height and a different rear window line and doors, and also lacks the tailgate and black wheel-arch cladding of the Chinese crossover, instead adopting a five-door fastback silhouette like the all-electric Polestar 2, Hyundai IONIQ 5 and Kia EV6.

But while the Ford Evos is powered by 2.0-litre turbo-petrol EcoBoost four-cylinder engine, the Ford Mondeo Evos is expected to come with hybrid and plug-in hybrid powertrains (as indicated by the muffler on the camouflaged prototype pictured here) since the new Euro 7 emissions standard could effectively outlaw internal combustion engines without electric assistance from 2025.

Both Evos models are likely to be sold alongside the conceptually similar but all-electric Ford Mustang Mach-E, which is also a chance to come Down Under, where it could become Ford Australia’s first EV.

Ford said it would not produce a direct successor for the Mondeo, but speculation that it would be replaced by an SUV has circulated for more than a year and the first image of a new Ford crossover wagon was leaked in 2020.

Ford Australia axed the Mondeo in Australia last year after Ford North America sounded the death knell for its US sister model, the Ford Fusion, in 2018.

Then in March this year, Ford Europe confirmed it will cease production of the family sedan, hatch and wagon by March 2022, after five generations and five million global sales since 1993.

Ford plans to ditch all of its traditional passenger models except the Mustang to focus on SUVs and pick-up trucks globally – and to go all-electric in Europe by 2030.

The only two other cars Ford sells in Australia are the Fiesta (in ST hot hatch form only) and Focus (in ST, ST-Line and Active guise only).

And with the official axing of the Endura this week, Ford Australia’s only SUVs are the Puma, Escape and Everest.

So it’s entirely feasible that, after the Escape PHEV finally arrives in 2022 as its first electrified model, Ford Australia will also introduce the Mondeo Evos hybrid and Mustang Mach-E EV.