New Mondeo testing mule??

[Welshman Adam]

Spotted this Ford in the car park at IKEA Thurrock on Monday night - possible testing mule for the new model? Had printed labels stuck all over it, masking tape over bumper edges and around headlights, missing Ford badge on the front and bonnet clips. All a bit odd looking.

Apologies for the image quality, they were taken on my iPhone.

[C8PPO]

Isn't the new Mondeo a bit further along the line than mule testing by now?

[Welshman Adam]

That's why I posed it as a question. It definitely looked like some kind of test car.

Was just wondering if anyone had any ideas. It was only down the road from Dagenham.

[E500 TAT]

If the bumpers were colour coded you'd probably not have given it a second glance.

so more fool ford for not covering it up better and having leaked pics about.

[lifechooser]

IMO, one possible explanation is that this could be a subtle marketing ploy to raise awareness among car magazine buying types. Jaguar put a twitter address on it's sportbrake camouflage, Lotus, Mercedes and Vauxhall have all published their own spy photos, and it's not uncommon to see road tests in disguised cars.

For a car so near to launch, wouldn't it be a canny idea to park it somewhere very public, let people take photos of it and discuss it online. Suddenly your average pistonhead reader is taking an interest in the new Mondeo, something which otherwise wouldn't be discussed.

[LuS1fer]

Sporty version or hybrid maybe?

[XG332]

Road testing it in Ikea car park.

[Spitfire2]

lifechooser said:

IMO, one possible explanation is that this could be a subtle marketing ploy to raise awareness among car magazine buying types. Jaguar put a twitter address on it's sportbrake camouflage, Lotus, Mercedes and Vauxhall have all published their own spy photos, and it's not uncommon to see road tests in disguised cars.

For a car so near to launch, wouldn't it be a canny idea to park it somewhere very public, let people take photos of it and discuss it online. Suddenly your average pistonhead reader is taking an interest in the new Mondeo, something which otherwise wouldn't be discussed.

Could be right. Looking at that car I struggle to spot where it differs from my current shape Mondeo company car.

[LuS1fer]

It's LHD too. Possibly an American development (or Europe I accept... )

[b0rk]

Looks too hand built to be preproduction mule of the mk5 (2013) car, I'd guess it could be an early development mule of the next mk6 mondeo.

[Dorian Hindmarsh]

My thoughts are it may well have new engine and transmission...that's what most boring mules are used for, might have hybrid or new 6.1 litre supercharged V8 under the bonnet...

[JSquaredJim]

Dorian Hindmarsh said:

My thoughts are it may well have new engine and transmission...that's what most boring mules are used for, might have hybrid or new 6.1 litre supercharged V8 under the bonnet...

And Dorian wins the prize. Powertrain development Mule.
The New Mondeo is faaaaaaaar beyond that stage. You can see them now in the US, it's called the Fusion. The yanks can buy one now

[williamp]

XG332 said:

Road testing it in Ikea car park.

Its an ordinary everyday thing to do. I met the Aston test driver whose job invovled driving the car. To the shops. Banging it up on kerbs to drop the kids off. Looking for traffic jams to join. Leaving it in supermarket car parks. Any scenario is worth testing, and thats what they did. He did close to 80k miles a year I recall. A huge amount anyhow. Regularly driving the length of the country just to get everyday miles on the cars. He was expected to crash 3 times a year, too. Any more and they'd start to ask questions!