The police officer in this video, presumably from Russia or one of the former Soviet Republics, agreed with this assumption when he spotted a white-colored Ford Mondeo driving on the road with a gas hose hanging from the fuel filler.
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Anrev explains what he saw and snapped with his camera:
"The Ford Test mule fleet is in Denver. Mustangs, Fusion, Fiesta, Ecosport with Japanese emblems, F150, Mondeo, Ranger and 2 other cars that are heavily padded and were covered. One was the size of the ecosport but more boxy. The other was the size of the Mustang but had a sharper nose and longer back roof line.
He continued: "The engineer that asked me to stop taking pics said they were in town for a few days. He started the Mustang while I was there and gave it a little gas. It may have SAID 5.0 on the side. But there's no way it was. Sounded like a V6."
The announcements come against the backdrop of the persisting economic crisis in Europe with Ford estimating its loses in the region for the full year 2012 to exceed $1.5 billion (€1.15 billion).
The two additional factories receiving the axe are the Southampton Transit van plant, which is Ford's last vehicle-making facility in the United Kingdom, and its stamping and tooling operations in Dagenham, again in England.
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Ford, which is estimated to burn through more than $1billion this year in Europe, said that the move is part of a broader plan to restructure its local operations and help to address overcapacity issues curtailing from a more than 20 percent drop in total industry vehicle demand in Western Europe since 2007.
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Naturally, when the opportunity arose, Matt Farah from The Smoking Tire didn't miss out on the chance to park his black 2013 Ford Fusion (to be sold as the new Ford Mondeo in Europe and other regions) next to an Aston Martin Rapide in the same color and shoot a few pictures for us to compare.
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Whereas the Fusion is offered exclusively as a four-door sedan, the Mondeo will also be available as a five-door liftback and a station wagon that was developed especially for European consumers.
Even though the concept of a small 1.0-liter engine under the bonnet of a D-segment car may sound absurd to some, the new Mondeo comes equipped with the Blue Oval's 1.0-liter turbocharged three-cylinder petrol unit, which is a first for its class. Despite being small in size, it produces a zippy 123bhp, which is more than what you will find in many regular 1.6-liter naturally aspirated units.
“The Mondeo has always been at the forefront of Ford’s European passenger car range, but the all-new model is a watershed moment for large car customers and a new benchmark for features in this competitive sector”, said Ford’s vice president of product development Barb Samardzich.
Along with the four-door sedan variant of the Mondeo, Ford also premiered the two more body styles, the sleek five-door liftback and the more spacious and practical Wagon (Estate) models, both of which were uniquely developed for Europe, which means don't expect to see either in North America.
While Ford is keeping most details close to its chest until the world debut of the 2013 Mondeo series at the Paris Motor Show later this month, it did reveal some details about the powertrain options for Europe.
Besides the 1.0-liter three-cylinder turbocharged EcoBoost petrol engine with 123HP (125PS) and 170Nm (125 lb-ft) of torque that we told you about on Wednesday, Ford confirmed the availability of a hybrid variant.
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Well, would you ever imagine a vehicle with the footprint of the new 2013 Mondeo, which is sold as the 2013 Fusion in North America, being offered with a 1.0-liter three-cylinder gasoline engine?
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At the time, Ford told us that the new Mondeo would go on sale across Europe at the end of the first quarter of 2013. But that won’t be happening as Ford has postponed the production start at its Genk plant in Belgium for up to three months, according to a report from Autonews Europe.
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To explain, Ford has decided to go global with its new mid-size offerings, meaning that the new Fusion for North America and the Mondeo for Europe and other markets around the world are for the most part, one and the same.
So nothing really new to see in these spy pictures of a lightly camouflaged prototype that was snapped testing in the European Alps.
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Superchips' upgraded ECU can be used on the 1.6-liter turbocharged unit found on the C-MAX, Grand C-MAX, Focus, Galaxy MPV, S-MAX and Mondeo models covering the 150PS (148bhp,) 160PS (158 bhp) and 182PS (180bhp) variants of the range.
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The Blue Oval did the same with the latest generations of the Fiesta, Focus as well as the Ranger pickup truck that were all developed as global models under its "One Ford" plan global product development strategy.
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The only visible differences concern the headlamp assembly with the European Mondeo featuring different turning signals and the rear bumper trim, which, at least on this model, is painted in the same color as the body.
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The outgoing Fusion was the first model to feature Ford’s then-new five-bar grille, which was later adopted by the rest of its U.S. range. Likewise, its successor is the model that introduces the next evolution of Ford's design language previewed by the Frankfurt Motor Show Evos concept.
It is distinguished by the slim headlights and the hexagonal, Aston Martin-like front grille, while the bodywork looks like a sportier, tauter evolution of the European Mondeo.
“The previous Fusion was an easy purchase for a customer to rationalize”, said Chris Hamilton, chief exterior designer. “Our design goal for the new car was to give the mainstream sedan buyer a top-drawer visual experience, adding some emotional appeal to an already sensible choice.”
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While the Blue Oval has not released much information yet on the Fusion, which will be marketed as a 2013 model in North America, we were able to confirm the initial engine lineup.
The 2013 Fusion will arrive in U.S. dealerships later this year with a choice of four powerplants. The gasoline range includes a pair of EcoBoost four-cylinder gasoline units with a displacement of 1.6-liters and 2.0-liters.
As you'd expect, the Blue Oval is preparing a month long tease for its mid-size model starting with a new app that will give users the opportunity to drive the 2013 Fusion through a series of “worlds” that unlock to reveal the car.
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