The Chinese market has gone under a major change in the past decade, just a few years ago six cylinder engines were common sights on Chinese roads. But back then fuel was subsidized by the government and cost a few RMB, then a couple of Middle East wars flared up and government subsidies stopped when oil headed north of 100USD a barrel. Then four cylinder engines were suddenly in vogue, followed by small displacement turbo engines such as VW’s 1.4TSI. Now Ford are planning to go a step further by dropping down to three cylinders and turbo power to give Chinese consumers what they like the most, big face giving designs mated to fuel sipping designs.

The next generation of Mondeo will use the fleet 2.0T in both 200bhp and 240bhp forms, the 1.5T will be good for 132kW/180PS and should be on the market by May at the earliest.