New Ford Sedan Based on CrossTrainer Architecture

Bloomberg reported J.Mays, Ford vice president of design, said that, "Ford will build a large sedan based on the engineering architecture of the upcoming Ford CrossTrainer sport wagon" He also said that "the Ford Motor Co. may bring the Ford Mondeo compact sedan back to the U.S. market", speaking at a Morgan Stanley automotive conference Monday. The Mondeo would likely wear a Mercury badge. Ford will announce the new vehicle at the New York Auto Show, possibly as early as Wednesday. The new Ford car is unlikely to reach Ford Division showrooms before the end of the 2004 calendar year. Ford begins building the seven-passenger CrossTrainer at its Chicago assembly plant in calendar 2004. The CrossTrainer is a tall wagon, a vehicle that drives like a car but has the interior space and looks of a sport-utility. "Another vehicle we will be talking about a little later in the week is based off of this exact same CrossTrainer) architecture," Mays said. "It is a large sedan. Stay tuned. It will be a major announcement."