Cinema goers will be the first to see the new 2007 Ford Mondeo in action at the hands of the new James Bond, actor Daniel Craig. Although an Aston Martin remains James Bond's car of choice, the new Mondeo is the first car to appear in the film as Bond uses it to drive to a hotel after arriving in the Bahamas on the trail of a terrorist cell.
"We're delighted to be part of this exciting new Bond project," said Stephen Odell, Ford of Europe Vice President for Marketing Sales and Service. "As part of Ford Motor Company's significant relationship with Bond, the producers wanted a very special vehicle for this short, early sequence in CASINO ROYALE, and we decided this was a great opportunity to showcase the exciting new Mondeo shortly after the global reveal of a preview model at the 2006 Paris Motor Show."
The model is a specially-built 5-door example of the new Mondeo, fitted with a sports bodykit. Finished in striking Tonic blue, the new Mondeo property was constructed by hand at Ford of Europe's Design Studio in Cologne, Germany, in January, 2006.
Appropriately for a Bond movie, the vehicle was then shipped under great secrecy to the filming location in the Bahamas, where the short driving sequence was filmed
This sounds simple enough, and although the car in question may not be one of Bond's more complicated 'special' vehicles, in reality the task of getting a new Mondeo to the Bahamas in time for the filming and more than one year before the car's launch was immense.
"The new Mondeo was essentially still on the drawing board when we were asked to supply the vehicle for filming in February 2006," said Martin Smith, Ford of Europe's Executive Director for Design. "As volume production for the car doesn't start until the second quarter of 2007, we had to create a one-off, driveable model based around a design studio property!"
Time was also of the essence, and a team of craftsmen in Ford's Merkenich Design Studio near Cologne, worked night and day for several weeks to complete the car and make it driveable.
"This team normally builds the clay and fiberglass models of all of our future products, so they are used to demanding timeframes and making full-scale models look like real vehicles," Smith added.
Once completed, the Mondeo was shipped to the CASINO ROYALE set in the Bahamas, hidden in a purpose-built crate.
Despite the speed with which it was constructed, and the non-standard materials that were used to build it, the Design team was determined to make the car look suitable for the role.
"We wanted the property to be fully representative of a top-of-the-range new Mondeo," Smith added. "The end result is so convincing that you would never know its origins, and we even added a unique body kit to the vehicle to emphasise its sporty and dynamic design."
"On the big screen, the new Mondeo looks impressive and eye-catching, and we're convinced this appearance, although brief, will stimulate early customer interest in the new model," added Odell.
In addition to its cameo role in the new film, the special Bond Mondeo will also feature in a specially made pan-European Ford television commercial inviting viewers to 'discover the secret world of 007' and showing footage of the car in action in the Bahamas.
The 2007 Ford Mondeo
The all-new Mondeo is striking and unmistakably a member of the Ford family, and takes the company's 'kinetic design' form language to a new level.
A comprehensive range of core bodystyles will be launched concurrently in the new range in early 2007, but the Ford of Europe design team chose the five-door as the appropriate model for CASINO ROYALE, while the new wagon derivative makes its debut at the 2006 Paris Motor Show.
The new Mondeo clearly demonstrates how Ford of Europe's 'kinetic design' language is shaping the company's new models. This form language will be progressively applied to future Ford vehicles in an appropriate way, depending on individual vehicle or market segment tastes.
Full series information, technical specifications and data for the new Mondeo range will be revealed early in 2007.