The first generation of the Mondeo was introduced in 1993 and soon after the customers started to complain about it.
Ford offered a fix for those with the introduction of the 1996 version.

The Mondeo was a billion-dollar car investment, and Ford didn’t want to lose the hype that joined the launch of their latest sedan. It was a revolutionary vehicle, which replaced the RWD Sierra with the new FWD vehicle. Like the Sierra, the Mondeo was offered in a few body versions: sedan, hatchback, and station wagon.

The 1996 Mondeo kept only about 35% parts from the 1993 model. The bigger headlights solved the night visibility problem. Due to that, the hood, the front fenders, and the bumper had to be changed. Faced with that dilemma, Ford continued to change other panels of the car. Only the basic structure and the rear quarter panels remained the same. At the back, the designers installed new taillights to fit the design language that came with the headlights.

The interior was slightly changed to offer better legroom for the rear seat passengers. The headroom was no longer a problem with the wagon version due to the long roof. A split-folding rear seat backrest was fitted as standard to expand the trunk space.

Under the hood, Ford installed a choice of diesel and gasoline engines. The base model was fitted with a 1.6-liter four-cylinder, while the top versions featured a 2.5-liter V6. All versions were paired to a standard 5-speed manual transmission, while a 4-speed automatic was available for selected engines.