“We've deleted the LX –we only want vehicles which are aspirational and well equipped. That way when they come back as used cars they will have the features which will definitely be in demand and that will positively impact our residuals,” he said.

He told Motor Trader that most sales will go to 2.0 diesel versions, and that estate derivatives will take a bigger slice of sales.

“With the previous model the wagon accounted for 25 per cent of sales but I think this will rise to 30 or 40 per cent which is not at all unusual on the continent,” he said.

De Waard thought that the bigger, plusher Mondeo wouldn't necessarily take sales from the market-defining VW Passat, but could be seen by Vectra, Primera and Peugeot 407 drivers as a car to trade up to.