Next Mondeo here April, hybrid to follow

Ford's all-new Mondeo is finally on the starting blocks for Australia, where it will be launched in early April and bolstered within as little as 18 months by a hybrid model.

Apart from becoming Ford Australia's flagship passenger model once the home-grown Falcon is retired within two years, the expanded Mondeo range should bring the strongest challenge to Toyota's all-conquering but fleet-heavy Australian-made Camry line-up, which will be replaced by an imported model beyond 2017.

Ford Australia confirmed its two-body, three-engine Mondeo rollout in December, when it also announced its first hybrid model will be released here "within the next few years".

motoring.com.au sources have now revealed that model will be the Mondeo Hybrid, which will join the Blue Oval's rejuvenated mid-size model range as soon as the second half of 2016.

"It's safe to assume our first hybrid will be in the same segment as the most established mid-size hybrid player," said the Ford insider.

When the Falcon disappears around the same time it arrives, it's clear Ford will use the Mondeo Hybrid to target the same small business owners and fleets – including taxi companies – that are migrating to the Camry Hybrid.

While the new Mondeo petrol and diesel models will aim to steal buyers from Subaru's new Liberty, the upgraded Mazda6 and this month's new Hyundai Sonata, they will be joined by the facelifted Camry in May and new Volkswagen Passat and Kia Optima models later this year.

Apart from the revised Camry, the only other mid-size hybrids confirmed for Australia are the Honda Accord Hybrid (due in mid-2015) and the Optima Hybrid.

Unlike the conventional Mondeo hatch and wagon models to be released in two months, the hybrid is a sedan.

Already sold in the UK as the Mondeo Titanium HEV (Hybrid Electric Vehicle), the mid-size four-door wears a £24,995 price tag there, representing a similar price premium as a diesel variant does over an equivalent petrol model – about $3000.

Local pricing is yet to be revealed, but from launch the new Mondeo will be available in five-door hatchback and sedan body styles, and three model grades (Ambiente, Trend, Titanium), priced from around $30,000.

It will be powered by two different 2.0-litre turbo-petrol engines and a 2.0-litre turbo-diesel that itself will be more efficient than the Camry Hybrid.

While the EcoBoost engines will produce 149kW and 177kW respectively, and the range-topping petrol four will be reserved for mid- and top-grade models, the powerful 132kW/400Nm diesel consumes just 5.1L/100km in the hatch and 5.3L/100km in the wagon, straddling the current Camry Hybrid (5.2L/100km).

The petrol engines consume 8.2 and 8.5L/100km and all models are front-wheel drive, via a six-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission.

Like the upgraded Falcon and Territory, all Mondeo models will come standard with Ford's latest SYNC2 infotainment system with 8.0-inch touch-screen, voice recognition and Emergency Assistance.

Standard on the mid-range Trend is autonomous emergency braking (Active City Stop) and radar-based adaptive cruise control, while driver aids limited to the top-spec Titanium include an active lane-keeping assistant, blind-spot monitoring, adaptive LED headlights and semi-automatic parking.

Ford's latest Mondeo has been on sale (as the Fusion) in the US since 2012 and right-hand drive versions went on sale in the UK late last year.

Production for the rest of the world is now ramping up following a $US2.6 billion investment in Ford's Valencia plant in Spain, which has assumed Mondeo production from Belgium.

Once the upgrades are completed, the Spanish factory – which also produces the S-MAX, Galaxy, Tourneo Transit Connect and, including for Australia, the Kuga – will employ 8000 people to produce 400,000 vehicles annually from this year.