The Ford Mondeo like you've never seen it before: China's Ford Mondeo Sport looks to save the nameplate by transforming it into a Mustang Mach-E styled hybrid crossover. But would it work in Australia?

Ford’s Chinese joint-venture with Chang-an has revealed a new version of the Ford Mondeo with a radically different bodystyle. At 4920mm long, 1920mm wide and 1600mm tall, the Mondeo Sport is much larger than the car we remember. As large if not slightly larger than the brand’s own Mustang Mach-E, to the point where it could be seen as a hybrid equivalent to the electric SUV.

This new incarnation of the Mondeo will sit alongside the standard new-generation Mondeo sedan still sold in China, although it scores a crossover design for its body with a rear hatch and side profile reminiscent of the Mustang Mach-E. Other design details include slick LED light signatures front and rear, sporty diffusers, a contrasting roof, aerodynamic wheel covers (for its massive 20-inch wheels) and flush door handles.

Despite these seemingly EV-like refinements, the Mondeo Sport is a hybrid consisting of a 2.0-litre turbocharged 'EcoBoost' petrol engine producing 212kW/403Nm and an electric motor producing 140kW/320Nm for a total combined output of 227kW.

Its powerful hybrid system means the new Mondeo Sport’s fuel consumption is rated at 5.99L/100km on the more lenient WLTC standard for China based on the slightly more aerodynamic top ST-Line trim level.

The new Mondeo spin-off also scores a heavily digitised cabin including a dash-spanning 27-inch multimedia touchscreen, as well as a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster. The software has 4G online connectivity with over-the-air update capabilities.

Despite its many appealing characteristics, CarsGuide understands the Mondeo Sport is planned to be a China-exclusive model. Regardless, Ford in Australia has indicated its range of passenger SUVs (except for the Everest) would go EV-only before long with the brand’s global boss Jim Farley saying last year, "We are not going to be playing in the two-row commodity crossover market because... because Ford’s tried that in the ICE [internal combustion engine] business and it didn’t really work out for us, we want to play our hand, our strength, commercial, truck, larger vehicles on the category side."

As a result, the combustion Puma small SUV and the Escape mid-sizer were axed last year. The Puma will be succeeded by an all-electric version, dubbed the Puma Gen-E at an undisclosed future date. The brand’s local CEO, Andrew Birkic said going forward the brand would need to "play to our strengths in terms of our heritage and DNA. We're cherry-picking the best (Ford) products from around the world".

In the meantime, Ford’s top-10 position in Australia is essentially maintained by the Ranger and Everest alone, with the Mustang Mach-E being well received but a slow-seller and the combustion Mustang sales slowing to a trickle as the brand wrestles with delays in bringing the new generation version to our shores. A small success for the brand has been the F-150, which has seemingly made a serious dent in Ram 1500 sales, amassing 828 units so far this year.

Aside from the delayed next-generation Mustang, Ford’s next play will be its plug-in hybrid Ranger which will go into battle against newcomer BYD’s Shark.