The Ford Contour, and its rebadged variant

Badge engineering

Badge engineering is an ironic term that describes the rebadging of one product as another...

, the Mercury Mystique, were compact

Compact car

A compact car , or small family car , is a classification of cars which are larger than a supermini but smaller than or equal to a mid-size car...

 4-door sedans marketed from model year

Model year

The model year of a product is a number used worldwide, but with a high level of prominence in North America, to describe approximately when a product was produced, and indicates the coinciding base specification of that product....

s 1995-2000 by Ford Motor Company

Ford Motor Company

Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford and Lincoln brands, Ford also owns a small stake in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in the UK...

 in North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

. The Contour and Mystique replaced the Ford Tempo

Ford Tempo

The Ford Tempo is a coupe/sedan car model that was produced by Ford Motor Company for model years 1984 to 1994. It was a downsized successor to the boxy Ford Fairmont that introduced "jellybean" styling, which would later be shown on the larger 1986 Ford Taurus. and was replaced in 1994 by the...

 and Mercury Topaz

Mercury Topaz

The Mercury Topaz is a compact car that was manufactured by the Mercury division of Ford Motor Company for model years 1984 to 1994 as a slightly upscale variant of the Ford Tempo...

, were based on Ford's CDW27 platform

Ford CDW27 platform

The Ford CDW27 platform was Ford's midsize car automobile platform from the early 1990s and was designed to be used as its 'World Car' platform. The platform was developed over six years and at a huge expense totalling $6 billion, but was expected to save 25% compared to developing separate models...

, were manufactured at Ford's Kansas City Assembly and were derived from the first-generation, globally marketed Ford Mondeo

Ford Mondeo

The Mondeo was launched on 8 January 1993, and sales began on 22 March 1993. Available as a four-door saloon, a five-door hatchback, and a five-door estate, all models for the European market were produced at Ford's plant in the Belgian city of Genk...

.

The Contour and Mystique ceased production without a direct replacement in Ford's lineup in USA and Canada, while in Mexico, Ford replaced the Contour and Mystique with a locally manufactured variant of the European Ford Mondeo.