What is a Ford Scorpio? It was the largest Ford passenger car from Ford Europe (American Fords were bigger, of course) that you could get your hands on in the Netherlands from 1985 to 1998. The model was above the midsize Sierra, and later the Mondeo and successor to the Granada.
The first Ford Scorpio designed by Uwe Bahnsen.
It’s hard to imagine now, but in the early 1980s a lot happened in the executive class (Part E) with the introduction of, for example, Volvo 760 (1982), Audi 100 (1983), Lancia Thema and Renault 25 (1984) and Saab 9000 (1985).
Behind El Scorpio Tower, Granada
Ford threw it in with GranadaKhalifa is on a different path. After Sierra’s revolutionary design, the upper part also had to be repaired and so it happened. A new name, a particularly spacious five-door body and to convince skeptics … ABS as standard! At the time it wasn’t available in all cars and it was also an expensive option, so it was great if it became Car of the Year the following year. However, Sierra-like vistas were not achieved in this category. The conservative Granada audience could not get used to the hatchback body, while the Granada was only available as a sedan and station wagon. These body styles also appeared (in 1989 and 1992, respectively), but it was too late to turn the tide.
Second generation Ford Scorpio with frog eyes.
Even the extravagant second generation from 1994 looked more funny than serious, although our royal house has been a loyal customer. In 1998 this was done with Scorpio. There was no heir. Ford was buying a lot in those years and thought they already had more than enough at home in the E-Class with the Jaguar S-type and Volvo S80. 850,000 Scorpios were sold for twice the number of Granadas in the same period (1972-1985) before. In the Netherlands the counter stuck at around 45,000 copies, in the same period Opel still wore around 65,000 Omegas and in total (Omegas were available from 1986 to 2003) up to 79,000 units.
If you see a Scorpio, it’s probably 86
But back to where we started: how many Scorpios are there now and what years are they?
Build year number
1985 61
1,986,116
1987 88
1988 57
1989 85
1990 77
1991 70
1992 75
1993 59
1994 50
199,539
199,640
1997 42
1998 36
1999 1
Total 896
Source: CarTalk International
