The Ford Verona and Volkswagen Apollo are a pair of
small family car
The C-segment is the 3rd category of the European segments for passenger cars and is described as "medium cars". It is equivalent to the Euro NCAP "small family car" size class, and the compact car category in the United States.
In 2011, the C ...
s that were manufactured in Brazil by
Autolatina
AutoLatina was a joint venture between Volkswagen Group subsidiary Volkswagen do Brasil (51%) and Ford Motor Company subsidiary Ford Brasil (49%) in South America. The main reason for the joint venture was the bad economic situation at the time, ...
, a
joint venture
A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and economic risk, risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four rea ...
between Brazilian subsidiaries of
Ford
Ford commonly refers to:
* Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford
* Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river
Ford may also refer to:
Ford Motor Company
* Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company
* Ford F ...
and
Volkswagen
Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a global brand post-W ...
. The Verona was produced from 1989 to 1992 and from 1993 to 1996, initially as a direct replacement for the ageing
Ford Del Rey.
The company spent
US$
The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
100 million developing and producing the car, which is heavily based on the second generation
Ford Orion
The Ford Orion is a small family car (C-segment in Europe) that was produced by Ford Europe from 1983 until 1993. A total of 3,534,239 units were sold during the car's ten-year production life.
The Ford Orion was based on the Ford Escort, but i ...
, and competed mainly with the
Chevrolet Monza
The Chevrolet Monza is a subcompact automobile produced by Chevrolet for the 1975 through 1980 model years. The Monza is based on the Chevrolet Vega, sharing its wheelbase, width, and standard inline-four engine. The car was designed to accommoda ...
in the local market. The first generation had the characteristic of being a two-door sedan with a unique rear end, and the only derivation of the fourth generation
Ford Escort with this body style, and was also rebadged as the Volkswagen Apollo.
Autolatina ceased production of the Verona/Apollo in 1992, after only three years of the original release, but still produced locally the third generation Orion a year after and keeping the Verona nameplate, until it was replaced by the sixth generation Ford Escort saloon in 1996.
First generation (1989–1992)
The first generation Verona was released in November 1989, as Ford's Brazilian subsidiary wanted a stronger competitor for the
mid-size segment leader at the time, the Chevrolet Monza, despite being based from a lower segment car. It was heavily based on the second generation of the
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
an Ford Orion,
which in turn was based on the "Erika" third generation
Ford Escort platform of 1981. Compared to the European Orion, the Verona had a unique body style, being a two-door sedan with a higher rear design and horizontal tail lights, the styling of which strongly resembled the sedan (Sapphire) version of the European
Ford Sierra
The Ford Sierra is a mid-size car or large family car manufactured and marketed by Ford Europe from 1982-1993, designed by Uwe Bahnsen, Robert Lutz and Patrick le Quément — and noted for its aerodynamic styling producing a drag coeffi ...
. The two cars are also mechanically different, and while the Orion was only available in the four-door body style, the Verona was only available with two doors. It lacked some features available in the Orion, for example the folding rear seats, to reduce production costs.
In 1986,
Argentine and Brazilian subsidiaries of Volkswagen and Ford formed the Autolatina joint venture, leading to a series of
badge engineered cars. The Verona was the first model to be rebranded during the alliance and its sibling was the Volkswagen Apollo, released in 1990. The alliance also allowed Ford to have access to more powerful engines, better suited to the segment it would compete, since one of the most common complaints in the Ford Del Rey it would replace was its poor performance.
[Quatro Rodas](_blank)
(October 1986), p.108.
Code named ''Nevada'', the Verona development cost US$70,000,000 to Ford do Brasil, and aimed to create a competitive car for the midsize segment without excessive spending, due to the bad financial situation of the subsidiary at the time. Another US$30,000,000 were used to update the São Bernardo do Campo assembly line, where the car was produced. It was considered to build a four-door Ford Orion in Brazil, but two-door sedans were more suitable to local demand, which led to the creation of the Verona.
The final name was chosen in computer, among other 21 options, including ''Stallion'', ''Novara'' and the proper project code name ''Nevada''.
LX and GLX were the two trim lines available for the Verona, the first one carried by a 1.6 L
CHT engine and the last by a 1.8 L Volkswagen AP engine, both with ethanol and petrol variants.
Base model was the LX and could be equipped with green glasses, rear window defroster, AM/FM stereo and power mirrors, while the GLX was the upscale trim level and could be equipped with fog lights, aluminum wheels, lumbar support adjustment,
Bosch radio/cassette player with code to inhibit theft and power mirrors. Air conditioning and sunroof were also optional features in the GLX trim.
Unlike its Apollo twin, the Verona dashboard was identical to the Ford Escort one. The last model year offered 14 pol aluminum wheels as an optional feature. That same year, the Verona was discontinued in the South American market.
In a 1989 road test conducted by a Brazilian magazine, the Verona 1.8 L managed to go from 0 to 100 km/h in 11,72 seconds and reached a maximum speed of 168.3 km/h.
[Quatro Rodas](_blank)
(December 1989), p. 50-56. In this same road test, dynamometer measurements determined that ethanol engines produced 105 PS, while Ford would publicize this engine as it only produced 99 PS. This was done to avoid a higher tax on the circulation of goods (ICM) for ethanol engines for cars with power above 100 PS.
Specifications for each engine can be found in the table below.
Note: AE is an acronym for "Alta Economia" (High Fuel-Efficiency in English), AP stands for "Alta Performance" (High Performance in English).
Volkswagen Apollo
The Apollo was essentially a re-branded Ford Verona sold from 1990 to 1992. More expensive and marketed as a sportier model, it was only available with the 1.8 L AP engine. Compared with the Verona, it has only minor differences. These are shorter gear ratios, stiffer shock absorbers, different dashboard with orange lighting (unlike the Verona, the Apollo do not share its dashboard with the Escort), smoked tail lights very similar to the ones from the Ford Sapphire, chrome-less rear window frames, fixed-height front seats, painted mirrors (GLS trim) and airfoil. During the first model years, its front turn signals had clear lenses while the Verona had orange lenses.
[Quatro Rodas](_blank)
(June 1992), p. 46-47. Trim levels were GL (base model) and GLS. A special edition named VIP was released in 1991.
A recurrent complaint from Apollo owners was the usage of steel rod-operated gear shift instead of the commonly used cable-operated gear shift. Both Verona and Apollo had cambering issues as well, partially due to rear suspension's project that was not adequately designed for a saloon.
Second generation (1993–1996)
The Verona discontinued in 1992 was relaunched in late 1993, this time sharing its body style with the third generation Ford Orion and only available as a four-door sedan.
Three trims were offered, a base (LX), an intermediate (GLX) with power steering, power windows and locks and also an upscale (Ghia), the first two with the 1.8 L AP engine and the Ghia with the 2.0 L AP. The 1.6 L CHT engine was discontinued.
In 1995, the 1.8 L gained
electronic fuel injection
Manifold injection is a mixture formation system for internal combustion engines with external mixture formation. It is commonly used in engines with spark ignition that use petrol as fuel, such as the Otto engine, and the Wankel engine. In a mani ...
, the LX version was renamed GL and the Ghia gained a new digital electronic fuel injection from FIC (standing for Ford Indústria e Comércio - ''Ford Industry and Trade'', the brand's division of electronic components), replacing the old analog Bosch LE Jetronic fuel injection.
That same year, a new version was added to the line, the sportier 2.0i S, available with Recaro seats, air conditioning, cassette player and disc brakes in four wheels.
In 1996, the Verona was facelifted, with a new hood and the oval grille. Production also shifted from São Bernardo do Campo to
Pacheco
Pacheco is a Portuguese and Spanish name which may refer to:
General
* Alex Pacheco (born 1958), animal rights activist, co-founder of PETA.
*Ángel Pacheco (general) (1793-1869), was an Argentine military officer trained by José de San Martín ...
,
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
, where it was marketed as Ford Orion. That same year, the sixth generation of the Ford Escort went on sale and the Verona nameplate was dropped and replaced by the Escort Sedan.
In a 1993 road test, the Verona went from 0-100 in 11.1 s and reached maximum velocity of 186.6 km/h. Drag coefficient was 0.31.
Quatro Rodas
(October 1993), p. 36-43.
Specifications for engines available can be found in the table below.[1993-1994 Ford Verona owner's manual, sections 10.09 and 10.10.]
Sales
In 1990, the Verona was the 7th best-selling car in Brazil, the Apollo was the 17th. The following year, the Verona rose to the 6th place and the Apollo to the 8th. In the last production year, they both fell to 9th and 15th positions, respectively.[Brazil 1990-1992: VW Gol, Fiat Uno and Chevy Monza on podium](_blank)
Best Selling Cars Blog. Retrieved 2012-07-31. Total production of the Volkswagen Apollo was 53,130 units. Sales figures from both cars in Brazil are shown below.
References
See also
* Volkswagen Apollo
*Ford Escort (Europe)
The Ford Escort is a small family car that was manufactured by Ford of Europe from 1968 until 2000. In total there were six generations, spread across three basic platforms beginning with the original rear-wheel drive Mk.1/Mk.2 (1968–1980), ...
{{Ford
Verona
Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city municipality in the region and the second largest in nor ...
Front-wheel-drive vehicles
Cars of Brazil