Ford Orion

The Ford Orion was a four-door saloon automobile model introduced by Ford's European division on July 22, 1983.

At that time, Ford's model lineup and image was changing. The company's older saloon lineup was replaced mainly by hatchbacks, from the Ford Escort to the Granada and the then new Sierra replacing the Ford Cortina. The Orion was designed to fill the market demand for a traditional four-door saloon, left by the demise of the Cortina. The Orion looked similar to a contemporary Escort at the front, but rear of the body was totally different; the Orion had a long flat boot (three-box saloon design) rather than a hatchback or estate body like the Escort. Despite appearances, the Orion was larger than the Escort, being almost the same size as a Ford Sierra.

The Orion was a more upmarket saloon, derived from the third generation Escort, aimed at the fleet market and company buyers. In order not to spoil the Orion's upmarket pretentions, Ford deliberately only offered the Orion in GL and Ghia trim levels initially, and only in 1300cc and 1600cc (both carburettor and fuel injection options on the 1.6 Ghia) CVH engine options. The standard equipment on the Orion was far superior to that of the Escort, e.g the Orion Ghia 1.6i standard features included central locking doors, sunroof, front sport seats, power windows, rear head restraints, tachometer and an information binnacle informing the driver when the vehicle needed maintenance. All of these features were very rare equipment on a family car of the 1980s. Also the fact that the Orion was a family car and was available with fuel injection was groundbreaking; Porsche was still fitting carburettors to particular models in their lineup. Other cars in this small executive saloon class were the Volkswagen Jetta, Daihatsu Charmant, Rover 213/216, Vauxhall Belmont, and the Mercedes-Benz 190.

Eventually though, as the years went by, people saw the Orion for what it was, an Escort saloon, and it became the average family car when Ford eventually relented and produced derivatives in basic trim specification. The diesel-powered versions became synonymous with private taxi firms throughout the 1980s and 1990s.