Ford Meteor
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The Ford Meteor describes two distinct lines of automobiles from the Ford Motor Company.
The first Meteors were a sub-brand of cars sold by the Ford Motor Company of Canada between 1949 and 1976. These are sometimes referred to as 'Ford Meteor', although Meteor was actually the marque. They were sold between 1949 and 1963 at Ford dealers, and from 1964 to 1976 at Mercury dealers. The Meteor name continued on Canadian Fords until 1981, as a variant of the Mercury Marquis. For more information, see Meteor (car).
The second time Ford used the Meteor name was as a model, dating from 1981. Ford Meteor was the name given to the sedan version of the Ford Laser in some markets, including Australia and South Africa. It was based on the Mazda Familia. When the Meteor was released in Australia in 1981, it replaced the larger Cortina, although this was a temporary measure before the Telstar was introduced. The Meteor name was dropped in Australia in 1985, with Laser used instead, but survived in South Africa, where it was used from 1986 to 1995.
The Meteor grille differed slightly and was available on one other model: a home-market Mazda Familia sedan. Replacing the Laser's amber indicators were white ones, and the grille had more of an "egg-crate" pattern than the plain black slats of the Laser. The Meteor also had larger headlights than the Laser, which had smaller ones "sunken" into the bodyshell. In Australia, it was only available with a 1·5 L engine at launch, in GL and Ghia trims—the 1·1 or 1·3 were not offered. Naturally, it had a hard job replacing the Cortina, which had engines beginning at 2·0 L, up to a 4·1 L six-cylinder, as well as a station wagon option.
A mid-term facelift in 1983 brought the range closer together, with the same front end, though Meteors continued as a separate and slightly more premium line. The Meteor tended to attract older buyers, so much so that when the 1985 Laser sedan was launched, it was felt that they would not mind if the vehicle shared its sheetmetal with the Mazda 323. However, from 1985, the Laser hatchbacks all had unique panels.
Unlike Australia, the second-generation sedans were still badged Meteor in South Africa.
Following much the same strategy in Europe was the Ford Orion, a four-door saloon which had Escort mechanicals. It ran from 1983 to 1993, and like the Meteor was absorbed into the range from which it was spawned.