the Tempo for more than a decade. While the Tempo had long been a loss leader for Ford, the incoming Contour was based on the Mondeo, one of the most expensive cars in Ford's European lineup. Ford was unsuccessful in drawing a distinction between the Tempo and Contour, and many buyers assumed that the new car would be priced the same as the old, causing some to face a large sticker shock. For buyers shopping for a compact Ford, moving to the Contour came with a jump in price: the range topping 1994 Tempo LX sedan with V6 cost about $12,900, , while a base model 1995 Contour GL with four-cylinder engine and manual transmission was $13,990, . The Oakville plant was retooled to build the new-for-1995 Ford Windstar, while Kansas City and Cuautitlán switched over to production of the Ford Contour and Mercury Mystique. 1994 marked the last year for the HSC engine, the 2.5 L having been dropped from the Taurus in 1991. It was also the end for the 3-speed FLC automatic transmission, with the Ford Escort and Mercury Tracer using the Ford F-4EAT transmission. Production figures The Tempo was a sales success for Ford, staying one of the top ten best selling cars in the US, if not one of the top five, during its entire production run. Through 1984, Ford sold a total of 531,468 examples of the Tempo and Topaz, nearly 100,000 more units than the best-selling Toyota Camry of the day. All model year production figures for the Tempo are as follows: Other markets China At least 8,200 Tempos were sent to China as part of Ford's first efforts to sell cars to the Asian nation. In an attempt to ease trade tensions with the United States, China agreed to buy millions of dollars worth of cars from the big three American automakers. Ford's share of the deal was worth $32 million. This arrangement let China keep its favored nation status with the U.S. despite political tensions, and reduce China's dependence on autos imported from Japan. The initial order included 3,010 Tempos that were to be used as taxis and tourist vehicles. It has been suggested that they were never used as taxis, but instead went to the government and were later sold to the private market. Mexico Ford assembled and sold two models based on the American Tempo in Mexico — the