Ford’s future models are to share common vehicle platforms across the globe, a practice that is the keystone of CEO Alan Mulally’s strategy to help shed costs and turn around the fortunes of the company. The first of these new global cars has already been launched in the form of the compact Fiesta hatch and sedan, and this same practice of using a common platform for multiple markets will eventually filter across into Ford’s global sedan lineup as well.

On the drawing board are the designs for the next-generation Taurus, Fusion and European Mondeo. Speaking with The Detroit News, an insider has revealed that Ford plans to develop a new front-wheel-drive midsize platform that will be used for all three of the aforementioned models, replacing three separate platforms in the process.

The new platform would be an evolution of the European C/D-class platform that currently underpins several midsize models, such as the Mondeo. North American models like the Ford Fusion and Edge, which are currently built on the CD3 platform, would move to this new platform, but so would larger vehicles like the Taurus, which is currently manufactured on the D3 platform.

The insider explained that the next-generation Taurus would be slightly smaller than the current model. The same would also be true for the Ford Flex and Lincoln MKT, two crossover models also currently based on the D3 platform.

Ford neither denied nor confirmed the news but said no final decision had been made.