Ford Motor Co. is standing by its Mondeo family car, saying it will move forward with plans for an upgrade of the 25-year-old model and denying a Sunday Times report that it plans to halt production. The Mondeo remains a “core part” of its product line-up in Europe, and there will be improvements introduced later this year, the U.S. automaker said Monday in an emailed statement. The Sunday Times reported that dropping the Mondeo and other models would be part of a global revamp that would see up to 24,000 jobs slashed, many of them in Europe.