Using the project name of 'Archbishop', management at Ford of Britain in Dagenham created a family-sized car that they could sell in large numbers. The chief designer was Roy Brown Jr., the designer of the Edsel, who had been banished to Dagenham following the failure of that car. The Cortina, aimed at buyers of the Morris Oxford Farina and Vauxhall Victor, was launched on 20 September 1962. The car was designed to be economical to buy, cheap to run, and easy and inexpensive to produce in Britain. Originally to be called Ford Consul 225, the car was launched as the Consul Cortina until a modest facelift in 1964, after which it was sold simply as the Cortina. The Vanguards car is this facelifted 1964 version, the two versions are easily identified by differing grill treatments. On the later car the grille is extended to include turn indicators and sidelights. On the first version there are no separate turn indicators, the large oval white sidelights flash instead. On the Cortina Estate buyers could specify fake wood side panels, as on the Corgi Toys version of the car.

The Cortina was launched with an 1198 cc, three-bearing engine, which was an enlarged version of the 997 cc engine then fitted in the Ford Anglia. A few months later, in January 1963, the Cortina Super was announced with a five-bearing, 1498 cc engine. The Cortina GT, appeared in spring 1963 with lowered suspension and the 1500cc engine tuned to give a claimed output of 78 bhp compared to the 60 bhp claimed for the Cortina 1500 Super. This GT engine had a different camshaft profile, a different cylinder-head casting featuring larger ports, tubular exhaust headers, and a Weber 32 DFM twin-choke carburettor made under licence by Ford. In 1964, front disc brakes became standard across the range.

The Ford Cortina Lotus was offered only as a two-door saloon all in white with a contrasting green side flash down each flank. It had a unique 1558 cc twin-cam engine by Lotus, but based on the Cortina's Kent OHV engine. Aluminium was used for some body panels. For a certain time, it also had a unique A-frame rear suspension, but this proved fragile, so the model soon reverted to the standard Cortina semielliptical rear end.