Ford has revealed the second generation of its Fusion mid-sized sedan at the Detroit motor show. The company says the car ‘points to’ the next Mondeo, which it confirms as being due for launch in Asia and Europe in 2013.
The current CD338 Fusion has just set a sales record – 248,067 cars registered in the US market during 2011 – and Ford will be hoping this new sedan will build on that as it chases the segment leader, the Toyota Camry. The Fusion will again be available as a hybrid, just as the Camry is, but Ford will have a unique weapon in this segment from the third quarter – the Fusion Energi, a plug-in variant.
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As well as the Energi, the new, front- and all-wheel drive Fusion will come with the choice of 1.6- and 2.0-litre EcoBoost (turbocharged, direct injection gasoline) four-cylinder engines, while the Fusion Hybrid gains a new normally-aspirated 2.0-litre plus electric motor powertrain. The existing Fusion Hybrid, which uses a 2.5-litre engine, has a top-speed limit in electric mode of 47mph, whereas the company is claiming a 62mph (100km/h) maximum for the new car.
Ford’s media information pushes the car’s expected fuel economy with claims that the Hybrid is more efficient than the gasoline-electric versions of the Camry and Sonata sedan rivals (and by inference the Optima as well). Further, cars powered by the smaller 1.6-litre EcoBoost engine also have stop-start, still an unusual feature in US market cars of this size.
US market trim levels for the 2013MY Fusion will be called S, SE and Titanium.
The main production site for the all-new Fusion is to be the Hermosillo plant in Mexico where the current car is made. Additional build will come from Ford and Mazda’s AutoAlliance plant at Flat Rock in Michigan.
The company is yet to state which of the global facilities building or assembling the existing Mondeo will also make the next generation car (CD391). They are as follows: Genk (Belgium), Chongqing (China), Vsevolozhsk/St Petersburg (Russia), Hanoi (Vietnam) and Chung Li (Taiwan).
The fourth generation Mondeo will be revealed at the Geneva motor show in early March.
