Earlier today Bloomberg revealed it had heard from unnamed officials within Ford that the Fusion name will live on. Not as a sedan, but instead as a competitor to the Subaru Outback. Ford already has a wagon variant of the Fusion in the form of the Mondeo Estate, and it appears North America will be getting an updated version of that particular vehicle.
In all likelihood the new Fusion will probably look similar to what you see above. Extra body cladding, increased ride height, and standard all wheel drive will probably also make an appearance too. And it will likely be called the Fusion Active, as that naming strategy is already being applied to the Focus variant that Ford will be shipping to North America from China some time next year. I’ll have more on this development in the very near future.
Related Reading:
Industry News: The Fusion Is A Good Car That Was Ten Years Too Late
Future Curbside Classic: 2013-20xx Ford Fusion – Is This Ford’s Last Midsize?
Here’s hoping they don’t just have a jacked-up version but a normal looking wagon which is what some of us want. I’ll buy one if the latter becomes a reality. Our 2010 Fusion SEL continues to motor on for now.
I think the best we can hope for is more Buick TourX and less Subaru Outback.
The Outback has roughly 8 in of ground clearance and the high COG that goes with it. The TourX has about the same ground clearance as a Toyota Camry (a little over 5 in.)
Likely the marketing/product planning/brand managers won’t let us have a real honest to gosh wagon, they’ll have to butch it up just enough to full a few CUV buyers into test driving it.
UGG… FOOL not FULL.
The feel of an Outback is FAR less tippy than most SUV/CUV things. Subaru would have you believe it’s due to the low mounted flat engine as opposed to an upright conventional one but the Outback is still lower overall than most anything else with 8inches of ground clearance. Actually it’s 8.7″, so almost 9.
8.7″ is significant and likely one of the reasons it does well. That’s more than a LOT of other CUV’s such as the Explorer, Durango, Rav4, and Grand Cherokee for example and it does come in handy when on unpaved trails or unplowed roads, you don’t need to go “off-road” into the wilderness to use it.
At 5″ what’s the point of the TourX? No wonder it isn’t selling.
Yay for another proper wagon! I will be able to afford it used in about 10 yrs!
Agreed! With my ’05 LGT just cresting 107k, I figure I’ll need a replacement in 4 years or so…and this would be a great alternative.
This is why wagons don’t sell in North America. Everyone who says they want one won’t buy one new, haha.
Given at least two years’ lead, four years from today isn’t enough time for the first model year to come off lease.
A lot of us can’t afford a brand new $20k + car. A lot of wagons are loaded and pushed out of range for many of us that want them, if they still made a Focus wagon I would have bought one this year.
This is why wagons don’t sell in North America. Everyone who says they want one won’t buy one new, haha.
Blame the other 300 million or so. I plunked down my money.
Never had a new car and can’t afford one. Car payments are one more debt I don’t need.
Figures…
I wanted one of this generation of the Fusion as a wagon when I first became aware of those in the UK & Germany.
I am very leery of what has been suggested above. Ford will find a way to screw up the beautiful European Fusion/Mondeo Estate. Of course nowhere will the words “station wagon” appear and it will gain bigger tires and plastic cladding like the TourX.
I understand Buick/GM is clueless as to how to market the TourX and does not discount/rebate the car like it does on the other SUV/CUV vehicles they have. Ford may be more nimble at this and it will probably have to beat the TourX on pricing.
TourX comes from Germany. Where will a Fusion wagon come from? Germany? Mexico? Tariffs, if continued, will surely kill the TourX and would be horrible for Ford if importing a German Fusion wagon.
Hoo-ray!
But don’t expect a sporty, Euro style, ‘shooting brake’ for handling the “twisties”. Detroit News says it will be “… a high-roofed hatchback built on the same mechanical underpinnings…
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/autos/ford/2018/07/11/ford-fusion-sport-wage/36783253/
Also, it’s all up in the air where this “Fusion Active wagon” will be built.
An Outback competitor? 24 years later. Stick to remodeling train stations for your hipster employees Ford.
Not a “competitor,” but something called a “choice.” I don’t give a dang if my car beats your car in the sales race. That’s business, trying to be sports, and that’s boring.
An Explorer competitor 24 years ago? Subaru put tape stripes on a station wagon and sold it as an SUV. Stick to replacing your head gaskets.
The SUV market in the US is so big that even backward little Subaru, which is nearly extinct in the rest of the world, can make a living at it.
Subaru stays smaller on purpose. This interesting Bloomberg article from 2015 observes that “Subaru can barely make enough cars to meet demand and has the best profit margin in the industry.” Subaru’s volume is smaller, a million cars last year which is about 1/10 of Toyota, but Subaru is more profitable per car. The Lafayette, Indiana, plant is maxed out at 400K cars per year.
My guess is that it will be built in Ford plants in Spain or Portugal where Mondeos are currently in production as they would most likely roll off the same line as the Mondeo Estate.
We live in a global world. They can build what they want where it best suits them to do so. For the number that will probably sell in the USA, probably 30K or so per year, it really does not demand much capacity. Once a product is designed and the plant configured, it really does not matter much on shipping, save for tariffs creating issues. Slapping a Fusion badge and cladding on an existing product is cheap and easy, and if it does not do well, Ford loses very little. If it works, they can move production to Mexico where Fusions were built now. This is a very simple bet that they can continue to make money off the platform in the NA market, and it may just work.
You forgot to factor in the staggering cost of engineering and certifying the vehicles to meet DOT FMVSS and EPA emission control regulations. That one alone is the biggest reason why Americans don’t have much wider choices of models, body types, motors, gearboxes, equipments, exterior and interior colours, etc. Many manufacturers aren’t willing to spend so much money (at least $10 million per vehicle for certification process).
Toss in the infamous product liability in the mix, too.
Australia used to be more restrictive than the United States. In the last thirty years, Australian Design Rules (equivalent to FMVSS and UNECE) have been changed more or less to harmonise with UNECE. The market expanded greatly despite the population roughtly thirteen times smaller than the United States.
United States ‘promised’ to work with ECE in harmonising both UNECE and FMVSS regulations along with EPA and Euro emission control regulations as to make it easier to engineer and certify the vehicles for both regulations. However, United States has not done much other than allowing the headlamps with sharp cut-off and a few other minor changes. EPA being horrendously stubborn kid insists on its own measurement system (gram per mile and gram per kilometre).
Ford’s been designing their platforms with global compliance in mind since the Mulally days, and they’ve already federalized the Mondeo sedan (we call it Fusion here). I can’t imagine they’d be designing a new version without American compliance in mind.
I am talking about the manufacturers in general, not just Ford.
Whether the vehicle has been designed for the North American market in mind to begin with, it doesn’t mean it will be introduced there. As I have stated in the previous comment, the manufacturers have to pay separately for the type approval for each body type, motor and gearbox combination, etc.
I think Mr Snitkoff needs to check his sources as a Outback here in America is a SUV, not a low slung wagon.
No, I am pretty sure it is a wagon. They call it a SUV, but calling a 4 door car a coupe does not make it one, either.
Fred, I think you need to check the article again because he never called the Outback a low-slung wagon. And up until the current generation, the Outback was always available in other markets in a regular wagon form.
I’d be reluctant to call an Outback an SUV. A crossover, sure, but certainly one that’s much, much closer to a station wagon than something like a Honda Pilot. If Subaru wanted to, they could lower the ride height, ditch the cladding and create a Legacy wagon all over again.
Obviously Edward couldn’t show photos of a car that hasn’t been created yet, hence images of the current Mondeo wagon sans any Outback-esque cladding.
BTW the Outback is classified as a “light truck” for CAFE purposes. Subaru cynically made that calculation for the 3rd generation vehicle (2005 debut) so that they wouldn’t have to meet car fuel economy targets.
I call any lifted vehicle a SUV and at 8.5″ the Outback qualifies. My real concern is that we are getting any kind of version of the Mondeo Estate. Maybe they will lift it and put rubber trim around the bottom ala Audi Allroad, but that is not a wagon in my book.
The very nice thing about the Allroad is that the track is actually widened (it uses the bits from the A5) so it has an on-road advantage in that respect to the A4Avant. Some people have taken the Allroad and lowered it again which then makes it even better than the standard A4Avant.
Too bad they’re discontinuing the sedan. The Fusion has grown into a very nice car which is instantly recognizable as a Fusion. It’s nicer than most other cars, and can be loaded up with lots of goodies such as AWD. I think it’s a mistake to discontinue the sedan, in fact I’ve wondered if a coupe would ever be added. A wagon? Not for me, pass.
Ford has a coupe for America.
How about the liftback which is similar to the BMW Gran Coupe models? What do you think of the Regal Sportback?
Agreed that Fusion’s as nice as any sedan out there. My hubby sent a scathing letter to Ford telling them in no uncertain terms that their choice to discontinue sedans means the 2017 Fusion Titanium he’s driving now will be his last Ford.
This news comes as no surprise. The real surprise is that companies have left Subaru pretty much on their own with the Outback. I suppose companies might figure the Outback sells because it’s a Subaru more so than because it’s wagon-esque but it’s still a bit surprising to see so little competition for it… in North America, that is.
Opel had the Insignia Country Tourer long before Buick got the Regal TourX. There’s a Passat Alltrack available overseas and Skoda had the Octavia Scout and Superb Scout. Not to mention, much like Japan in the mid-1990s, there’s a huge range of vehicles in Europe that just have cladding added for an SUV look without any extra capability. And they’re actually even weirder than that brief Japanese obsession with Outback-esque wagons. Check out the weird but cute Opel Adam Rocks “crossover”, ha.
Yeah, I was surprised that Ford never opted to make the Mondeo Estate for the American market. I bet they’re regretting it now.
There was a brief period when you could buy one, in the form of the Jaguar X-Type wagon.
That Opel is strange. Its general shape looks like a Fiat 500 that ate too much pasta.
Suspect that’s more to do with the 500 being one of the few small hatches sold there. It looks way less strange from the perspective of those of us in countries where small hatches are the norm.
The Adam’s styling is a clear callback to the cute-as-a-button Opel Corsa B (’93-’00). (Vauxhall confusingly sold the Corsa A as the Nova so here on the island folk think of this as the first Corsa… thanks GM) These were *everywhere* & very popular with driving schools so it’s a smart (albeit obvious) nostalgia nod from a UK/European perspective.
I love the Adam! The whole ruggedized fad that is going through Europe is just that, a fad. Once it runs its course, then we’ll eventually get back to cars again.
I hope…
I love the Adam! The whole ruggedized fad that is going through Europe is just that, a fad. Once it runs its course, then we’ll eventually get back to cars again.
We have been telling ourselves that about SUVs in the US: they are just a fad and will pass.
Thing is, when the CAFE standard was “reformed” in 2006, it was designed to promote big SUVs at the expense of passenger cars. Jack a car up a couple inches and stuff in an AWD powertrain and it is classified as a truck. The truck CAFE mpg targets are much lower, thus easier to meet, so that is what the automakers want to build. The oil industry is OK with everyone driving a big SUV, instead of a small, fuel efficient car, too.
Crossover sales are being driven by an aging population that doesn’t want to “step down” when entering a vehicle.
I bought a 2017 Civic EX-T sedan last year, and I’ve had several people (including my 40-something wife) comment on how low the car is, and how it’s somewhat difficult to exit and enter.
I neither want to plop down into a low-slung car, or step up into a crossover. A few of my COALs have had ideal hip points: the Mk II GTI, the Saab 9000, my ’04 Forester. All those were designed before the auto market split into Aero and Jumbo classes, both more difficult to access, for opposite reasons. My current car, a Ford C-Max Energi, gets the step-in height just right, throwing in an extra foot of headroom as a pleasant bonus. That kind of happy medium between too low and too his is harder to find these days.
“The oil industry is OK with everyone driving a big SUV, instead of a small, fuel efficient car, too.”
…How big and inefficient do you think most CUVs are?
I like it, and I’m one of those luddites who normally hates hatchbacks and wagons. The rear end was weak on the Fusion(Mondeo) sedan, as they are on most tall butt fastback sedans today, but the wagon mitigates that effect very nicely.
And I have always liked the older(90s) Outback look, which is really the look pioneered by the Eagle wagon. If this is the future of the Fusion, then I am way happier than I was with the unceremonious dumping of the whole line.
>> Focus variant that Ford will be shipping to North America from China some time next year<<
Sure. Because the US will allow Ford to import much Chinese production.
As for Ford, they had the Freestyle and nobody wanted it. The Outback sells because it's cheap compared w/ other AWD wagons.
Have you perhaps seen the Buick Envision on the local dealer’s lot, or on the road? You know, that middle sized Buick SUV that is built completely in China and exported over here?
Hell yes, the US will allow anyone to import much Chinese production, as long as it suits the need.
I believe that as of July 6th, the Envision now is imported subject to a 25% tariff. There may be less of a selection of them on dealers lots as a result.
The Outback sells “despite” its looks because it has become a quite large car inside, is available in a myriad of trim levels that start at a reasonable price, has a stellar safety reputation and is comfortable. Like some others above I’ve always been surprised that nobody else tried to muscle into the space. I guess VW finally (two decades later) did with the Alltrack but it’s smaller and VW has pretty much hobbled themselves in the market…
If this Fusion Wagon Active thing is available in various trim levels like the Outback and current Fusion wagon, it’ll potentially do well. If it only comes in one loaded up version and ends up trying to compete with Audi and Volvo, forget it, not a chance. Since Ford has stated they are ditching the Fusion sedan because they can’t make money on it, that doesn’t leave me with much hope that their “Active” version will start at a competitive price.
But overall this is good, there can never be too many wagons. I’ll happily take a raised wagon over no wagon at all and at least it isn’t ugly. If they add a 2.0 or 2.3 turbo engine it could do very well here in Colorado where the Outback is the #1 selling vehicle but in 4cylinder guise is underpowered, especially in the mountains.
The Outback is the #1 selling vehicle in Oregon and Washington as well as Colorado, as of the most recent such data I could Google up.
If you drove down my street in Portland you’d think owning a Subaru was a requirement for living there. NW Ford dealers should be delighted with their own “Outback”.
Very interesting chart. Subaru certainly has their niche–but the F150 numbers!!!!–no wonder FoMoCo is not especially interested in cars anymore.
I’d like to see the runners up in each state too. A vehicle coud technically be the #2 in each state and still take the overall win (although I know the F-Series (not necessarily the F150 alone) is the top dog overall).
Especially for anomalies like the GMC Sierra in Arkansas.
There must be some irony in the Kentucky-built Escape being the top seller in Michigan while the Michigan-built F150 is the top seller in Kentucky.
In the greater Seattle area it is obvious how well the Outback sells as they are everywhere and have been at the top for several years. The other car that you’ll see on every corner are Prius. I know in the past Toyota has specifically advertised the Prius as the best selling car in Western Wa.
Ford never stated that they weren’t making money on the Fusion. They stated that the profit margins were lower on the sedans than it was on CUVs, SUVs and PIckups. Wall St pretty much calls the shots and is concerned with the operating margin. So Ford is dropping the vehicles with the lowest margins as the easy way to boost their overall operating margin and hopefully the stock price.
I guess Ford wants to put their own SUS aka “Sport Utility Sedan” as well.
Ford hasn’t said anything about any kind of “SUS”. I’ll bet Subaru will phase out the Legacy sedans sooner than later.
I read the Bloomberg article and one in C&D. Had to laff when one article said that Ford is discovering that a lot of their passenger car buyers don’t want to be shoved into an SUV. Having already publicly said they don’t want to make passenger cars, and their customers being stubborn, rather than admit management might be wrong, they are offering up another slightly jacked up and cladded “Active” version of a passenger car in the hope passenger car customers will buy it, while management saves face by not calling it a passenger car.
The ground clearance of the Fusion “Active” or an Outback is irrelevant to the vast majority of buyers, because they are only interested in the image. Jeep and Subie are the only ones who show their vehicles going off road. Every other SUV ad on the tube shows these trucks driving on clear, dry, city streets.
The C&D article had this doctored pic of a Mondeo wagon.
I thought the article said that owners of Ford passenger cars who moved to SUVs and crossover didn’t consider a Ford vehicle. The top two vehicles of interest for those Ford passenger car owners were the Honda CR-V and Toyota RAV-4.
The problem there is that the Escape is old compared to both of its main competitors – a result of Mark Fields’s decision to skimp on new product spending.
To be fair to Fields, that wasn’t his fault. Mulally went all-in on the aluminum F-150 and blew the budget big time. That had knock-on effects across the rest of Ford’s product development, and since most of Ford’s platforms were new at the time, that meant really skimpy barely-noticeable refreshes on a bunch of important product.
I mean, the 2017 Fusion’s a lovely car (my hubby has one in Titanium spec), but unless you are as familiar with them you’d be hard-pressed to tell the 2017-2018 apart from the 2013-2016.
That’s the big problem. People who turn in a leased vehicle, or trade for a new one, still expect the new one to look NEW. Those customers are also more likely to opt for the high-level trims.
Another problem has been the decision to stick with the terrible automatic transmission in the Focus and Fiesta. The reputation of those cars has taken a big hit because of that transmission (ironically, it has already been replaced in Europe, where automatics are much less popular).
I thought the article said that owners of Ford passenger cars who moved to SUVs and crossover didn’t consider a Ford vehicle. The top two vehicles of interest for those Ford passenger car owners were the Honda CR-V and Toyota RAV-4.
Correct. Here is the text from the Bloomberg article:
A trade-in analysis by researcher Kelley Blue Book found that less than half of Ford Fusion owners are loyal to the brand. The most popular SUV models that Fusion owners consider are the Honda CR-V and Toyota RAV4, KBB found.
“Ford has a hard time moving people from their cars to SUVs,” said Michelle Krebs, a senior analyst with KBB affiliate Autotrader.
So, while that quote leaves a lot of unanswered questions, it’s clear most Fusion buyers don’t want a Ford SUV. My point remains that, having bet the company on SUVs, management is now backtracking to try and retain their car customers without admitting they might be wrong about not selling cars at all.
This was the plan all along, I don’t see any “back tracking”. Earlier said that Fusion name would possibly be on a new ‘white space’ vehicle.
Subarus are getting younger buyers, and aren’t “quirky” anymore. So, aim for the newcomers, not old timers.
CC effect, sort of: one of our b&b guests a few nights ago was driving a brand new Mondeo wagon. They’re pretty huge in person, but very good looking. Outside at least…inside was as big an ugly mess as most other current Fords.
Turning the Mondesion into an Outbackesque wagon is a great idea, I think there’s a huge market for slightly-lifted, 4WD, body-clad wagons. In fact, that was just what my partner and I were looking for recently to replace our 2006 Peugeot 307 SW. SUVs were too high and normal wagons too low, but my parents’ Outback was the perfect compromise. But Outbacks are everywhere here in New Zealand and we wanted something different, which made us realise there are very few reasonably-priced Outbackesque wagons available. The Audi Allroad, Volvo XC70 and V90 Cross Country were all fabulously good-looking, but too expensive. The Skoda wagons were well priced, the Holden Calais Tourer was interesting (but unproven here), and a Ford alternative would have been well worth considering if it existed. Ultimately, we bought a Peugeot 508 RXH wagon – the slightly-lifted 4WD body-clad version of Peugeot’s normal 508 wagon. Diesel-electric hybrid too, which is proving to be brilliant. The size and Outbackesque styling etc of the RXH is just perfect, and it’s the type of vehicle that’ll keep us happy for a long time. So roll on the Outbackesque Mondesion, I’m sure it’ll find a ready market.
Interesting that, according to the Bloomberg article, the dealers led the charge to retain the Fusion name. I wonder what other feedback Ford has been getting from dealers regarding this decision to drop every passenger car except the Mustang.
I do know that, in the wake of the original announcement, there was a video of James Farley explaining there would be several new “white space” vehicles to replace those departing passenger cars. This video was made for dealers, and obviously designed to placate them.
“White Space” must be the new marketing buzzword. I’ve been watching some YouTube reviews of the TourX, Regal SportBack, Regal GS. Apparently Buick has been telling everyone at their product launches that they are trying to “occupy the white space” in the market.
(Which is a fancy way of saying “hit ’em where they ain’t.”)
Interesting, but I wonder why dealers are leading that charge based on the supposed brand equity in the Fusion name. They sure did not push back on any of the adding/dropping/changing names on the Taurus platform, at least publicly. The Taurus name was dumped, then revived when the 500 flamed out (why not Galaxie 500 reused, or just Galaxie on the Volvo platform they used?) and got badged Taurus, and the Freestyle became the Taurus X. Neither really gained much in sales with the name change. Do dealers really think the magic is in the name? Are they selling the sizzle, not the steak? I thought that was the specialty of Lido, and it died with him. I guess not….
By the time the last Taurus was dropped in favor of the Five Hundred, it had basically become fodder for fleets.
The current Taurus sells mainly to police departments, which are already moving to Explorer-based Police Interceptors in this area.
Our local Ford dealers stock few civilian Tauruses (and even fewer Fiestas), but a fair number of Fusions. They are still popular around here.
Iacocca is still alive (at 93), but yes his career is very much dead.
I wish current leadership in Automotive Firms even had 50% of his gift of showmanship.
Dealers did push back somewhat on dropping Taurus name, leading Mr. Mulally to rename the 2008 Five Hundred in a matter of weeks.
Literally removed the “Five Hundred” badge from the display car and added Taurus. At Detroit Auto Show was old name, at Chicago’s was Taurus, and could see the residue of the old badging.
As for sales, have to check records to see.
I wish they had revived an old name for this. Fusion is just so bland.
I’m looking at this and scratching my head. Here’s an interesting statistic- the three largest selling brands in Oregon.
1. Toyota 26,255
2. Ford 15,779
3. Subaru 14168
https://www.bizjournals.com/portland/news/2016/09/06/list-leaders-oregons-5-best-selling-automotive.html
Let’s play “what’s wrong with this picture for a moment. It’s likely every other Ford sold here is an F-Series pickup. Toyota is a full-line volume player, offering everything from a Yaris to a Land Cruiser, and just about every point in between.
And a Subaru. Two sizes, but I don’t think we can call Subaru a “crossover.” If anything, the sedan is a crossover from the standpoint that it was adapted from a SUV design, not the other way around. Don’t make assumptions about Subaru demographics out here- there absolutely is no “standard. typical” Subaru marker. They’re as likely to be seen in the driveway of a multi-million dollar estate as they are in a low income housing project in SE Portland. The only thing that’ll change is the age of the vehicle involved.
This is what Ford is looking at, IMO.
No stereotypes about Oregon are broken when you look at car make sales.