Ford to Give Fusion Name to Wagon-Like Crossover
FoMoCo wants to hold onto the name after the sedan is gone
Ford will discontinue the Fusion sedan early next decade, but once that car is gone, it's quite likely the name will live on in a new vehicle. According toBloomberg, Ford wants to reuse the Fusion name on a tall wagon-like crossover that will compete with the Subaru Outback.
Ford spokesman Mike Levine toldBloombergthe automaker will likely continue to use the Fusion name in the future. But where? Two unnamed sources who asked not to be identified toldBloombergthat the name will be used on a high-roofed hatchback built on the same mechanical underpinnings as the Fusion sedan.
In April, Ford announced it would cut sedans in the U.S.to focus on trucks and SUVs. Its lineup of traditional cars will consist of only the Mustang and the Focus Active, which is a slightly raised hatch. Adding a lifted wagon could expand the breadth of Ford's lineup while at the same time hold onto the heritage of the Fusion name. In Europe, the Fusion's counterpart, the Ford Mondeo, is offered as a wagon.
"They spent hundreds of millions of dollars for brand equity in that Fusion name—not $10 million or $20 million—but hundreds of millions," Rhett Ricart, one of Ford's top dealers, toldBloomberg. "The smart thing is to play on that brand equity."
Fordupdated the Fusion sedanfor the 2019 model year. It gains new exterior styling and wheel designs as well as a redesigned battery pack for the plug-in Energi model. The current Fusion will continue production in Hermosillo, Mexico, for a few years before Ford retools the plant for another product.
When you ask most people when your love for cars began, they can go all the way back to when they were just a small child and tell you a specific time when that love was ignited. I, on the other hand, can’t really recall a specific moment when it hit me. My channel into cars was through photography. After graduating high school, with a growing passion for photography and cars, I began to really concentrate on my imagery, using up the photography program at my local junior college. This is the point where I can really say that I knew I wanted to shoot for a living. Having easy access to my friends’ cars and also owning a ’05 Suzuki GSX-R 600 and later a ’03 Nissan 350Z--which I still drive to this day--fueled my love for automotive photography. It was the key to my development as a photographer. Being able to take my own car to a desired location and spend as much time as I wanted experimenting with different techniques and setups was invaluable. After feeling very confident in my work and where I could go with it, I enrolled at Brooks Institute of Photography in October of 2009 and continued with my schooling until graduating in December of 2012.
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