2013 Ford Fusion Debuts

[RichardJensen]

Rather than start a new topic I'll post this here.

 

Left Lane News wrote an article suggesting that Ford might have shown the Fusion off too soon. Larry Taylor, an Ohio Ford dealer owner, is concerned that 2012 Fusions won't be moving off the lots with customers waiting till September for the 2013 model.

 

In my opinion, the Fusion kind of had to come out at Detroit, regardless of its on-sale date. NAIAS is the biggest U.S. show of the year and it's also the home show for the Big 3, therefore they want to show off their biggest new products, no? Also, some comments make good points about stopping people not just buying current Fusions, but also current CamCord, Malibu etc...

 

What are your thoughts?

Meh. It might mean more discounts on current Fusions but pent up demand meaning higher transaction prices at launch.

[jpd80]

Rather than start a new topic I'll post this here.

 

Left Lane News wrote an article suggesting that Ford might have shown the Fusion off too soon. Larry Taylor, an Ohio Ford dealer owner, is concerned that 2012 Fusions won't be moving off the lots with customers waiting till September for the 2013 model.

 

In my opinion, the Fusion kind of had to come out at Detroit, regardless of its on-sale date. NAIAS is the biggest U.S. show of the year and it's also the home show for the Big 3, therefore they want to show off their biggest new products, no? Also, some comments make good points about stopping people not just buying current Fusions, but also current CamCord, Malibu etc...

 

What are your thoughts?

We're already half way through February and don't know about the rest of you but time seems to be moving quickly,

I think over the summer driving months, Ford can ofer great discounts of current Fusion and milk it for all its worth..

Come September, the new model will probably roll in with the outgoing model selling its head off....

[MKII]

Rather than start a new topic I'll post this here.

 

Left Lane News wrote an article suggesting that Ford might have shown the Fusion off too soon. Larry Taylor, an Ohio Ford dealer owner, is concerned that 2012 Fusions won't be moving off the lots with customers waiting till September for the 2013 model.

 

In my opinion, the Fusion kind of had to come out at Detroit, regardless of its on-sale date. NAIAS is the biggest U.S. show of the year and it's also the home show for the Big 3, therefore they want to show off their biggest new products, no? Also, some comments make good points about stopping people not just buying current Fusions, but also current CamCord, Malibu etc...

 

What are your thoughts?

 

Ford N.A. should be more aggressive and show its confidence and offer some special edition Fusions to celebrate its last year of production.

With 3 different engine choices Ford could offer some uniquely spec'd 2.5 ,3.0 & 3.5 editions. This type of marketing can be much more

profitable then doing the predictable heavy discounting.

IMO special editions will keep the Fusion price point where it should be, instead of having a big drop on its last year production, and with the new launched Fusion buffer any sticker shock syndrome.

 

Ford Europe has already announced a Limited Edition Mondeo for example

Trend spec (which is your Fusion SE trim level) ......The Limited Edtion adds -

Navigator Touch Screen 7 "Integrated Bluetooth with Voice to Control System (V2C), alloy wheels 17", USB port, parking sensors front and rear, daytime running lights front and rear side LED, electrically folding mirrors, cruise control and roof rails (Wagon version.)

The Limited Edition Mondeo will be available in 1.6-liter TDCi engine (115hp) and 2.0 liter (140hp) and body 5 door hatch, sedan and wagon.

Limited Edition is available only for three months, February, March and April

Both engines have a 6-speed manual gearbox. The automatic dual-clutch PowerShift 6-speed is also available for TDCI 140hp

Edited February 12, 2012 by MKII

[Noah Harbinger]

To me, special editions reek of gimmickry, and cheapen the prestige of a product.

[fou_bleu]

To me, special editions reek of gimmickry, and cheapen the prestige of a product.

 

By all means, yes they do, but we're not talking about a Rolls-Royce here. Ford has to make special editions here in Aus just to keep the lots rotating! We really need a Mr Mulally over here ASAP IMO...

[MKII]

To me, special editions reek of gimmickry, and cheapen the prestige of a product.

 

So large cash incentives are a better way to go, as this does not cheapen the prestige of a product?

 

Adding value to the different trim lines with extra features surely must add to a vehicles perception of value & help hold any resemblance of long term residuals no?

 

This is my assumption, but would not this help assembly costs as well, pumping out the last years production of a vehicle with very set spec's?

Edited February 12, 2012 by MKII

[rkisler]

Rather than start a new topic I'll post this here.

 

Left Lane News wrote an article suggesting that Ford might have shown the Fusion off too soon. Larry Taylor, an Ohio Ford dealer owner, is concerned that 2012 Fusions won't be moving off the lots with customers waiting till September for the 2013 model.

 

In my opinion, the Fusion kind of had to come out at Detroit, regardless of its on-sale date. NAIAS is the biggest U.S. show of the year and it's also the home show for the Big 3, therefore they want to show off their biggest new products, no? Also, some comments make good points about stopping people not just buying current Fusions, but also current CamCord, Malibu etc...

 

What are your thoughts?

 

I think it's funny how leftlanenews based an article on a single quote from a handwringer.

 

The timing of the auto shows is fixed. There are four major shows in the U.S. with the most important for Ford being Detroit and LA. New York and Chicago also are a bit less important, but there are at least one or two intros planned for each show.

 

Ford introduced the Escape to LA in late November with production planned in late March. The Fusion previewed in Detroit in January with production in Aug/Sep?

 

If Ford had not introduced these vehicles at these shows, they would have missed a whole auto show cycle and would have headed into Job1 and public intro with absolutely no buzz. Buzz=sales and advertising dollars. It's not as if these products are being previewed 2-3 years ahead of time. Although not on topic, I also want to say that I am simply amazed at how tight-lipped Ford has become, particularly in this age of electronic gagetry and social media sharing. This discipline was always lacking in the past, but if you can hold your tongue, it makes the public intros of concepts and production vehicles have a lot more "shock value" and get reported more heavily Who reported ahead of time, for instance, that Fusion was going to have both HEV and PHEV versions?

 

Of course there is always an issue with the old product when the new one comes on board. In the "bad old days" Ford U.S. sometimes carried over the old product while introducing the new where the old one served as a price leader. Caused nothing but confusion and ripped out the support for the new model. So the issue this time with Fusion, as it always is, is to balance out the old model Fusion in a coherent manner.

 

Right now, the deals are already very good. Threre is a healthy rebate, and good incentives on leases. And some special pacakges. For instance, employee pricing with all incentives including re-up on Ford Credit lease and less than $1,500 down for a very well equipped 2.5l SEL Fusion is $169 a month for 27 months before taxes. This type of lease would enable the dealer to capture the lesee into a new Fusion in 2-years' time so even if the customer really wanted the new model, they might take this relatively low cost approach to wait (deanh would be much more the expert on this). Pricing of the new model Fusion inititally without rebates will encourage movement of the older stock. Fortunately the present Fusion is a pretty nice product -- safe, reliable, and reasonably fuel efficient -- and some customers might actually prefer the more conservative styling.

 

The other thing we don't know is how much of a production disruption Hermosillo will experience. I certainly haven't read anything about it. They are going from a Mazda-designed platform to and EAO-designed platform. The build order likely is very close, they are already making hybrids and MKZ, so that would indicate minimum tearup. There might be some period where the plant is down and production has to build back up on the new model. So inventories at the dealer will be worked off as the new model arrives.

 

I'm not concerned at all, just as I'm not concerned over balance out of the old model Escape.

[svtenthusiast]

Do you know what the reason was why they over balanced out the old Escape?

[rkisler]

Do you know what the reason was why they over balanced out the old Escape?

 

I'm sorry, my wording wasn't precise and as a consequence you might have misunderstood.

 

I should have said "I'm not concerned with the balance out of the old model Escape", not that I was concerned "over" the balance out which I think might have led to the confusion of "over balance". Ford will have flexibility on the Escape with KC going down and Louisville coming up, but there will be a limit as KC will experience a relatively major tearup to install the Transit (including a new stamping facility) which means they are probably anxious to get that job started.

Edited February 12, 2012 by Austin

[Pioneer]

(including a new stamping facility)

 

The Stamping facility shouldn't take too long. It's only one press line.

[V8-X]

My wife recently saw the MT article on the new Fusion (received copy of mag from my father-in-law). Her impressions were that it was a nice looking car, but not overly appealing or something she'd want to own. She liked the front (of course it's the best style trait this car has), but was unimpressed with the lack of design from the rear, and simply stated "something doesn't look right" from the profile picture.

 

Keep in mind she's not a car woman, but knows a car that she likes when she see's one. Example: She saw a new 2012 Flex Titanium EB (white with black roof) when we drove by the dealer yesterday and she feel in love. She's loves the new front clip on the Flex.

[RichardJensen]

My wife recently saw the MT article on the new Fusion (received copy of mag from my father-in-law). Her impressions were that it was a nice looking car, but not overly appealing or something she'd want to own. She liked the front (of course it's the best style trait this car has), but was unimpressed with the lack of design from the rear, and simply stated "something doesn't look right" from the profile picture.

 

Keep in mind she's not a car woman, but knows a car that she likes when she see's one. Example: She saw a new 2012 Flex Titanium EB (white with black roof) when we drove by the dealer yesterday and she feel in love. She's loves the new front clip on the Flex.

Ford's market share is basically one out of every 6 new cars. They used to be one out of four (heck, if you go back far enough they were better than 3 of 4).

 

The response to that, I think, is more polarizing design; you don't need middle-of-the-road styling in an industry this segmented, and in fact, it seems doubtful that any brand will ever be as popular as Ford and Chevy were from the 50s-90s.

[NickF1011]

My wife recently saw the MT article on the new Fusion (received copy of mag from my father-in-law). Her impressions were that it was a nice looking car, but not overly appealing or something she'd want to own. She liked the front (of course it's the best style trait this car has), but was unimpressed with the lack of design from the rear, and simply stated "something doesn't look right" from the profile picture.

 

Keep in mind she's not a car woman, but knows a car that she likes when she see's one. Example: She saw a new 2012 Flex Titanium EB (white with black roof) when we drove by the dealer yesterday and she feel in love. She's loves the new front clip on the Flex.

 

Different strokes for different folks. The fact that she "fell in love" with the Flex would make me think her judgments of styling are a bit out of the ordinary. Not necessarily wrong, but not what the majority might think either.

[V8-X]

Different strokes for different folks. The fact that she "fell in love" with the Flex would make me think her judgments of styling are a bit out of the ordinary. Not necessarily wrong, but not what the majority might think either.

Well, she loved the original Flex style, she just hadn't seen the recent update to it.

 

And I'll agree her tastes are slightly different, at least from mine. When we bought her Altima (04 MY purchased in 03), it was something different from all the other bland styled cars on the road, and not many Altima's were on the road yet. Now there are TONS of Altima's all over, and even her best friend recently purchased one. So I can't say her tastes are too much different than others based on the Altima sales figures over recent years. She just seems to know what she likes and dislikes, what style compromises she'd live with and what she couldn't.

Edited February 13, 2012 by V8-X

[omelet1978]

I have a one hundred total mile commute each day and with normal driving it ads up to about 40,000 miles a year. I might be moving and might have an even longer commute of 140 miles a day which will be ridiculous. I currently have a 2010 Fusion Sport which gets 18 city, 25 highway and with my drive it comes out to 21.5mph overall.

 

The 2013 Fusion Hybrid is 44 highway, 47 city. I usually drive around 80 to get to work. Agressive driving the first 20 miles as I leave the city and then cruise control the rest of the way. What kind of mileage should I expect out of the 2013 Fusion hybrid? I've heard that the actual mileage on the older Fusion hybrid isn't what the EPA numbers are.

[silvrsvt]

 

 

The 2013 Fusion Hybrid is 44 highway, 47 city. I usually drive around 80 to get to work. Agressive driving the first 20 miles as I leave the city and then cruise control the rest of the way. What kind of mileage should I expect out of the 2013 Fusion hybrid? I've heard that the actual mileage on the older Fusion hybrid isn't what the EPA numbers are.

 

My brother in law is getting about 39 MPG with mostly highway driving on his Fusion Hybrid...

 

 

 

 

[Kev-Mo]

Top engine is the 2.0L Ecoboost with 237 HP, ouch...Sonata is already pumping out 270...with it's I4, and every other one is already hitting 260+ easily..Camry, Mazda6, etc.

 

 

Ford is sandbagging and/or the others are lying! Toyota is famous for overstating power, they got in trouble for that a while back.

[Deanh]

Ford is sandbagging and/or the others are lying! Toyota is famous for overstating power, they got in trouble for that a while back.

I would say Hyundai is even a worse offender in stretching the truth.......

[stpatrick90]

Ford is sandbagging and/or the others are lying! Toyota is famous for overstating power, they got in trouble for that a while back.

 

I know Toyota has been in trouble for this in the past but when it comes to their 3.5L V6 that thing is a beast and if anything is probably underrated in experience. When I get the rare, rare chance of getting V6 Camry as a rental I find it sort of negates some of the terribleness of that car. If anything the 2.0L Turbo I4 in the Sonata/Optima is grossly overrated as that thing is a dog given its hp/tq ratings. For comparison sake, the 2.0L Turbo that was in the old Passat or that is in the CC is an absolute beast and it 'only' has 200 hp.

Edited February 21, 2012 by stpatrick90

[Biker16]

saw the Fusion in Chicago good looking car.

 

ford Seems to have figured out the concept of continuous improvment, as going from the focus to the escape to the fusion you see a pattern of carry over and improvments to the parts that are carried over. the button on the fusion for the trunk, was the same at the one onnthe escape but different from the Focus. while the stalks and some buttons were carried over from the Focus , other restyled to improve fuction or look while maintaining the basic function than competely new parts.

 

speaking of the escape, it is really nice. good room perfect size. I am very impressed. looking at the EScape and the C-max they are almost the same car, excpt for those differences that make the Escape a CUV, not an MPV.

Edited February 21, 2012 by Biker16

[MKII]

saw the Fusion in Chicago good looking car.

 

ford Seems to have figured out the concept of continuous improvment, as going from the focus to the escape to the fusion you see a pattern of carry over and improvments to the parts that are carried over. the button on the fusion for the trunk, was the same at the one onnthe escape but different from the Focus. while the stalks and some buttons were carried over from the Focus , other restyled to improve fuction or look while maintaining the basic function than competely new parts.

 

speaking of the escape, it is really nice. good room perfect size. I am very impressed. looking at the EScape and the C-max they are almost the same car, excpt for those differences that make the Escape a CUV, not an MPV.

 

Biker where you able to sit in the Fusion? If so can you give your thoughts on the quality, was it up to par to match the highend look of the exterior design language?

In photos I have seen of the Fusion interior, some elements don't look to live up to the premium image the exterior gives off.

[Biker16]

Biker where you able to sit in the Fusion? If so can you give your thoughts on the quality, was it up to par to match the highend look of the exterior design language?

In photos I have seen of the Fusion interior, some elements don't look to live up to the premium image the exterior gives off.

 

they were locked, i cannot speak for the interior.

 

My wife would love to have a C-max 7. she could not stop saying how disappointed she was.

[spotdog14]

Do we have any idea of the pricing yet? I saw on Edmunds (or something like that) that it would be priced between $19,000 and $45,000. I really hope the 45 number they are quoting is the electric. I just traded in my 2010 Fusion and really hope that I can get a similarly equipped 2013 Fusion for under 30k (I had an I-4 SEL w/o nav).