Ford Fusion to Leave Sedan Legacy Behind for Crossover Success
Ford’s latest bold move behind the Fusion name an effort to encourage fans to make the jump to crossovers.
Right now, you can go to any Ford dealership and find quite a few Fusions next to the Mustangs, F-150s, and Expeditions on the lot all waiting to go to a good home. The Fusion continues to be favorite among those who prefer sedans over crossovers and SUVs with a blue oval badge. However, the sedan’s days are numbered, as Ford recently announced it was bowing out of the car market—aside from the Mustang—over the next few years in favor of said crossovers and SUVs.
That said, the Fusion name will live on, even as its legacy as a sedan will soon draw to a close. Bloomberg says Ford has plans to attach the popular brand onto a sport wagon soon after the 2020s begin.
Using the same platform as the outgoing sedan, the new Fusion sport wagon will be aimed at the Subaru Outback and similar crossovers. Though the name was set to be dropped along with the sedan at first, dealers like Rhett Ricart of Columbus, Ohio have pushed Ford to retain the name in order “to play on that brand equity” Ford spent “hundreds of millions of dollars” building up since the first Fusions rolled off the line in the mid-2000s. Ford representative Mike Levine agrees with the assessment, stating the company will “likely continue to use the name because of its awareness, positive imagery and value with consumers.”
The next phase for the Fusion follows in the footsteps of its sibling, the Focus. The latter will leave its hatchback roots behind for crossover success beginning in 2019, when the first new Focus crossovers will leave the line in China. Both moves are part of Ford’s efforts to keep their customer base from leaving the Blue Oval behind for crossovers and SUVs from the likes of Honda, Toyota, and Subaru. Per the company’s president of global markets, Jim Farley, the new Focus and Fusion crossovers would “give customers the utility benefits without the penalty of fuel economy.”
