Stop the presses. Ford’s Fusion sedan, a member of the passenger car crowd Ford sentenced to death last year, will at least outlive its non-Mustang stablemates.
While American-market Focus and C-Max production has already dried up, followed soon by the Taurus and Fiesta, Ford was never clear on when exactly the Fusion midsizer would bite the dust. The exact date of its impending death remains a mystery, but there’s now assurances from Ford that Fusions will continue rolling into dealers until at least the 2020 model year.
After seeing production data for a 2020 Fusion, CarsDirect sought confirmation from Ford. Company spokesperson Sam Schembari replied in the affirmative. Yes, there’ll still be Fusions on shopping lists for the 2019 and 2020 model years.
Whether Ford builds a run of 2021 models — the target year for Ford’s car cull completion — remains to be seen.
CarsDirect notes consumers still have access to healthy incentives on remaining Focus models, as well as the Fiesta (the only Ford car model to end 2018 with a sales increase). For midsize shoppers, the site points out that lease deals on 2019 Fusion hybrid models are far more attractive than that of their cheaper, gas-only counterparts, which isn’t news to Adam Tonge, who spent no shortage of time scanning Detroit-area Fusion Hybrid ads the other night. The Midwest seems to be brimming with cheap Fusion Hybrids.
Assuming you’re in the market for a mainstream sedan, it’s worth noting that all 2019 Fusions come with the automaker’s Co-Pilot360 suite of driver assist features as standard equipment. Second-from-base SE models ditch the old 2.5-liter in favor of a turbocharged 1.5-liter, while Energi plug-in variants extend their electric driving range by 4 miles.
Unlike its passenger car stablemates, the Fusion’s two hybrid variants deliver green cred that should hold the company over until new hybrids and EVs come online starting in 2020. It’s also possible that, after that date, the Fusion name won’t fade away. Rumors exist of the nameplate affixing itself to a crossover-like vehicle aimed at Ford car faithful — rumors Ford hasn’t exactly denied.
Despite the ongoing collapse of the country’s passenger car market, the Fusion remains the best-selling car nameplate in Ford’s stable. Its 173,600 U.S. sales in 2018 represent a 17.2 percent decline from a year prior.
[Images: Ford]
Ford will be foolish to discontinue the Fusion as it shares chassis with some of it’s SUV’s and the cost to update it are not significant. 173,000 in sales is a significant number and the Fusion/hybrid helps Ford meet it’s fuel economy standards given massive SUV explosion.
I agree. I’d continue to build the current Fusion as long as Ford can sell enough to justify the manufacturing capacity. The product development and tooling is sunk cost. They manage to sell a significant percentage of Fusions as hybrids which should be helping them with CAFE.
“I’d continue to build the current Fusion as long as Ford can sell enough to justify the manufacturing capacity”
Pretty sure that’s exactly what they’re doing.
The platform it’s on is to be replaced with the next-generation Edge, etc.
SUVs have separate and different CAFE standards and accounting. Cars are by themselves. Yes you can trade credits between cars and trucks but there is a limit to that and the fact is the high car standards combined with the low car volume means there won’t be much excess to offset non-compliant trucks. Do expect to see the Fusion Hybrid and Energi powertrains or a derivative of them in the Escape, Transit Connect and if it sees the light of day the Transit Connect based pickup in the not so distant future.
I love my fusion. I am so glad to hear until 2020. I feel safe going thru the snow by myself and it goes right through…
Continuing to offer a model that doesn’t show a profit, as Ford claims is the case with the Fusion, would be the foolish part. Of course that begs the question: how can Toyota, Honda and Nissan make profitable sedans when Ford cannot?
They don’t have the legacy costs that Ford does, and are more efficient manufacturers. Plus since they don’t have a bazillion F150 sales to profit from, they HAVE to make money on sedans. Ford was able to get lazy.
And ultimately, it’s not that the don’t make a profit on sedans, it’s that they don’t make ENOUGH profit, compared to trucks. One would think some profit would be better than no profit due to no sales, but Wall Street disagrees. It’s all a BS numbers game.
Americans think big. Not making enough profits is equal to not making any profits at all. Japanese automakers are very effective. Japanese pick-up any small thing they can because of lack of resources (e.g. compare recycling Japan compared to US). Thousand small things in total may give you the bigger thing than one big thing. That’s why American companies are always on loosing end when it comes to competing with Japanese (Xerox?).
But Japanese it looks like moving in the same direction. E.g. former TV makers like Sharp, Toshiba, Sanyo, etc are now essentially designed and made by Taiwanese or Chinese companies.
E.g. “In 2015, the Chinese company Hisense bought the rights to sell its TVs under the Sharp brand name in the U.S. Hisense also bought Sharp’s TV-manufacturing facility in Mexico” and “Foxconn takes over Japan’s electronics giant Sharp (2016)”.
I found this link recently. There aren’t many companies left making TVs, but lots of re-badges with well known brands that don’t exist any longer aside from the brand name.
https://www.consumerreports.org/lcd-led-oled-tvs/tv-brands-arent-always-what-they-seem/
Who says their sedans are profitable? I’d wager that the Rav4 and Tacoma are Toyota’s profit makers, not Camry and Corolla.
Toyota doesn’t build unprofitable cars – especially not high volume cars. This is the company that cut its losses and killed a mid-size crossover rather than spend money correcting its shortcomings.
I dont know Toyota’s profit breakout, but I also do not think they are actively losing money on the Camry and Corolla.
Not sure how profitable anybodies sedans actually are. However, when the mainstream aren’t buying sedans, only true sedan fans buy them, and that’s generally imports.
Opposite case for trucks and truck based SUVs, it’s usually domestics.
The market in contention from both sides are crossover SUVS, everyone has a piece of that pie and wants to grow it.
Agreed.
And I think in the end, they’ll notice that VW and Toyota and Honda haven’t given up on sedans–and Ford will be too scared not to remain in that market.
Anyway, the BEV version needs to be called Cold Fusion.
VW, Toyota and Honda sedan sales are falling sharply as well. Their breadwinners are CUVs, period.
Great name. Funnily enough, Toyota would likely be the objectors.
They put up a lab in Southern France in 1990 and hired those two cold fusion “inventors” to continue research for practical results. After two million beakersful of water have been stirred, lightning has not struck yet.
http://ecat.org/2012/lenr-and-toyota/
The Fusion/Mondeo platform will continue on, just not in North America.
The cost to manufacturer and sell the Fusion in North America is not worth it to Ford, simple as that. They rather build crossovers in place of it’s production.
Why should Ford keep building a sedan it’s losing money on? Should the market change, it won’t be difficult for Ford to reintroduce the Fusion since it’s still sold internationally.
Yay.
With the incentives, its becoming a very interesting deal. Ford really brought it into the current era with the newly added electronic safety features (Co-pilot 360). The end of the year cash on the hood was impressive. $3K to $6K off sticker on a 2019 was very tempting. Unfortunately, my current lease runs through May. The model that’s most attractive to me is the Hybrid SE. Only disadvantage is loss of some trunk room. SE has power seats on both sides, but lost previous years’ heated seat function. Reliability and resale may not be up to Accord/Camry levels, but with that kind of cash on the hood my budget will welcome it. Ford was smart to give Fusion another year of life.
No real surprise here. The canceled replacement was due for 2021 MY which means the current one was slated to run until 2020. The Fusion is profitable currently. The reason it was canceled was because Ford didn’t think it could continue at the volume needed to remain profitable for the run of the next generation.
A couple of other reasons to keep it going it to keep both the final assembly plant and the hybrid transmission plant running. I expect they will have a new vehicle for the final assembly plant so might as well keep it running at a profit even if it is small if they have a new product in the pipeline. They also want to keep the FWD Hybrid transmission plant online. They have product coming that will need a FWD hybrid transmission to meet those goals of xx electrified vehicles by 2022.
The Fiesta’s boost was most likely due to the fact that there was limited availability of the Focus in the later part of the year.
Ford does not disclose profitability by model – any comment on this topic is pure conjecture.
Bring me a Fusion Sport wagon, with or without cladding and/or a lift kit, and all will be forgiven.
Same for me, hold the cladding, sil vous plait.
Totally digging that idea..
Supposedly half of Buick’s Regal sales are the TourX.
“as well as the Fiesta (the only Ford car model to end 2018 with a sales increase).”
Hertz, et al, filling their fleets with Ford subcompacts before the well dries up?
I think it has to do more with Currentincentives. You can get one here for around 11 grand with an auto right now. Our dealership has nicely equipped SE service loaners with 2000 miles and still with the new car warranty for that price. I got my ST last time they did this for around 17k. I almost got one of those service loaners for my kid before just paying cash for a used leaf.
A service loaner is a used car. But I agree that they are a screaming deal slightly used. I’ve seen a number of 2017 Titanium Hybrids still under the original 3/36 for under $16k.
You can get new s models for 11k though with the auto though.
Ford has severely limited sales to rental fleets to improve profit margins. I think the bigger reason the Fiesta got a bump was due to the low Focus inventory near the end of the year which is when the Fiesta sales started to climb.
Quite the opposite, at least in the case of the Fusion. I rent almost weekly from National. A Fusion is always available on the Emerald Aisle. Most of the time they are Hybrids, and Titanium trim.
I rented approx 50 vehicles from National in 2018 and only one was a Fusion Hybrid. Compared to the early 2010’s you hardly seen Ford’s on their lots at all these days. Plenty of Nissan and Hyundai though…
6″ of lift and the Fusion would be guaranteed 300K annually until Jesus returns.
Fusion wagon would – aka Outback or I think as Ford calls it “Active”.
I’d take a serious look at one especially if the powertrain options were similar to the current Fusion.
Now driving a 2020 Fusion hybrid and enjoying it. Hope they sneak and keep it up.
One of the finest cars ever by Ford. I always seek them when renting.
Fusion Hybrid is slow and Energy plugin is even slower. But they comprise most of Fusions bought in California. Pure gas powered ones are rare – not much choice in dealerships. Even rental ones are Hybrids (that’s how I know that they are slow). I own second Fusion Titanium in row. Not going to buy third one unless it is BEV at which point it will have different name and then Model 3 is very tempting.
I have the plug-in. I don’t think that speed is really much of an issue, but the loss of trunk space and spare tire keep it from being our car for family trips. We live in the city, and it’s nice avoiding gas stations. Haven’t been impressed with the lane keeping, but otherwise a pretty nice car (our second fusion).
I don’t know about the Fusion, but my C-Max Energi feels anything but slow. It claims 195 HP and a zero-60 time of under 8 seconds. That’s a similar time to my first non-turbo GTI. It’s an excellent powertrain that’s won me over completely.
Yeah, trunk is also issue even on the regular hybrid. That’s also weighted against buying hybrid. Volt would be ideal candidate but it is too small plus GM interior design.
My company has recently started buying these in large numbers as fleet vehicles. Not a bad car at all, and in reality probably the best company car I’ve ever driven, but like most modern sedans, a little tight inside for my tastes.
I wondered why Ford would cancel the Fusion. Tooling long paid for. I find it hard to believe Ford is not making any money on these if they are selling 173,000 even discounting these. Ford should just do like they did with the Crown Vic/Grand Marquis and Ranger just don’t change it and sell them till they no longer sell or when it no longer complies with safety and efficiency standards.
And nobody will buy them in 2020.
That’s a line of chit if I’ve ever heard one.
People are still buying the Fusion. I said when the sales drop off to where there is no profit or the Fusion cannot comply with safety and efficiency standards. The Crown Vic/Grand Marquis and Ranger had reached the point that it was not worth spending the money for complying with safety and efficiency standards for the amount of sales they brought in. If nobody buys the Fusion then it should be discontinued. Don’t know how much clearer I can state that.
Volume does not equal profit.
While true that “volume does not equal profit” there are other reasons to continue production. I was struck by the above mention of the goal to keep the hybrid transmission factory open.
In Los Angeles, here, there are a number of dealers who sell a lot of autos and not so many trucks. To my eye, they are moving a lot of fusions since their inventories are changing every month both in the number of cars they have to offer and in the colors/combinations they offer. (I have been looking at Fusions for the past month). With a falling selection of sedan models to offer the city dwelling, non-commercial buyer, I’ll bet dealers want to keep those Fusions. Those sales and service keep the lights on for dealers that aren’t moving a lot of those $50K F-150s.
My guess is that Ford Mismanagement figures that if they don’t have the Fusion their customers will just buy a (more profitable) Ford CUV instead and few will walk out to the Honda/Toyota/Kia etc to get that sedan.
Kodak also thought that if they do not make digital cameras customers will continue to buy film cameras. Boy were they wrong!
Since SUV/CUVs involve at least an incremental disadvantage in fuel economy (due to the increased ride height/drag factor), it is quite possible that not all buyers and carmakers will completely abandon sedans. The few makers who remain should then be able to make profits on them (unless those models sell far below today’s totals).
I love my Fusion, but would never invest buying a car due to be cancelled. I remember watching the resell value of my Intrigue plummet when oldsmobile was axed. I want to buy an American car, but it is becoming almost impossible. Even the current Malibu is probably not safe from getting culled. Maybe the American made Camry is the best alternative here.
I won’t “step up” to the either the Escape or Ecosport, which are getting poor reviews.
Have you considered stepping up to a Japan-made RAV4? Hottest seller right now. Sells even better than the Camry. Look at the first two digits of the VIN to distinguish between Japan-made (VIN JT….) and NA-made (VIN 2T….)
Who cares where car is made. I would rather buy Japan made Camry than American made. But I will not buy Camry anyway – too boring. I avoid them even if they are rental.
Having rented numerous 2012-2017 examples I sigh when they try getting me into the proverbial plastic hub cap LE 2.5. Just about anything else please I always tell the attendant.
I just spent some time in a rental Escape and was pleasantly surprised by it. Perfectly nice driving commuter car. I see them advertised for $12k-13k for the base model — not bad at all for this amount of money.
Just as a frame of reference, I think the Highlander is TERRIBLE. Steering, ride, throttle response, brakes, engine — all VERY poor. I would never want to own one.
Toyota simply cannot make a bad car.
“Toyota simply cannot make a bad car.”
What’s it like being a bot? Bennies? Insurance? Group tours?
“Toyota simply cannot make a bad car”
Yeaaah! It is a good global slogan for Toyota advertisements.
EBFlex–Do you really believe Ford is losing money on the Fusion? If they really were whey would they plan on extending it another year? If you are saying there are more profitable vehicles for Ford to make then yes I would agree. The tooling is paid off and if Ford cannot make a profit beyond labor, raw materials, advertising, and administration costs then Ford isn’t even trying. It is obvious from many of the comments that not everyone wants a truck, crossover, or suv.
highdesertcat–I could make the same argument that the CRV is one of the hottest sellers and hottest seller for Honda. My wife has a 2013 and I doubt that the Rav4 is a whole lot better. I would say both are good. My wife’s CRV is made in East Liberty, Ohio. I would also say the Accord and Civic are good cars as well. I don’t believe Toyota is the only manufacturer that makes good vehicles. There are other manufacturers that make good reliable vehicles besides Toyota.
I absolutely believe they are losing money on the Fusion and Lincoln Fusion.
I’m sure there is contractual agreements behind keeping the factory open until 2020. But to say they are making money is laughable. Ford didn’t predict this rejection of sedans by the public and got caught with their pants down in two separate ways. One by not predicting that sedans would not be desired and two by not having a sun compact crossover.
So they decided to end sedans and offer the astoundingly bad Ecosport for sale.
akear–The value of a vehicle just depends on how long you keep it. The longer you keep a vehicle the less the residual value matters. If you plan on keeping a vehicle for 5 years or more the value would be less important. 10 or more years you have basically gotten all your money out of a vehicle. The biggest depreciation occurs in the first 3 years. If you like the Fusion and you want a new one then buy one and keep it or run your current one a few more years and save your money for a new car in the future. Unless you keep a vehicle less than 5 years I wouldn’t worry. All vehicles depreciate.
When I’m at the rental counter and they say to me, “we have a Ford Fusion,” inside I’m going, “YES!”
Love the car, but like the Ford Edge I always step back and ask myself, “would I buy one,” and the answer is always no.
So for the Buy, Drive, Burn — I guess Fusion is strongly in the “drive” column for me.
People who own Fusions always seem pretty happy (I’ve known a few.)
There’s actually an early 30 something mother at my school on her second Fusion (a 1st gen and now a 2nd gen Titanium) and she loves hers. Always nice to see a Millenial woman with children in something other than a CUV.
The 2020 Fusion will be a game changer.
Compared to the best in class, Fusion is slow and thirsty. The 2.0EB is like 1 tick faster than a base 6/Accord, but an easy 30-40% thirstier and 200-300lb heavier. The hybrid is def in the second tier as well and not up to the pace or efficiency of the Camry/Accord green wagons. I guess the investment to reduce weight would never pay back… I’m sure if they kept this on the market sales would decline the full 50% off its 300Kish peak.
I have a 2013 Fusion Titanium and have been very happy with it. Bought in early 2014. Said before, when purchased I cross shopped the entire mid-size market and hands down the Ford was the most engaging vehicle. At the time there was a brand new Accord out there and Camry too as I recall. Both were milquetoast by comparison. Sonata/Optima – ha! Granted reviews are subjective to a degree but for me it was a simple decision once you sweep away the Honda/Toyota bias. Full disclosure, I previously drive an Accord.
Five years later my view has not changed. Unfortunately Ford’s view has changed. Their not continuing to refine the vehicle is probably why I won’t buy a last of the run. While there have been some updates I like there are others I don’t. The damn shifter “knob” is ridiculous. Still, if I could have a Sport model for cheap – I might buy.
Unfortunately, the design is aging and no longer looks as interesting to me subjectively speaking. I’ve driven 2 versions of this car, a 2013 SE and a 2017 S, both of which had the 2.5. I preferred the 2013 SE for interior aesthetics mostly and was not a fan of the rotary shifter in the ’17.
The car, at least in 2.5 litre guise makes quite a racket, but doesn’t feel like it’s putting down much power. And people say the current Mazda6 is loud.
Would it make sense for every manufacturer to have a sedan in the wings and on sale, maybe mid- to full-size so there is a choice between crossovers and non-crossovers? Seems that having a sedan on sale and being able to funnel the R&D money into 1 instead of 3-5 might make the profit on each unit more appealing. The cash cows can still be the CUVs and trucks, but sedan buyers wouldn’t then be left in the cold.
Maybe, but there aren’t many new vehicle designs that look good. It’s like we’re back in the 1980s.
I had a 2017 Rental SE with a moonroof and the 2.5 for an entire week while mine was getting collision damage fixed. The 2.5 was the single biggest thing I didn’t like about the car being rather noisy and not very powerful and it’s MPG was below expectations. Not a happy setup. I so wish I could find a 1.5T rental but every single one is a 2.5 up to current. Haven’t seen any 2019’s yet as those have the 1.5T as std on SE and SEL so maybe one of those will come along.
I kissed a Fusion and I liked it.
Actually, I rented one during a week-long trip to Tampa at the end of December. I wasn’t at all sure what to expect, but as it turned out I really liked the car. I found it a pleasant alternative to the “meh” styling that I feel characterizes the other cars in its class. I found myself thinking what a shame it was that Ford was going to stop making them and that I would be unable to buy one in a year or two when I’ll be in the market for a new vehicle. This is the best automotive news to come my way in a while. I sincerely hope that the Fusion continues to live beyond 2020.
I have noticed something strange about 2019 Fusions. So far each and every one has been a hybrid SE and nothing else. No base or SE gas models. No Sports no SEL. Is there a delay on the non hybrid 2019 Fusions?