Ford’s Hybrid Fusion a Bright Light Coming Out of Detroit

Articles — By forcechange on December 26, 2008 5:02 am

Lately, the most progressive product to come out of Detroit is the marketing campaign for the planned electric Chevy Volt that may or may not eventually be built, and may or may not eventually work.

Fortunately, it appears that Ford may actually deliver a modern, efficient (and real) car next year.  The new Ford Fusion hybrid, is slated to go on sale in the spring of 2009.  The car has been certified by the EPA to get 41 mpg/city and 36 mpg/highway, with a combined rating of 39 mpg.

This will make the Fusion hybrid the third most efficient widely owned car on the road, after the Toyota Prius (46 mpg combined) and Honda Civic hybrid (42 mpg combined).

The Fusion hybrid also has some new technological developments.  Specifically, the car’s electric power train uses a smaller nickel-metal hydride battery that will produce 20% more power than earlier models, which will allow the car to accelerate to 47 mph before needing help from its gas engine.

The car is being built in Mexico and will have a MSRP of around $27,000.  However, this will be $8,000 more than the non-hybrid Fusion, which gets 20 mpg/city and 28/highway.  The Fusion hybrid will cost $1,500 more than the ’09 Chevy Malibu hybrid.