Ford is on a roll with the new Fusion. The new Fusion Hybrid gets better gas mileage than the Camry Hybrid and now the 4-cylinder Fusion officially gets the highest mpg in its class.
The EPA has officially certified the four-cylinder Fusion at 34 mpg on the highway and 23 mpg in the city. Those numbers beat all the Fusion's competitors (Camry, Accord, Altima, Malibu, etc.).
The Fusion S is powered by a 175 horsepower 2.5L engine that is mated to a six-speed transmission.
The 2010 Ford Fusion will be on sale this spring.
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2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid Officially Gets 41 MPG
PRESS RELEASE:
FORD FUSION TOPS TOYOTA CAMRY, HONDA ACCORD AGAIN WITH BEST-IN-CLASS 34 MPG 4-CYLINDER MODEL
DETROIT, Jan. 9, 2009 – The Ford Fusion is now America's most fuel efficient mid-size sedan for both hybrid and conventional gasoline models.
Ford announced today that new four-cylinder Ford Fusion S has been certified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency at 34 mpg on the highway and 23 mpg in the city – beating both the gasoline-powered Camry and Honda Accord models. The news follows certification of the Ford Fusion Hybrid at 41 mpg rating in the city and 36 mpg on the highway, topping the Toyota Camry hybrid by 8 mpg in the city and 2 mpg on the highway.
"Take your pick: Whether you want a gas-powered or hybrid mid-sized sedan, the new Fusion offers the best fuel economy in America," said Barb Samardzich, Ford's vice president of Powertrain Engineering. "We promised to offer best-in-class or among the very best fuel economy with every new vehicle we introduce, and we are making good on that pledge with hybrids, new high-tech gasoline engines, new six-speed transmissions and other fuel efficient technologies."
The 2010 Ford Fusion fuel economy certification was conducted at Ford's testing laboratories in Allen Park, Mich. The Ford Fusion S and the base-level Mercury Milan, both powered by a new 2.5-liter Duratec 4-cylinder engine mated to a fuel efficient six-speed automatic transmission, will carry an EPA label of 34 mpg for highway driving and 23 mpg in the city when they go on sale this spring.
The latest news on Fusion joins other Ford fuel economy leaders, including:
The Ford Focus with 2.0-liter 4-cylinder engine and manual transmission delivers 35 mpg on the highway, 5 mpg better than the Toyota Corolla's 2.4-liter 4-cylinder engine and 2 mpg better than the Honda Fit's 1.5-liter 4-cylinder engine, both also with manual transmissions.
The all-new 2009 Ford F-150 – which just recently was named Motor Trend magazine's Truck of the Year – achieves 3 mpg more than the Toyota Tundra pickup on the highway and 1 mpg better in the city with its 4.6-liter V-8 engine, compared to Toyota's 4.7-liter V-8. The F-150's larger 5.4-liter V-8 achieves 2 mpg better on the highway than the Tundra's larger engine.
The 2009 Ford Escape with new 2.5-liter 4-cylinder engine achieves 28 mpg on the highway, the same as Toyota's RAV4 and 1 mpg better than the Honda CR-V, both with 4-cylinder engines, too.
The Ford Expedition achieves 20 mpg on the highway, beating Toyota Sequoia's 4.7-liter V-8 engine by 3 mpg and its 5.7-liter V-8 by 1 mpg.
"We've done it in the heart of the truck segment with the new 2010 Ford F-150, and now we've done it in the heart of the car segment with Fusion," Samardzich said. "We understand how important fuel economy is to customers, and Ford is committed to delivering leadership. The great news is that our significant investment in fuel efficiency leadership is going to continue to pay off with every new vehicle launch."
Fuel Economy Leadership Priced Right
Ford has announced pricing for the new 2010 Fusion. The fuel-economy leading Fusion S with the six-speed automatic transmission features a base price of $20,870, plus destination and delivery charges.
Fusion also offers more engine choice than Camry and Accord, with two V-6 engine options – the 240-horsepower 3.0-liter flex-fuel V-6 and the 263-horsepower 3.5-liter Duratec V-6 engine. The 3.0-liter V-6 models start at $23,760.
The base price of the all-new Ford Fusion Hybrid is $27,270.
The new Fusion builds on the strong quality reputation of the current model, which has gained important third-party accolades, and will offer class-exclusive features, including Ford SYNC®, SIRIUS TravelLink™, BLIS™ (Blind Spot Information System) with Cross Traffic Alert and Sony®-branded audio.
Comments (13)
Have to give credit to Ford, they are the one Detroit entity that really seems to be going the right direction.
The new fusion getting 23/34 is even comparable to even the civic, which is rated at 25/36.
As stated in the article, the Focus does very well gas efficient wise (24/35 compared to the corolla 26/35 and civic 25/36), and offers a good value with the sync. Shame that it is ugly as they come, but hopefully with the new euro focus coming, it will fix that issue. If they can improve the mpg to something like 27/38 or even 40 on the hwy (doesn't chevy claim the cruze gets around 40?), then they will really be in a good position.
Still have not heard any numbers on the mpg for the gasoline variant of the Verve though. Something like 27/35 would be ideal to compete with the Yaris.
Posted by Garret | January 10, 2009 10:37 AM
Posted on January 10, 2009 10:37
26/35 for the Corolla? I really want to see the test they are using for these cars. Maybe it's a little to realistic. I drive fairly hard and the lowest I have ever gotten out of my Corolla is 28, and average closer to 31-32. Hwy I have seen as high as 38....
My car was rated at 29/39 (before the new rating system), which is pretty much were it falls....
Posted by Brain | January 10, 2009 12:36 PM
Posted on January 10, 2009 12:36
@Brian
Those are the new standards used. It takes into consideration harder acceleration, faster HWY speed, liberal use of A/C, and colder temps.
My Sentra is rated 25/33 under the new tests, and I have never seen lower than 34mpg on the highway (and that is going 80mph while -25c out). That being said, I live in Canada, so during the winter they add anti-freeze to the gas which does lower mileage a bit, combined with winter tires and cold startups, the figures do start to become more realistic. I still pull off about 30mpg average, but in the summer it is usually closer to 34.
Right now If I go 62mph (100km/h), I'll get about 35/36 mpg, but in the summer doing that speed it is usually closer to 39.
Posted by Garret | January 10, 2009 12:46 PM
Posted on January 10, 2009 12:46
Good job Ford, hopefully you can kill off GM.
Posted by zippy | January 10, 2009 1:02 PM
Posted on January 10, 2009 13:02
Good news for Ford and Ford fans.
If you want a laugh, read the review of the Malibu Hybrid in the the new Car&Driver hybrid comparison where they ranked the Fusion Hybrid number one.
"The engine shuts down when you brake to a halt, then restarts with inappropriate violence when you lift off the brake pedal."
Posted by Noya | January 11, 2009 12:16 AM
Posted on January 11, 2009 00:16
Ford is truly turning itself around. Good job. Out of the big 3 I always had the most faith in Ford that one American automaker would truly turn itself around and lead the way of quality Americna craftmanship. For the longest time the big 3 did nothing but put a black eye on that rep and now it seems like at least for one American automaker that they are starting to go back to that. Who knows at this rate maybe the Ford family owned Detriot Lions may make the playoffs next year, LOL.
Posted by SteelCity1981 | January 11, 2009 12:28 AM
Posted on January 11, 2009 00:28
no surprise for me. ford is doing good in europe and fairly in asia.
aside from the fact that they own mazda which does well too.
Posted by adrian | January 11, 2009 2:14 AM
Posted on January 11, 2009 02:14
Remember car get better mileage as they age. Our 2007 Camry I4 when new was doing good to get 25mpg, no better than my v6 Ranger. But now with over 40,000 on the Camry it is averaging 32mpg.
This has always been true, so it can be hard to compare your broken in car to brand new models.
Posted by Tom T | January 11, 2009 5:40 AM
Posted on January 11, 2009 05:40
I am liking the comments about how Ford is the only one of the big three that should survive. GM just has to drop the new 2.4L DI in the Malibu and the 3.0L V6 HF and it is back on top.
Quick run down:
Ford Escape 2.5L (same engine in the 2010 Fusion)
170 hp
20/28
2010 Equinox 2.4L
180 hp
21/30
Ford Escape 3.0L (same engine in the 2009 and 2010 Fusion)
240 hp
18/26
2010 Equinox 3.0L
255 hp
18/25
Next step above that is the 3.6L DI HF used in the CTS. 304 hp and 17/26 MPG. The 3.5L in the current Taurus gets 18/28 MPG making 263 hp, same engine going into 2010 Fusion. The detuned 3.6L going into the LaCrosse gets 280 hp and should be able to match or beat those MPG figures. Ford isn't pushing ahead, merely playing catch up.
GM should have dropped the old 2.4L since the LAP engine gets 155 hp and 150 ft-lb of torque. Not much less the the current 2.4L, but it delivers class leading MPG Cobalt and G5 XFE.
Posted by Avatar | January 11, 2009 9:26 AM
Posted on January 11, 2009 09:26
I hope Ford has spent as much energy improving its service department and customer service. I am impressed by the Fusion,almost enough to buy one,but bad Ford customer service in the 90's kills the urge.
Posted by Patrick | January 11, 2009 4:24 PM
Posted on January 11, 2009 16:24
You can see from the last couple years that Ford is finally realizing that fuel economy AND quality are needed to be a winner in the automotive industry today. It only takes one bad year to ruin a decade of good reputation.
Another decade like these past couple years and Ford can begin making commercials like the current Honda commercials.
Posted by b2man | January 11, 2009 11:56 PM
Posted on January 11, 2009 23:56
ford still sucks
Posted by prax | January 12, 2009 8:47 AM
Posted on January 12, 2009 08:47
Kudos to Ford. It looks to be having success in at least TRYING to make the right moves.
Posted by kw | January 12, 2009 8:58 AM
Posted on January 12, 2009 08:58