Ford Isn't Very Good at Keeping Secrets About Its Electrified Fusion

Aaron Cole
by Aaron Cole

Look, this is pretty awkward. While nearly every auto journalist in the country has congregated in Dearborn, Michigan today for Ford’s annual Christmas party, we’re here at work pounding out stories about Camaro steering wheels and drinking cheap coffee. We weren’t invited to the party, it’s cool. We can both be adults about the sitch.

But according to various Twitter feeds — including the Wall Street Journal’s Detroit Bureau Chief John Stoll and WWJ’s Jeffrey Gilbert— Ford is talking battery packs and showing off a covered car that looks like a Fusion with a half-assed bed sheet covering it.

Oh, and there’s a plug running right into it, as if Kevin the Ford shop hand forgot to unplug the damn thing before letting a roomful of journalists snap pictures of it.

We get it, Ford. You’ve moved on.

The only mystery is the size of its battery. The Fusion already has a plug-in hybrid version of the Fusion, so are we looking at an all-electric version?

An all-electric Fusion seems entirely plausible — almost likely — considering that Ford spent the day talking about battery tech, ahem … without us. Or, it could be an update to the PHEV Fusion Energi, which could use a refresh, I suppose.

Whatever it is, it’ll make its debut in Detroit during the North American International Auto Show. We’ll be there too, covering Ford’s announcement because it’s cool, we’re both adults. You and I obviously grew apart, but we’ll still be a part of each other’s lives. Just not in the same way, I guess.

No really, Ford, I want you to be happy. I mean, I guess I wasn’t ready for pictures like this, but I guess it was bound to happen eventually. Yeah, no, I’ll be OK.

P.S. Hats off to this guy for comment of the day.

@johndstoll@mims And apparently it takes a month to charge

— Mark Miller (@MarkDMill) December 10, 2015

P.P.S. Why does this picture of the plug running from the Fusion remind me of my dog when she’s trying (poorly) to play “Hide and Seek”?

Aaron Cole
Aaron Cole

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  • Corey Lewis Corey Lewis on Dec 11, 2015

    I love when dogs try and play hide and seek, very cute. My family dog always thought he could hide behind a chair leg. And you say, "Oh where's Leo, can't see him!" Then he runs out and is so excited he fooled you. Figured that out on his own, nobody ever taught him how to hide and seek. He's too old and blind-ish/deaf to do it now at 15 years old. :(

  • Robert.Walter Robert.Walter on Dec 11, 2015

    I don't know if it's a lack of interest in how Ford plays the tease or not, but I found that I preferred the parts of the story and comments here about the dogs more than about the EV tease.

  • Varezhka I have still yet to see a Malibu on the road that didn't have a rental sticker. So yeah, GM probably lost money on every one they sold but kept it to boost their CAFE numbers.I'm personally happy that I no longer have to dread being "upgraded" to a Maxima or a Malibu anymore. And thankfully Altima is also on its way out.
  • Tassos Under incompetent, affirmative action hire Mary Barra, GM has been shooting itself in the foot on a daily basis.Whether the Malibu cancellation has been one of these shootings is NOT obvious at all.GM should be run as a PROFITABLE BUSINESS and NOT as an outfit that satisfies everybody and his mother in law's pet preferences.IF the Malibu was UNPROFITABLE, it SHOULD be canceled.More generally, if its SEGMENT is Unprofitable, and HALF the makers cancel their midsize sedans, not only will it lead to the SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST ones, but the survivors will obviously be more profitable if the LOSERS were kept being produced and the SMALL PIE of midsize sedans would yield slim pickings for every participant.SO NO, I APPROVE of the demise of the unprofitable Malibu, and hope Nissan does the same to the Altima, Hyundai with the SOnata, Mazda with the Mazda 6, and as many others as it takes to make the REMAINING players, like the Excellent, sporty Accord and the Bulletproof Reliable, cheap to maintain CAMRY, more profitable and affordable.
  • GregLocock Car companies can only really sell cars that people who are new car buyers will pay a profitable price for. As it turns out fewer and fewer new car buyers want sedans. Large sedans can be nice to drive, certainly, but the number of new car buyers (the only ones that matter in this discussion) are prepared to sacrifice steering and handling for more obvious things like passenger and cargo space, or even some attempt at off roading. We know US new car buyers don't really care about handling because they fell for FWD in large cars.
  • Slavuta Why is everybody sweating? Like sedans? - go buy one. Better - 2. Let CRV/RAV rust on the dealer lot. I have 3 sedans on the driveway. My neighbor - 2. Neighbors on each of our other side - 8 SUVs.
  • Theflyersfan With sedans, especially, I wonder how many of those sales are to rental fleets. With the exception of the Civic and Accord, there are still rows of sedans mixed in with the RAV4s at every airport rental lot. I doubt the breakdown in sales is publicly published, so who knows... GM isn't out of the sedan business - Cadillac exists and I can't believe I'm typing this but they are actually decent - and I think they are making a huge mistake, especially if there's an extended oil price hike (cough...Iran...cough) and people want smaller and hybrids. But if one is only tied to the quarterly shareholder reports and not trends and the big picture, bad decisions like this get made.
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