There has been a gaping hole in the mid-sized car segment from Ford with the loss of the Taurus a few years back. The public is really starting to notice the Fusion’s new Hybrid power plant system in comparison to the original introduction in 2006.
Ford officially released the Fusion Hybrid recently at the Los Angeles Auto Show late in 2008. The new Ford Fusion receives some of the best in-town gas mileage, that only a hybrid can get. Beating out the Toyota Camry by a large margin, and the economical Civic Hybrid by a hair; the Fusion Hybrid is ranked at 41 MPG in town driving. Thanks to an electric motor, the Ford can go up to 47 miles per hour. A bunch of Car Publications have used this method to get greater fuel economy than the EPA estimates.
The Fusion can help teach the driver which style of driving gets the best fuel economy. They have created an ingenious system which is built into the instrument cluster called the SmartGauge. A couple of different info categories are displayed on two screens next to the gauge cluster. The first monitor will indicate just how much gas is left and also how much energy is left in the battery pack. The second gauge tells which mode the car is in; electric or hybrid, and it also shows the RPM’s. This third gauge displays the output energy of the batteries and the engine. Additional power consumption and power to the wheels are shown in the last data screen. All data screens show fuel economy, fuel consumption history, an odometer, trip data, and coolant temperatures. Best fuel economy can be gauged through real time MPG information showing the driver which driving style is most efficient.
The nav screen shows the Hybrid Energy Flow data. This display will track the 5 modes of the Fusion’s Hybrid Powertrain which are the; electric drive, hybrid drive, electric boost, idle charging, and regenerative breaking.
Ford not only equipped the Fusion with an environmentally friendly drivetrain; they also used post-industrial yarns which are recycled into the seats of the Fusion Hybrid. The Prius and the Civic Hybrid are two of the most popular cars out today, its about time Ford designed a hybrid car.