A prototype for what seems to be a Ford Fusion crossover wagon has leaked by way of Instagram. Whereas the Fusion was offered within the States solely as a sedan, it has been supplied in different variants abroad, the place it is called the Mondeo. Rumors have advised that the nameplate might return on a midsize crossover/wagon (a la the Buick Regal TourX or Subaru Outback), and this would possibly simply be it.
“Listen as a result of the photographs that you’re going to see beneath level to be the primary of the long run Ford Mondeo that can cease being a standard saloon and can turn into a mixture of crossover and household automobile,” @cochespias mentioned (translation approximate) within the accompanying put up.
It was photographed in what seems to be a service bay, so it is onerous to get a deal with on the prototype’s measurement or proportions. The entrance finish says “Edge” to our eyes, however the dramatic taper of the hatch makes it seem extra wagon-like than Ford’s current midsize crossover.
As you scroll by way of the pictures on the put up, issues get extra fascinating inside, the place an almost-full-width display screen steals the present. Since Ford is presently within the strategy of migrating towards the big, vertical display screen design that first debuted with the Mach-E electrical crossover, this go-wide technique looks as if a reasonably vital departure from the corporate’s present design tendencies. This might point out that we’re taking a look at a hand-built idea automobile relatively than one thing indicative of the ultimate manufacturing car. The beautiful blue sprint trim lends some extra credibility to this idea.
2020 introduced the top of manufacturing of the Fusion sedan. It was Ford’s final sensible mannequin offered right here with a trunk, and because the firm’s announcement that it was bailing on the sedan market, there was hypothesis that it could get replaced by an “Energetic” mannequin, which Ford has used to indicate lifted, vaguely rugged variants of its household haulers. Such an offshoot of the compact Focus already exists, and Ford was mulling bringing it state-side previous to the implementation of tariffs that made these plans cost-prohibitive.
What we’re seeing here’s a far cry from the prototypes first noticed greater than a 12 months in the past, which had been early mules working beneath crudely stretched Ford Focus our bodies. One mule was accompanied by a previous-generation Ford Escape, which supplied some context. Whereas the general roofline was nonetheless pretty low for a crossover, it boasted the lengthy wheelbase of a Fusion wagon to go together with its exaggerated experience top. That is extra chiseled,
The hypothetical Fusion Energetic might kill two birds for Ford, each carrying on the Fusion nameplate and offering a extra future-friendly alternative for the Flex, which managed to reside years longer than its early gross sales figures advised. As an added bonus, it ought to supply extra versatility than the midsize Edge, which affords little upside over the redesigned (however barely smaller) Escape.
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