L.A. Auto Show: Ford, now sane, delivers 700 miles per tank

With the biggest crowd of the first day at the L.A. Auto Show gathered around the Ford stand, waiting to see the 2010 Ford Fusion and Fusion Hybrid, music boomed over the public address system:

Yeah I was out of touch / but it wasn't because I didn't know enough / I just knew too much ...

There was something fitting about the event's theme song, "Crazy," by Gnarls Barkley.

Once the song stopped, North American head Mark Fields explained that though Ford might not have made the kind of cars people wanted to buy in the past, and might have made too many trucks and sport utility vehicles in favor of cars, things were changing. In fact, he insisted, the Fusion is exactly the kind of car people want to drive now. "These are challenging times in the industry, but what will power us through, very simply, is great cars."

Ford's sales are down 18% this year, so the company apparently hasn't been making exactly what the consumer has been yearning for up until now. "We've made tremendous progress in the last few years," Fields said.

With Ford's chief executive in Washington contending his company is nearly as bad off as General Motors and Chrysler, Ford's messaging might seem, well, a bit crazy. But if the Fusion is as good as Ford promises, it could very well be a step in the right direction. After all, the hybrid gets 39 mpg in the city, and, according to Fields, 700 miles on a tank of gas in city driving.

We at Up To Speed don't know of too many cars that can get that on two tanks of fuel.

-- Ken Bensinger

Photo: The 2010 Ford Fusion hybrid. Credit: Ford Motor Co.

For photos of production cars from the L.A. Auto Show, click here.

Comments

[matt]

Why isn't anyone talking about the 2009 Ford Fiesta ST which gets over 50mpg!!?? Oh yeah, because you can only purchase it in Europe. Off with your head Ford, sorry employees, but your management did you in.

[Paul]

What most do not understand is they could build a car that got better gas mileage if the american consumer did not care about safety. If they built it they would get slammed about it being a tin can death trap. Alot of the safety regulations and emmisions controlls that are now required in the automakers cars result in less MPG. Thats why many of the hybrids get the same mileage as some cars that were built in the past that were non hybrids. Why do you think Toyota has not come out with anything better than they have. Its not like the Prius gets much better than the Geo Metro 3 cyl car from the 80s.

[matt]

Yes Paul. The typical American consumer doesn't care about a lot of things: fuel economy, sustainability, environmental impact, smaller carbon footprint, breaking ties with oil conglomerates... but boy they sure do care about safety huh? And they must care a lot about trunk space, leg room, head room, luxury, excess, unnecessary waste and spending...

So until we all shape up the American auto companies will continue to make cars that do not make sense in tomorrows world. The typical American consumer is learning, the auto companies are frightened, all of them. Europe has one of the strictest CO2 regulatory system in place. Manufacturers and consumers are being taxed based on the amount of pollution they are contributing with their vehicles. VW and Toyota have a better track record with safety then Ford bar none. This has nothing to do with safety, it has everything to do with ignorance.