Ford Hopes Fusion Hybrid Can Help Remake Brand

Real-World Fuel Economy Isn't Stellar And Low Gas Prices Reduce Savings
By JOSEPH B. WHITE

The 2010 Ford Fusion hybrid is the kind of car that President-elect Barack Obama and many members of Congress want Detroit's auto makers build. But consumers may not fully appreciate this car and others like it without a lot of effort.
Ford is promoting the Fusion hybrid, which goes on sale this spring, as "America's most fuel efficient mid-size car" with a government mileage rating of 41 miles per gallon in the city and 36 on the highway.
That claim depends on what you mean by "mid-size car." The Toyota Prius is classed by the Environmental Protection Agency as a "mid-size" car, and it's rated at 48 city, and 45 highway. Ford's view is that the Fusion should be compared to other partially-electrified family sedans, such as the Toyota Camry hybrid, rated at 33 city/34 highway, the Nissan Altima hybrid, at 35 city, 33 highway, or the 2009 Chevy Malibu hybrid, rated at 26 city, 34 highway.

The current Prius is a compact car on the outside, but its interior volume qualifies it as "midsize." A Toyota spokesman says the company may ask Ford to clarify its claim against the Prius. Toyota plans to unveil its next generation Prius -- larger and more efficient -- at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit next week.
The Fusion also isn't precisely made in America. Ford does much of the engineering for the car and its hybrid system in Michigan, but Fusions are assembled in Mexico. The Fusion is just one example of the conundrum facing someone eager to respond to our economic woes by buying an "American" car.
But Ford's real challenge will be educating consumers about how to get the most value from their high-tech cars, and how the real-world benefits will stack up against the hyperbole of EPA mileage stickers and corporate marketing campaigns. This is a problem confronting all auto makers attempting to market advanced technology vehicles -- including Toyota and General Motors Corp.
The collapse of gasoline prices is making life difficult for hybrid car marketers -- even as Washington and the new administration are calling on Detroit to use newly granted federal loans to produce more. Ford hasn't received any federal loans, but has asked for a government sponsored back-up line of credit.

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Out in the real world, sales of hybrid cars "are dramatically off in the last 60 days," says Jim Farley, Ford's group vice president of marketing and communications. Many customers are still interested in an efficient four-cylinder car, he says. The tide of demand for hybrids prompted by this summer's $4 a gallon gas has ebbed -- just in time for the arrival of the extra hybrids ordered up for production when gas prices were high. For most potential buyers, the premium they'll pay for the hardware and engineering hours packaged into a hybrid car will take years to recover at the fuel pump barring a sharp increase in prices.
Ford made an early edition of the Fusion hybrid available to me for a test drive around the Christmas holiday. When it goes on sale, the hybrid Fusion will start at around $27,000, and will have plenty of bells and whistles -- mine had a backup camera and satellite radio -- to cushion the $3,500 or so price boost tied to the hybrid system. My test was well short of a proper evaluation of the sort made by Consumer Reports, but more extensive than the test drives most people would take at a dealership. My only reference for gas mileage was the on board mileage computer -- which is a prominent feature of the car's high-tech, multi-menu LCD dashboard display.
Ford says some automotive journalists who've tested the Fusion hybrid have managed to get 50 miles a gallon in the car. That wasn't my experience.
For my first run in the car, I made a 3.5 mile trip to the grocery store on a frigid Michigan day. The computer said I got 19.8 miles to the gallon, and my "long-term" fuel economy was 28 miles per gallon.
During a 5.1 mile trip the day after Christmas I averaged 31 miles per gallon. Better, but not spectacular. A 1.8 mile run for milk delivered worse numbers -- 18.2 miles per gallon. By this point, my long-term fuel economy was down to just under 25 miles per gallon, according to the computer.

I also drove Fusion on the route of my home to office commute in the Detroit area. The first of those round trips clocked in at 36.1 miles per gallon over 42.6 miles, and boosted my long-term fuel economy to 28.7 miles per gallon. The next day, I got 32.2 miles per gallon on the way to work, and 32.8 miles per gallon on the way home. My long-term fuel economy rose to 29.8 miles per gallon -- not bad but not what the EPA sticker promised, either.
After I reported these results to a Ford spokesman, I got a visit from Praveen Cherian, the program leader for the Fusion hybrid project, who lives not far from me in suburban Detroit.
Mr. Cherian explained that the hybrid system won't deliver great mileage on short trips during cold weather. The batteries need to be warmed up to deliver their power boost efficiently. Meanwhile, the gas engine is working hard to heat the exhaust catalyst so that the car's emissions stay within legal limits. My results under cold conditions weren't surprising, he said.
Then, Mr. Cherian rode shotgun while I drove and he explained how to take maximum advantage of the hybrid Fusion's electric propulsion system. (See a Ford video on maximizing hybrid mileage.)
The Fusion hybrid is a different driving experience. The car's four-cylinder gasoline engine usually doesn't fire up when you turn the ignition key. Instead, the car remains silent. This puzzled me the first time out, and I kept re-starting the car. Finally, I tried just putting the car into reverse, and sure enough it backed out of my driveway in all-electric mode.
The Fusion also shuts down the gas motor at stoplights, and it can creep forward at intersections or in parking lots on power from just the nickel-metal hydride batteries hidden behind the back seat.
Mr. Cherian showed me how to take the Fusion's electric drive capability to the next level. Driving the car at speeds below 47 miles per hour, you can ease off on the accelerator, and put the car in "EV" mode -- I knew when this happened thanks to a display in the dashboard screen to the left of the speedometer.

Once you get the car running in EV mode, a light touch to the accelerator can keep it cruising on batteries for several minutes. Another computer-generated virtual gauge will reward you by showing that the car's mileage is above 60 miles per gallon, on a running basis.
Thanks to Mr. Cherian's coaching, my long-term mileage after my next few trips with the car moved up above 32 miles per gallon
Wide variations in real world fuel consumption among hybrid owners aren't a new issue. Toyota has been dealing with underwhelmed Prius owners for years, although many Prius owners love their cars and some report getting fuel efficiency above 50 miles per gallon.
Mr. Farley says Ford is working on extensive dealer education programs to train salespeople to explain how hybrid systems work. That training is part of a larger effort by Ford to use the Fusion hybrid to remake the image of Ford cars in the eyes of consumers who now reject them on the assumption that they are low-tech and inefficient compared to rival brands.
Image building is the real goal of the hybrid Fusion -- not profits or sales volume. Ford expects that sales of hybrid Fusions and Mercury Milan sedans will run about 10% to 15% of total production, Mr. Farley says.
Ford's future will hinge on whether consumers notice the fruits of a fortune in borrowed money the company is spending to launch new six-speed automatics and a new generation of efficient engines across its model lineup, starting later this year. This new hardware isn't as flashy as hybrids -- but it will save more gasoline in the long run than a few thousand hybrids.
Mr. Farley says Ford's new models should make it the leader or tied with the leaders in fuel economy in the important midsize sedan, compact crossover utility vehicle and large pickup truck markets -- the high volume parts of the U.S. market. The Fusion hybrid's real mission is to call attention to this broader makeover.
"The most important thing," Mr. Farley says, "is that millions of people think of Ford as a fuel efficient car maker."
Send comments about Eyes on the Road to joseph.white@wsj.com.