Hooniverse Asks- Ford's New Fusion, Yay or Nay?

Yesterday at NAIAS, Ford introduced what is possibly the most important element of their product line up – the 2013 Fusion. Switching from a Mazda-sourced platform to one shared with the European Mondeo, the new car shows obvious styling influences from such existing cars as that Mondeo, Mitsubishi’s Lancer, and more interestingly, Aston Martin’s four-door edition of sex incarnate, the Rapide. The question is, despite (or because of) such derivative elements, did they create something that is, as a whole, unique and desirable? For a company founded in a suburb of Detroit – so long ago that no body even knew what a suburb was – it’s surprising that the U.S. arm of Ford has been playing catch-up with its European cousins. The original Fusion, along with its mid-cycle refresh, exhibited a style that many passed off as the Gillette grille, a visual meme that attempted to establish a brand look here in the land of apple pie and mouth breather politicians. Meanwhile, while that was being derided as overly garish, Ford of Europe was defining a style that was both iconic, and uniquely handsome. Following Spike Lee’s admonition, Ford did the right thing and dumped the gentleman razor look for a Mondeo meets Aston Martin appearance and  applied it to the new Fusion. We won’t go into the specifics of the mechanicals here, focusing (no pun intended) more on the styling, and we want to know what you think of this new Ford, especially in light of the recently released, but questionably styled Toyota Camry. That car is the sales leader in the category, while the Honda Accord, is about the oldest of mid-size offerings available. What do you think, did Ford hit one out of the park? Or, is the new Fusion a fantastic failure?

 Image source: [Ford Media]

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