Exclusive: Ford’s marketing manager overviews new Fusion, hints at Fusion SHO possibility

At this year’s New York Auto Show, egmCarTech had the opportunity to speak with Ford about its all-new Fusion model, and the model’s marketing manager Samantha Hoyt gave us all the details.

From first glance Ford grabs your attention with the fresher, bigger and sportier appearance of the Fusion’s latest generation, a design which Samantha accurately referred to as a “great evolution of the car.” The exterior’s lines from front to back, including the headlamps, were clearly finessed with sport appeal and aerodynamics in mind.

She elaborates, “Our goals were actually to deliver something entirely different to the customer. We wanted to give them something they’re proud to own. We wanted to give them great fuel economy, lots of choice, great design and style, but also the typical Ford dependable reliability all in a stylish package.”

So did Ford nail all this down with the new Fusion? It seems so, but our team of performance junkies wanted to know about something that suits our palette a bit better, like a Fusion possibly powered by the same 3.5-liter turbo EcoBoost V6 in the Ford Taurus SHO.

Check out more news on the Ford Fusion.

Does Ford plan to bring in a 350-hp plus variant for the Fusion, a variant with more pep then the sport package?

Samantha didn’t say yes, but she didn’t say no, either. What she did say was that the subject peaks the interest of many, including herself. Notably, she adds that the “platform offers a great opportunity to do just that.”

Ford continues to remind us at every arising opportunity that the automaker is here to compete, and after our experience with the Fusion, this car is a solid effort to reaffirm that fact.

Refresher: The 2013 Ford Fusion is available in the United STates in S, SE and Titanium trims. The engine lineup includes a 2.5-liter naturally aspirated inline-4 with 170-hp and 170 lb-ft of torque, mated to a 6-speed automatic transmission. Also available is a 1.6 liter EcoBoost turbo 4-cylinder making 179-hp and 172 lb-ft of torque and a 2.0 liter EcoBoost making 237-hp and 250 lb-ft of torque. All Ford Fusion models come with front-wheel-drive as standard but the 2.0 EcoBoost can be ordered with all-wheel-drive.

All Photos Copyright © Omar Rana – egmCarTech.

By: Alexandra Koken