Deanh Posted December 9, 2008 Share Posted December 9, 2008 Almost forgot, there are additional rebates sometimes for one plan or another. Make sure you're aware of both when the time comes. Ask myself or Dean. A-plan is so well regimented that even a doc fee cannot be charged...love Aplan and Xplan customers....piece of cake... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the_spaniard Posted December 9, 2008 Share Posted December 9, 2008 Great MPG numbers, and very competitive. This is exactly what Ford needs to be doing. With Hybrid tech advancing (and eventually someday becoming cheaper), how is Ford NA going to market the diesels? Good lord, I hope Ford markets the crap out of the Fusion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OX1 Posted December 9, 2008 Share Posted December 9, 2008 The Highlander Hybrid sucks, doesn't it? Yes it does. My sister has one, gets 22 most of the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Versa-Tech Posted December 9, 2008 Share Posted December 9, 2008 Yes it does. My sister has one, gets 22 most of the time. But that's not possible. We all know that Toyota only makes the bestest cars in the world. Actually, bestest in the universe. You're sister must hate the environment. That's why she said that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billyk24 Posted December 10, 2008 Share Posted December 10, 2008 Will Ford make any money on these? I heard somewhere that they lose money on the Hybrids, but it helps corporate image and CAFE standards. YES, Ford started making a profit on Escape/Mariner hybrid in 2008. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silvrsvt Posted December 10, 2008 Share Posted December 10, 2008 YES, Ford started making a profit on Escape/Mariner hybrid in 2008. I dunno, if they where, why would they limit themselves to only making 25K Hybrid Escapes and now Fusions? Doesn't make much sense Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loyalbutconcerned Posted December 10, 2008 Share Posted December 10, 2008 I dunno, if they where, why would they limit themselves to only making 25K Hybrid Escapes and now Fusions? Doesn't make much sense The supply of batteries. Mostly sourced from Asia. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugh Posted December 10, 2008 Share Posted December 10, 2008 I keep hearing about these "amazing" European diesels, but seem to remember the Top Gear review of the new Fiesta. I believe Jeremy said he would stay away from the Econetic because "it will almost certainly be sh.." It seems like the video cut out or something, but I think I know where he was going.... Actually it was a intentional edit used more then once. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zipnzap Posted December 10, 2008 Share Posted December 10, 2008 Nice. Note how this is a more practical car than the Prius. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomServo92 Posted December 10, 2008 Share Posted December 10, 2008 Nice. Note how this is a more practical car than the Prius. Also note how it's a far, far better looking car than the Prius.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regfootball Posted December 10, 2008 Share Posted December 10, 2008 Ford stated some time ago that the '10 Fusion program would bring them to "break even" on hybrids. Any profit they do bring in will be minimal at best. As you said though, it helps CAFE and corporate image, both of which are somewhat impossible to place a dollar amount upon. especially right now as congress decides whether to kill the US auto industry or not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Versa-Tech Posted December 10, 2008 Share Posted December 10, 2008 Also note how it's a far, far better looking car than the Prius.... That's because the fusion is for car buyers that want to take advantages of hybrid technology, not smug butt sniffers that want to broadcast to the world that they're better than everyone else because they own a hybrid :shades: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2005Explorer Posted December 10, 2008 Share Posted December 10, 2008 That's because the fusion is for car buyers that want to take advantages of hybrid technology, not smug butt sniffers that want to broadcast to the world that they're better than everyone else because they own a hybrid :shades: And for car buyers that want real wheels on their car and not wheels off a Radio Flyer wagon! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regfootball Posted December 10, 2008 Share Posted December 10, 2008 The buying public has embraced hybrids because they follow anything the japs do. American companies don't innovate anymore, they simply try to make a vehicle "equal to Honda and Toyota". Most people on BON follow the same behavior. Diesel has lots of advantages that are worth exploring. And NOT when "ford becomes profitable" or other such down the line timeframes. We copy first and innovate later, which is why were no longer the leaders in a market that is dominated on our own turf. Its that kind of mentality that got Ford in trouble in the first place. The japs (toyota in particular) decided to push innovation in this space long before it became profitable. Ford (as did the rest of the US auto companies) had a wait and see approach. This was a calculated maneuver, based on their projections of where the market would be when and if the tech took off, what was the safest time they could enter that market but not be so far behind as to be hopeless, and how much they stood too loose by being behind the 8 ball in this area. I have been watching how car companies do things to know that NOTHING is done (especially at Ford) without over analyzing it and playing it super duper safe. Diesels have a lot of potential that is worth considering right now! Not in 2012 or later when Ford gets back in the black. Diesels are an alternative fuel as well as clean burning. Forget about clean burning carbon based fuel. You can convert a diesel into running on pure veggie oil and loose no performance or mileage characteristics. That is a feature that is worth exploring in this country. Ethanol can't produce the same amount of power as diesel. Natural gas has potential as well, but its not as renewable as bio diesel is. That being said, I think that Hybrids are also very relevant...and a hybrid system can compliment an existing diesel system VERY nicely to offer a best of both worlds solution. Also worth mentioning is this: Hybrid designs need batteries. Which is not something that helps our energy independence. The government should make up its mind what is most important: fuel efficiency or reducing consumption or energy independence. Some of these concepts contradict one another. You cant assume that just because you force higher fuel efficiency that your consumption is gonna go down. People will just drive more. which then hurts your energy independence. You can produce energy that is home grown, but again how does that effect consumption. Right now our energy policy is a hodge podge of buzz words that increase and decrease with popularity at any given time based on who is saying them and how much money the average joe needs to fill his or her tank that day. I don't really know how anyone can say that diesels won't work in this country when nobody has really tried them. VW did, but the Jetta diesel was a low volume vehicle by design so they could say it didn't fail. As for hybrids...the Accord Hybrid failed miserably, so one could easily say that Hybrids alone are not the answer either. Ford has a chance to innovate in this space...not just follow Toyota because it worked for them. But alas, we lost that drive a long time ago when we sold our souls for high profit and high demand pick ups and SUVs. having driven an 09 TDI DSG, you can have it. this from the son of a one time diesel mechanic and owner of GM diesels yore (functioning). i'm pretty convinced now diesel has no chance. its great for VW to offer theirs, but honestly seeing gas at 1.56 and diesel 2.79 at the same pump the other day, there is ZIPPO case for diesel in this country if that price disparity continues. E85 is even a better deal now. you drive a diesel TDI vs any of the gas models, its hard to leave the VW showroom with a TDI. and VW's gas motors aren't all peaches and cream. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmc523 Posted December 10, 2008 Share Posted December 10, 2008 side note, Why do people stop at a traffic light 30 yards from the white line? You mean actually stopping there, or beginning to stop? I'm glad drivers aren't like that near me... Also note how it's a far, far better looking car than the Prius.... Just about anything's better looking than Prius. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twintornados Posted December 10, 2008 Share Posted December 10, 2008 I had an interesting conversation with my 13 year old daughter about hybrids and protecting the environment last night while driving home.....she wants me to get a hybrid since it will "save the environment"...I told her that I was thinking about one for better fuel economy. She then states, "You better not get a Prius...they're small and they look stupid!", after I got done laughing, I told her that Ford has a hybrid Fusion that will look very similar to what I have right now next year ( I have an '06 Fusion SE V6....love it, BTW) She says, and I am quoting, "Coooooool, its about time someone started building a cool looking hybrid!" Then she wanted to know if Lamborghini makes a hybrid....I sighed....some kids are never satisfied Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickF1011 Posted December 10, 2008 Share Posted December 10, 2008 I dunno, if they where, why would they limit themselves to only making 25K Hybrid Escapes and now Fusions? Doesn't make much sense Because, even if the hybrids make money, something like a loaded SEL will make more. Additionally, if the hybrids were easily attainable, they would probably start seeing discounts, which would erase any small profit they get. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ANTAUS Posted December 10, 2008 Share Posted December 10, 2008 I would figure that if someone is spending a bit more for a Hybrid version, they will probably opt to get a better equipped version. They will probably make up for it in the extras people choose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
igor Posted December 10, 2008 Share Posted December 10, 2008 I had an interesting conversation with my 13 year old daughter about hybrids and protecting the environment last night while driving home.....she wants me to get a hybrid since it will "save the environment"...I told her that I was thinking about one for better fuel economy. She then states, "You better not get a Prius...they're small and they look stupid!", after I got done laughing, I told her that Ford has a hybrid Fusion that will look very similar to what I have right now next year ( I have an '06 Fusion SE V6....love it, BTW) She says, and I am quoting, "Coooooool, its about time someone started building a cool looking hybrid!" Then she wanted to know if Lamborghini makes a hybrid....I sighed....some kids are never satisfied your daughter deserves major props .. YOU deserve major props for bringing her up the RIGHT WAY .. this should be BON quote of the week - in a good way. Igor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Reynolds Posted December 10, 2008 Share Posted December 10, 2008 This doesn't come as a surprise whatsoever. I drove down to SD last Friday in the Mariner and traffic was pretty iffy almost the whole way down. I basically averaged 34.5 MPG during that trip, and we have a little over 2k on the odometer now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
focus05 Posted December 10, 2008 Share Posted December 10, 2008 Then she wanted to know if Lamborghini makes a hybrid....I sighed....some kids are never satisfied No, this, specifically, should be quote of the week! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V8 Ford Posted December 10, 2008 Share Posted December 10, 2008 I had an interesting conversation with my 13 year old daughter about hybrids and protecting the environment last night while driving home.....she wants me to get a hybrid since it will "save the environment"...I told her that I was thinking about one for better fuel economy. She then states, "You better not get a Prius...they're small and they look stupid!", after I got done laughing, I told her that Ford has a hybrid Fusion that will look very similar to what I have right now next year ( I have an '06 Fusion SE V6....love it, BTW) She says, and I am quoting, "Coooooool, its about time someone started building a cool looking hybrid!" Then she wanted to know if Lamborghini makes a hybrid....I sighed....some kids are never satisfied Ford had a great advert for the Escape Hybrid to the same effect as your conversation. I'd find it on youtube, but flash doesn't work on my computer at the moment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mustang_sallad Posted December 11, 2008 Share Posted December 11, 2008 your daughter deserves major props .. YOU deserve major props for bringing her up the RIGHT WAY .. this should be BON quote of the week - in a good way. Igor Haha... I wholeheartedly agree! Tell your daughter some random dudes on the internet think she's smart. Anyway, the whole Hybrid vs Diesel argument is totally ridiculous. Well, I guess it's fair if you're looking at one model of car vs another, but when you get to arguing about the technology, it's stupid, because there's absolutely no reason that a hybrid system needs to be coupled with a gas engine. There are diesel buses all over the place, there've been a bunch of diesel hybrids in concept form, Citroen/Peugeot should be coming out with some soon. In fact some buddies of mine made a plug-in series hybrid snowmobile with a bio-diesel twin cylinder range extender last year. Diesels can make great range extenders cause they're pretty good at running in a steady state... but then so are gas turbines. There are some series hybrid buses in Newcastle, England that run gas turbines... Anyway, I digress. It's true, when you compare models that are available now, diesels probably offer more bang for the buck, but hybrid prices have come down and will continue to decrease. I think long term, hybrids and electric drivetrains in general have a lot to offer. If you have any doubts about the torque potential of electric motors, check out the spec sheet on this beast from UQM. These are the guys that helped Chrysler with their 3 recent electric/hybrid concepts. http://www.uqm.com/pdfs/PowerPhase150%20_edited_.pdf 650 Nm (480lb-ft) from 0-100 rpm in a motor that weighs 200lbs. That said, don't go asking for a quote from them, it's pretty steep, but you can see the potential of the technology. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
battyr Posted December 11, 2008 Share Posted December 11, 2008 When does the reg. Fusion hit the showrooms? When does the hybrid Fusion hit the showrooms? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deanh Posted December 11, 2008 Share Posted December 11, 2008 When does the reg. Fusion hit the showrooms?When does the hybrid Fusion hit the showrooms? we were initially told late December which we all knew was wishful thinking, I don't even think they will be here January...an honest guestimate is March....we have some in the order banks, but as of yet they don't even show on reports..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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