LexFather

Automaker plans 3.9% rate for car

BY SARAH A. WEBSTER

Ford Motor Co. will launch its most important car since the Ford Taurus -- the 2006 Ford Fusion -- with incentives in September, a top company executive said Friday.

"It will have an incentive," said Steve Lyons, group vice president of sales, marketing and service at Ford.

While Lyons said he didn't expect the Fusion will be launched with a cash-back rebate, he did say it would likely be sold with a discounted interest rate of 3.9%.

There also will be a program on the Fusion that will match a customer's down payment up to $500 and another $500 in bonus cash for customers who finance the vehicle through Ford Credit, said Ford spokesman Jim Cain.

The 2006 Ford Fusion starts at $17,795, and the potential discounts bring the price down $1,000.

The midsize Fusion sedan replaces the Ford Contour, which was phased out in 2001, and to some extent the larger Ford Taurus.

As such, it is viewed within Ford as the most important car launch in years and it will be a direct challenger to the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord, two of the most popular sedans in America. Consumers purchased 813,760 of those two vehicles in the United States last year.

"It's the car equivalent of the F-150," Lyons said, comparing the Fusion to the company's popular pickup truck, which is the best-selling vehicle in the country. Consumers purchased 534,659 F-150s through July this year, about 4.2% more than last year.

Robert Hinchliffe, an automotive analyst for UBS Inc. in New York, said the discounts on the Fusion were probably necessary because of employee pricing in the market. Employee pricing on the Ford Five Hundred large sedan pushes the price within just $2,200 of the Fusion's base price. The Five Hundred starts at $22,840 but is now selling at $19,995 under the Ford Family Plan.

"With employee pricing pushing the price of the Five Hundred down, I think it probably pushes the price folks are willing to pay for the smaller vehicle down as well," Hinchliffe said.

Ford has not decided whether to extend its employee pricing beyond the Sept. 6 end date.

LexFather

If I see 1 more 200hp car with dual exhausts the size of a car owning a V-10, I will SCREAM. Factory rice.

C-Train

looks kind of goofy. it has the newer honda prelude head lights, and the older prelude tail lights

Stage3

iTrader: (3)

Looks like a hybrid between the Honda Prelude and the Cadillac CTS. Looks pretty sharp, but Im fine with my car!

UptownGS

wow good observation!!! I concur! seems as though american companies are really trying to pursue a styling cue that'll work. I think the retro look is it's niche, stick w/ it!

Incendiary

I like it. Looks more Euro. Best of luck to Ford.

foofighter

ford's attempt to take some of that 300C sales as well

Incendiary

This is smaller and less pimpable. I don't think they're targeting the 300C. Accord and Camry, yes.

LexFather

I kind of like it, nice safe styling. 200hp ain't going to cut it though. They need to get it through their skulls. THE SONATA has 235hp, Galant, Camry, Altima, Accord,, 200hp is NOTHING today.

If it had a 250-300hp option, that would be cool. But to have 200hp as your top engine, with cars weighing more than ever. Anemic.

Faraaz23

Bore that engine out!!! I agree, 200hp is nothing these days. Heck, even that Intrigue I drove back in highschool was 215hp. They need to dump that 3.0L duratec and drop in the family 3.8L at least. I wonder if they are planning an SVT version of this?

I give Ford props on the styling. Its nothing too flashy, but its a nice decent looking vehicle. I see a lot of VW/Audi cues in the interior, which is a very good thing. The previous Taurus and Contour had typical, nasty american looking interiors. Is the interior space gonna be comparable to the Accord and Camry? From here it looks like the car is a bit smaller.

Leets

Ford's offering incentives, huh?... well unless the incentives are "Zero Down and Zero Payments for the next 5 million years" I think I'll pass.

mmarshall

Well, chief......that's one of the most sure-fire ways to sell cars. With 0 / 0 financing, a lot of people DON'T pass.

Like it or not, that is basically the way that Ford, GM, and Dodge/Chrysler sell cars......free loans, employee financing, and rebates. The American public, for the most part, simply will not buy domestic-nameplate vehicles without them.

LexLaw

LMAO That's good.

1SickLex, I totally agree with 200HP in 2005 being a complete joke. And yeah why didn't they do quad exhaust with a spoiler if they really plan to make a statement.

NoS

By discount they must mean FREE since that thing is UGLY!!!

mmarshall

Yes and no, Mike. I partly agree here...200 HP, even 250-300 is not very high these days, at least on paper, but a lot of people are not going to enjoy feeding these engines at $3.50 a gallon...perhaps $4.00 or even higher in CA. Katrina is going to severely affect oil production here for some time. Lets at least hope that with the higher prices, gas lines don't return. I went through that B.S. twice in the 70's.....I sure don't want to again.
Hybrids in some cases can provide power and economy both, but they still are not that widedspread or widely available yet. Diesels can give you massive low-RPM torque, but run out of breath at higher speeds.