Recently, Ford has announced plans of halting North American production for the current-generation Fusion, shifting manufacturing to China starting in 2020.
At this point in time, it’s unclear whether or not Ford will actually stop selling the Fusion altogether in the U.S., replace it with a new model or just build it elsewhere, reports Autonews.
All this comes at a time in which automakers are focusing more and more on utility vehicles and Ford is going about their business in a similar fashion. In fact, the American automaker plans on adding five new crossover nameplates by 2020.
This shift could spell doom for smaller models such as the Fiesta, currently built in Mexico. Furthermore, Focus production will be moving from Michigan to China, C-Max output will end in 2018 and the U.S. version of the Taurus is expected to go quietly into the night at some point.
As for the Fusion, it would be the highest-volume nameplate to go out of production in North America because of the crossover boom – Ford has sold more than 2.7 million Fusions in the U.S. since the model was first introduced back in 2005. Right now, sales are down 22% through November for the Fusion, compared to the general 16% slide registered for the mid-size segment.
With no plans to export the next-gen Fusion/Mondeo from China to North America and Europe, their future remains unknown on a global scale.
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