Fusion Looks to Weather Summer Waiting Period

DETROIT – Ford Motor Co.’s North American International Auto Show headliner introduction of the Fusion sedan could be followed by a significant summer lull if the auto maker fails to play its cards right.

“There’s a huge spike in awareness for a product when it’s shown at an auto show,” Marty Collins, Ford Div. general marketing managing, tells Ward’s. “And there is a huge spike in traffic on the Web, with people seeking more information. (Then) as you work your way through the spring and early summer, there is a little bit of a lull.”

Collins admits Ford needs to better manage this year’s lull compared with 2004, when the Five Hundred bowed on the Detroit stage in January but did not hit dealer showrooms until October.

Fusion targets 140,000 first-year sales.

“As the vehicles are shown at the show, and then we have a presence on the Web with products, you get an awful lot of hand raisers who come to you looking for information,” he says.

“We’ve got to be able to do better this year than we did with the Five Hundred and to be able to fulfill commitments for additional product information sooner and on a more timely basis this year.”

Ford plans Job One for August and will begin shipping to dealers in September. Full-force shipping commences in October, Brian Vought, Fusion chief engineer, tells Ward’s. (See related story: Fusion Headlines Ford’s 2005 Product Push)

The long period between world debut and dealer penetration give buyers the opportunity to shop the competitive set, which includes the best-selling Toyota Camry sedan, Honda Accord, Chevrolet Malibu and Nissan Altima.

Collins admits not all buyers interested in the Fusion will wait the next nine months or more until it arrives at their local dealer. “People are going to make different purchase decisions,” he says. “Some are going to wait, some aren’t going to wait. It varies.”

The auto maker expects to sell 140,000 units during the first calendar year of sales, Ford Div. President Steve Lyons says, adding the auto maker will not chase sales by offering generous incentives.

“We don’t think that way anymore,” he says. “The way we used to do business, the moment you had an uptick in volume, (it was) find a way to build more. We all know the difference between having too few and too many. It leads you into deep discounts, and that’s not our game.”

Lyons says Ford aims to launch the Fusion with zero or minimal incentives, while shipping about 10% of the mix into commercial fleets. Some six months into launch, Fusions will start salting rental fleets, with Ford aiming to sell no more than 5% of the mix that way.

Vought says Ford is shooting for comparable Camry and Accord quality levels with the Fusion by August, when saleable models start trickling off the line in Hermosillo, Mexico.

He says the Fusion will come equipped with either a 2.3L 4-cyl. or 3L V-6. The vehicles production mix is aimed at turning out equal numbers of both engines.

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