amk91
Well-Known Member
That's actually not a bad looking car. Too bad Ford killed the Fusion here.
Keep in mind the Fusion had the S550 face before the S550 had it. So, you could kind of say the Mustang "borrowed" from the Fusion. Of course, we all know that particular design language is owed to the old Evos concept.
Of course, the Evos was created mostly based on the Fusion. Part of it, was also a teaser of S550 Mustang, because at the time it was created in late 2010 and 2011, Ford had already designed one of them and the other was coming along enough, to know where it was going.
The CD391 Fusion exterior was designed in record time, parallel to early phases of S550 during 2009 to mid-2010. It was based on early sketching for the S550 program, mixed in with some existing Mondeo cues (2007-14) and Aston Martin influences.
Pencils down on the 2013 Fusion came in December 2010, also when Kemal Curic's S550 proposal out of Cologne, Germany, won approval of executive management. He relocated to USA, where he finished up the rest of the car into 2012.
I believe he now heads Lincoln and helped guide the transformation of the brand. He's that good.
It irks me so much when I hear "Fusion coupe", because the Fusion simply benefited from more inspired product planning and got spicier by partly drawing from Mustang lineage.
The Giugiaro 2006 concept was the origin of so many ideas for Ford in 2000s for the 2010s One Ford theme. They simply married that to Aston Martin elegance and voila.
The 2010 Ford Taurus was designed in 2006-2007, being locked in February 2008. Some also say the S550 looks like a Taurus. Well, you gotta ask yourself what was the intention of designers on D258 II Taurus project in 2006-07?
J Mays and a few others in charge in the late 2000s, were drawing from Ford's core strengths and heritage on past legacy products for the next decade, but with a contemporary edge.
Why?
As the new CEO Alan Mulally had quickly grown tired of the hypocrital, Ford-only rule in staff parking lots, but noticed so many Ford executive and middle management white collar staff in Land Rovers, Jags, Astons, and Volvos instead of Lincolns, Mercurys, Ford brand vehicles.
Driving a 2003ish Lexus LS430, he saw a massively hypocritical loophole exploitation, simply because these were all brands under Premier Auto Group.
Alan Mulally's 2003 Lexus LS 430 in 2008 Photo
He basically told them, to start developing Fords you would "be proud of" and increase fit & finish. This is why from around 2010 to 2015, Ford had a massive leap in how their cars were executed. Especially in terms of in cabin tech and interior quality jumps over their predecessors.
Started with Mulally mostly, whereas the stopgap in-betweener Fords of the mid-late 2000s with "okay interiors", were the product of Bill Ford's tenure as CEO. Before that Ford interiors were very unremarkable, especially with SN95. S197 was "okay", S550 was a massive leap.
It was why in Dearborn by 2011, you saw less Range Rovers and XJ8s, more SVT Raptors GTs/GT500s, and 11+ Explorers. Fords were made to be more livable as daily drivers and make us more proud of American nameplates.
Anyway, back in late 2005, they were almost done designing the 2010 Mustang and it took a very long time to come to market, but other models afterward like the 2010 Taurus had faster development time and more leeway, to follow the influence of the Giugiaro Mustang and other new ideas in the pipeline.
The 2010 Mustang being limited by hard points of the original retro S197 design, drafted in 1999-2001, couldn't really go in that more modern direction yet until S550 started up in 2009 and came to market in 2014.
Ironically Giugiaro had been shown the 2010 already in 2006 and drew from it mostly, but his own new twist on it (headlights), was the future of this nameplate and Ford cars. Thus these cues, first showed up on Taurus D258 II, Focus ST, and Fusion CD391. And maybe some other cars through 2015.
If Ford budgeted for a shorter lifecycle for S197 in the mid-2000s, where after hitting the ground in October 2004, saw a much lighter midlife update (a la 2018 S550) in late 2007 or spring 2008, S550 in late 2011/12, I can guarantee you that the 2013 Fusion wouldn't take that mantle as "first" in anything.
Having a shorter cycle, allowed the Fusion to beat S550 to market with the same look. The idea and vision for 6th generation Mustang, was leave retro behind or at least dilute it, since 2006. Just took another 8 years to come to market.
Side note: People call the S650 just a refresh, but don't even know that the 2008-09 Ford Taurus and 2010-19 Taurus are the same exact car, both called the internal chassis code D258. Yet, very hard to see it all from the outside.
Edited: for typos
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