Now that we've finally gotten the chance to sit behind the wheel of Ford's new Fusion Hybrid in LA traffic, achieving 43.1 mpg in the process, we can fully understand why Europeans may be interested in the new sedan as well. Many Americans have spent the last few years wishing that the Blue Oval would offer its best European products here (something that is just now starting to take place), but the tables may have turned a bit with the new hybrid sedan. In Europe, the Fusion doesn't actually exist, but Ford has the Mondeo holding down the midsize sedan fort there.
By all accounts, the Mondeo is a great car and is consistently a top seller. It's also equipped with a range of diesel engines, all of which handily outperform their petrol-powered siblings in fuel mileage testing. That may not be the case if the new hybrid system made its way across the pond though, as the 191-horsepower combination of a revised 2.5L four cylinder engine with an electric motor and NiMH battery pack results in excellent fuel mileage statistics.
Hybrids such as the new 2010 Ford Fusion may in fact become increasingly important to Europeans as regulators there clamp down harder on particulates and NoX emissions, much like they do in states like California. It's possible that the price difference between diesels and hybrids will come ever closer, both in America and abroad.
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