Skip to main content

Ford Fusion wins 2013 Green Car of the Year award at Los Angeles Auto Show

2013 Ford Fusion Hybrid front three-quarter view blueFord’s redesigned 2013 Fusion has won praise for its Aston Martin-like styling, but now the four-door from the Blue Oval can add a more substantial accolade to its trophy case. The Fusion was named 2013 Green Car of the Year by Green Car Journal at the Los Angeles Auto Show on Thursday.

“It won by virtue of the fact that it offers an array of choices,” Green Car Journal editor Ron Cogan told the assembled crowd after announcing the Fusion’s win. With its selection of fuel efficient conventional, hybrid, and plug-in hybrid powertrains, the Fusion definitely spoils customers for choice.

Related Videos

Like other carmakers, Ford decided to drop the Fusion’s V6 as the headline motor in favor of smaller engines. In the six-cylinder’s place are two four-bangers from Ford’s EcoBoost line of turbocharged, direct-injected engines (along with a base, 2.5-liter Duratec engine).

The 1.6-liter EcoBoost returns 23 mpg city, 36 mpg highway, and 28 mpg combined with an automatic transmission. Those numbers rise by 1 mpg each with a manual. A 2.0-liter EcoBoost engine returns 22 mpg city, 33 mpg highway, and 26 mpg combined.

The two EcoBoost engines are offered on the Fusion SE, which starts at $23,700. Stepping up to the $27,200 Fusion Hybrid nets 47 mpg in all three categories, a number that bests all other midsize sedan hybrids and comes within spitting distance of the vaunted Toyota Prius.

The Fusion Hybrid relies on a 2.0-liter four-cylinder Atkinson cycle engine and a lithium-ion battery pack, and so does the plug-in Fusion Energi. For $39,495, buyers get a larger battery pack and the ability to drive up to 20 miles on electricity alone, at speeds up to 62 mph.

Ford says the Fusion Energi will return 100 MPGe, although official numbers have not been released. The Chevrolet Volt is rated at 98 MPGe, the Toyota Prius Plug-In at 95 MPGe, and Ford’s own C-Max Energi is confirmed at 100 MPGe.

With its array of powertrains, he 2013 Fusion definitely gives buyers options, which something that has been missing from most green cars. Toyota is working to expand its Prius “family,” but customers only get one powertrain option per model, whether they’re buying a rental-grade base version or one with all the bells and whistles.

Carmakers have done the same thing with conventional fuel economy specials, bundling the most fuel efficient engine and transmission with a limited number of options.

The rest of the car world has always relied on options: whether its paint color or engine displacement, people always want to spec their car to suit their specific needs.

Green Car of the Year is chosen by a panel of environmental leaders, including Sierra Club Executive Director Micheal Brune and television host Jay Leno, along with the staff of Green Car Journal. Previous winners include the Volt, Honda Civic GX, and Volkswagen Jetta TDI.

Editors' Recommendations

‘The cars are the stars.’ How automakers are electrifying the racetrack
The number 60 Acura ARX-06 GTP race car at the 2023 Rolex 24 at Daytona.

Racing is the soul of the auto industry. It’s the purest expression of the engineering that makes cars possible, and the thing they were engineered to do in the first place — be driven. While it can be full of arcane rules that make government regulations and customer clinics seem like child’s play, racing is where cars are built to be cars, and where drivers are just drivers. And like the rest of the industry, the racing world is now grappling with the need for electrification.

Many automakers have built their reputations on the track, and some are hoping to sprinkle a bit of that motorsports magic dust on their plans to curb internal-combustion engines. Acura, BMW, Cadillac, and Porsche just debuted hybrid race cars in the Rolex 24 at Daytona, a 24-hour race held at Florida’s Daytona International Speedway that’s one of the biggest events on the racing calendar.

Read more
Audi ActiveSphere concept is part luxury sedan, part pickup truck
Audi ActiveSphere concept car in a mountainous setting with a bike on the rear rack.

Audi unveiled the fourth and final member of its Sphere-branded series of concept cars, and the design study is unlike anything we've seen before. Called ActiveSphere, it's an electric luxury sedan with a generous amount of ground clearance that can turn into a pickup truck.

Created at the Audi Design Studio in Malibu, California, the ActiveSphere stretches approximately 196 inches long, 81 inches wide, and 63 inches tall, figures that make it about as long as the current-generation A6, 7 inches wider, and 6 inches taller. It wears a rounded exterior design characterized by thin headlights, a transparent piece of trim where you'd expect to find a grille, and a fastback-like silhouette.

Read more
2024 Polestar 2 gets a major overhaul for the 2024 model year
2024 Polestar 2

Volvo off-shoot Polestar is looking forward to an eventful year. It will begin production of the 3, its first crossover, and it will release a comprehensively updated version of the 2 sedan that's sportier than the outgoing model, more road trip-friendly, and better equipped.

The biggest visual difference between the original 2 and the new-look car due out in 2023 as a 2024 model is found on the front end. The electric sedan swaps its grille for what Polestar designers call a SmartZone that frames the front-facing camera and covers the mid-range radar used to power some of the electronic driving aids. While the shift isn't significant, it's symbolic. The grille created a visual link between the 2 and the 1, Polestar's now-retired first model; the SmartZone brings the sedan in line with the sleek-looking 3 unveiled in late 2022.

Read more