Toyota Bristles At Ford's Claim of Best In Class Fuel Economy For Fusion Hybrid
We hate to help them play the publicity game, but some things are too good to pass up.
Toyota apparently is miffed at Ford for claiming that it's new Fusion hybrid (left) will be the most fuel-efficient midsized car on the road when it goes on sale this spring.
Ford has gotten a lot of ink with the fuel economy claim, which it has aimed at the car it sees as the Fusion hybrid's major competitor -Toyota's mid-size Camry hybrid.
But Toyota, according to a piece in USA Today, says that Ford's claim is not correct because the more-efficient Prius (below, right), although 16-inches shorter, 4 inches narrower and 800 pounds lighter than the Fusion and quite a bit smaller than the Camry as well, turns out to be a midsized car as well!
Midsized, at least, per federal government measuring rules, which take into account passenger and cargo space, but not little things like the vehicle's overall size.
Under the government's rules, a midsized car has between 110 and 120 cubic feet of combined space.
The Fusion comes in at 111.6 cubic feet, easily meeting the mark, although at the small end of the mid-size range.
And the Prius (thanks to its tall ceiling) squeaks over the line at 110.6 cubic feet.
The fusion is EPA-rated at 41 miles per gallon in city driving, 36 mpg on the highway. The Camry is rated at 33 in the city, 34 on the highway.
The Prius, of course, beats everything else in the hybrid segment with an EPA rating of 48 mpg around town and 45 mpg on the highway.
And stories like this one, with the publicity they'll help generate for all three vehicles at a time when new-car sales are in the dumps, are just what Toyota was after, no doubt, when it decided to squawk about Ford's claim.
Ford, according to the USA Today article, says it thinks Toyota's complaint is groundless and that it has been clear all along that its mileage superiority claim for the Fusion is aimed directly at the Camry hybrid (right)
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If Toyota presses its case and wins, Ford would be compelled under truth-in-advertising rules not to refer to the Fusion hybrid in its advertising as the most fuel-efficient midsized car in the market.
It could say, though, that the Fusion hybrid is the most-efficient mid-size sedan, because the Prius is a hatchback.
And, of course, it could say that mileage-wise, its midsized hybrid beats the snot out of the Camry.
John O'Dell, Senior Editor
- Posted by
- John O'Dell January 9, 2009, 8:40 AM
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- Categories:
- Ford, Fuel Economy, Hybrid, Toyota
- Technorati Tags:
- Ford Fusion Hybrid, Fuel Efficiency Claims, Prius, Toyota Camry Hybrid
Yeah - go get 'em Ford! It's the good old Fusion-Camry-Prius rivalry. The Fusion is a nice car, and I like Ford kicking some good "old-fashion" hybrid *ss.
Shame on you, "hybrid senrgy drive."
Toyota should quit whining! We all know that the average American doesn't consider a Prius a mid-sized family car!
Toyota is on the defense, eh? I like it.
Like the poster-child of the Green movement (AKA the Toyota Prius) will see any loss in sales from the Fusion. These two cars are completely different in the minds of the consumers, EPA ratings notwithstanding.
The Elantra is considered by the EPA as being a mid-sized car as well, but I don't see many people cross-shopping them with other truer (in the eyes of the consumers) mid-sized cars.
Toyota has no ground to complain like sissies. I hate that company like a burr up my butt. If they want to complain, they can go back to Japan and get the hell out of America. They have had their time in America, its time for us to take our country back.