Ford to Adapt Japanese Model for New Vehicles in U.S.

Ford Motor Co. is counting on a car with Japanese roots to help it compete with Toyota Motor Corp.’s Camry and Honda Motor Co.’s Accord.

The Fusion is among 10 vehicles that Ford is building on the foundation of the Mazda6 from its Japanese affiliate Mazda Motor Corp.

The plan will test Ford’s ability to adapt an overseas model for its major North American vehicles. Previous tries flopped, notably the Contour and Mystique sedans derived from Ford of Europe’s Mondeo in the early 1990s.

The Fusion is a partial replacement for the Taurus, which ceded its crown to the Camry and the Accord in the 1990s as the bestselling passenger car in the United States.

Ford wants to sell more cars to reduce its reliance on pickups, sport utility vehicles and minivans, which this year have accounted for 66% of its U.S. sales. The Dearborn, Mich.-based company, whose U.S. market share declined for 28 months through June, saw first-half net income fall 31% from a year earlier.

“You have to make a dent in the passenger-car segment,” said analyst Erich Merkle of IRN Inc. in Grand Rapids, Mich. “Ford is incredibly dependent on F-Series pickups.”

Ford recorded 28% of its U.S. sales last year from F-Series trucks and 27% this year through July.

The automaker expects the Fusion to pick up the largest part of Taurus sales after the first shipments start arriving at dealerships in the next month. Last year, Taurus’ U.S. sales fell to 248,148, down 40% from their 1992 peak of more than 400,000.

Ford expects to sell about 150,000 Fusions in the car’s first full year of production. The Five Hundred, a larger sedan added in the fourth quarter last year as another Taurus replacement, hasn’t sold as well as analysts expected. Ford has said Five Hundred sales have improved since its introduction.

“This, to me, is about reestablishing Ford as a car brand,” Group Vice President Steve Lyons said in an interview in Los Angeles, where the automaker conducted news media test drives of the Fusion this week.

Ford set a $17,995 starting price for the Fusion and said the highest price will be about $25,000. The Fusion will account for about a third of Ford’s advertising in the fourth quarter, said Lyons, the company’s North American marketing chief.

The Fusion “needs to wow you both visually and driving for it to be the hit they need,” said Brian Bruce, who helps manage $18 billion in equity, including Ford shares, for PanAgora Asset Management in Boston.

John Wolkonowicz, an analyst at forecasting firm Global Insight Inc. in Lexington, Mass., called the Fusion “the best sedan Ford has introduced in a long time.”

“The styling has more pizazz to it,” he said. “I think it’s a much more compelling product than the Five Hundred.”