Ford Fusion Hybrid Qualifies for Maximum Tax Credit

2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid Get More Affordable
The bad news have been piling up for Ford lately (it lost $14.6 billion in 2008), but the company is very proud of its Fusion hybrid, the most fuel efficient mid-size sedan (41 MPG city/36 MPG highway) in the US, and thinks it is part of the light at the end of the tunnel. That light just got a bit brighter when the 2010 Fusion hybrid was approved by the feds for the maximum $3,400 tax credit allowed for hybrid vehicles.

From Ford:

Buyers of a new 2010 Fusion Hybrid or Mercury Milan Hybrid this year will qualify for the $3,400 tax credit, the highest credit amount ever offered for hybrids purchased or placed in service after Dec. 31, 2005. The Ford Escape and Mercury Mariner Hybrid, the most fuel-efficient SUVs in America, continue to qualify for a $3,000 tax credit, the highest available tax credit of all hybrids on the road today.

Fusion Hybrid's class-leading 41 mpg rating in the city and 36 mpg on the highway, which tops the Toyota Camry Hybrid by 8 mpg in the city and 2 mpg on the highway, helped Fusion garner the significant credit amount, which is based on a vehicle's potential fuel efficiency.

Of course, they had to mention the outgunned Toyota Camry hybrid... Toyota's response is that it has the most fuel-efficient mid-size car with the Toyota Prius (the Prius just qualifies as a mid-size), but Ford replies that the Prius is smaller, and a hatchback, and that buyers will compare the Fusion to the Camry.