The Ford Fusion was earmarked for cancellation as part of Ford’s recent decision to kill nearly all of its passenger cars, but a new report from Bloomberg suggests that the nameplate will live on and be applied to a different sort of vehicle. While the current Fusion mid-size sedan is expected to continue for at least a few more model years, the name may eventually migrate to a crossover-ized station wagon similar to the Subaru Outback and Buick Regal TourX.

It seems likely that this rumored Fusion wagon, possibly to be called the Fusion Active, will be a version of the Europe-market Mondeo wagon that could look like the illustration above. (The Mondeo is nearly identical to the U.S.-market Fusion.) If it follows the formula of the popular Outback, expect it to feature body cladding, a bit of extra ground clearance, and all-wheel drive. This would mirror Ford’s U.S. strategy for the compact Focus, which will be reborn as the Focus Active, a slightly lifted variant of the next-generation hatchback.

A Ford spokesperson confirmed that the Fusion name isn’t likely to go away for good, given its sales success, and Ford CEO Jim Hackett has discussed how the company plans to “reinvent” its car lineup rather than kill it entirely. If this new take on the Fusion does eventually materialize in the States, we don’t expect to see it for at least two years or so; the Fusion sedan was refreshed for the 2019 model year, and it’s expected to stay in production through 2020.

Car and Driver

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