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Ink had barely dried on our September "Trend" story, "SVT + Ecoboost = Fusion GT" when we got word that the car is off, until the next-generation, 2012 Fusion based on the converged U.S.-Europe EUCD platform. While the delay has all the hallmarks of tinkering from Ford Motor Company factions who don't care about performance cars, the big problem is the rollout of EcoBoost engines in other products. The Lincoln MKS is first to get EcoBoost, then the Flex, and then the Edge. Mustang and F-150 also are contenders for the engine family.

The initial plan was to make the Fusion GT a low-volume, end-of-production car. Now, with a heavy EcoBoost rollout designed to increase fuel efficiency in mainstream Fords, the end-of-cycle Fusion GT has been declared impractical.

The Fusion GT was designed to take advantage of EcoBoost's (direct gas injection and turbocharging) performance characteristics more so than fuel economy-under Ford's current planning scenarios, a car of the Fusion's size should get a four-cylinder EcoBoost for fuel economy, not an EcoBoost V-6 that would make it a kind of poor man's Audi S4. Now, the GT is on hold until that next-generation model and indeed will roll out up to a year after the new, mainstream 2012 Fusion's launch.

The family-guy Fusion is likely to have a mildly boosted EcoBoost four as its main engine. The Fusion GT, like Cadillac's CTS-v, will be a low-volume image car for Ford.