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Ford announces first non-pursuit-rated police car ever

Ford announced its first non-pursuit-rated Police Interceptor ever, based on the Taurus, which employs the smaller 2.0-liter EcoBoost four-cylinder engine in place of similar pursuit-rated Police Interceptors powered by naturally aspirated 3.5-liter and 3.7-liter V6s and the top-spec 3.5-liter EcoBoost V6. Officially called the Special Service Police sedan, the car was commissioned at the request of law-enforcement agencies that desire a more fuel-efficient vehicle for detectives, administrators and campus police, who don't necessarily need pursuit-rated vehicles.
The 2.0-liter EcoBoost engine produces 240 horsepower and 270 pound-feet of torque, but more importantly, it allows the SSP sedan to achieve somewhere in the neighborhood of 22 miles per gallon city and 32 mpg highway, which are the civilian 2.0-liter Taurus' official EPA ratings. Ford estimates that the SSP sedan will get 20 mpg city, 30 mpg highway and 23 mpg combined, with the help of Active Grille Shutters that open to allow more cooling air through to the radiator, or close to optimize aerodynamics and fuel economy. Those numbers compare favorably to the discontinued Crown Victoria-based Interceptor's 14 mpg city and 21 mpg highway and the newer Taurus-based cars equipped with V6s, the most fuel efficient of which gets 18 mpg city and 26 mpg highway.
If it was driven 90,000 miles over the course of three years, a 2.0-liter SSP sedan would save law enforcement agencies $5,042.92 versus the Crown Vic, Ford estimates. The EPA is expected to post official fuel-economy numbers for the SSP sedan in December. Until then, read the press release below for more information.

SEMA crowns Mustang, FR-S as this year's hottest cars in the building

After wrapping up the first day of the 2012 SEMA Show, organizers handed out awards for some of the trendiest vehicles on display. Since the whole point of SEMA is to show off new products available in the aftermarket world for use in cars, trucks and SUVs, each year, the show distinguishes the most popular vehicle in various segments. Not surprisingly, this year's Hottest Car and Hottest Sport Compact are the Ford Mustang and Scion FR-S, respectively, while the Ford F-Series brought home the Hottest Truck and the Jeep Wrangler was named the Hottest 4x4-SUV.
More than 2,000 companies are at this year's show, and the display booths represents a "vote" for each car to determing the trendiest vehicles in each of the four categories. It isn't clear if these awards also take cars brought by OEMs into account, but the Mustang and FR-S were definitely well represented by both OEM and aftermarket show versions.
As usual, the OEMs showed up in force at the this year's SEMA Show exhibiting a variety of cars ranging from production-intent cars like the beastly Ford Mustang Cobra Jet to much flashier rides like Scion's Carbon Stealth FR-S.

Consumer Reports: Ford Fusion fun but flawed; Mitsubishi i-MiEV slow, chintzy [w/videos]

Waiting for a Ford compliment from Consumer Reports these days is like waiting for a low-cost new product from Apple. So we weren't really expecting a glowing review of the 2013 Ford Fusion when CR got its hands on the car. The institute's crew bought three different versions of the Fusion (Hybrid, 1.6-liter EcoBoost and a Titanium with the 2.0-liter EcoBoost) to put through its barrage of tests, and while we aren't too surprised by some of the findings, they're still interesting nonetheless.
CR praises the Fusion for its "eye-catching" design and says that the sportier Titanium trim level is the best-handling midsize sedan they've ever tested, but that's about where the good news ends for Ford. The Fusion Hybrid also posted the best-ever fuel economy CR has recorded in a midsize sedan, but the only problem is that their number was 39 miles per gallon combined - far less than Ford's 47 mpg rating for city, highway and combined. As expected, CR also dinged the Fusion for its MyFord Touch, but some of the other gripes about the car include a cramped cabin and poor fit and finish.
Other Ford products tested this time around include the Focus Electric and C-Max Hybrid. Like the Fusion, CR's observed fuel economy of 37 mpg for the C-Max fell well short of Ford's advertised 47-mpg rating, and both cars were criticized for the use of MyFord Touch. CR notes that the Focus Electric's interior is also cramped, with the battery pack taking up a lot of cargo space.