We all lamented the announcement that the last American station wagon will be gone this year. The 2020 Buick TourX was supposed to be the final wagon made as most of the car companies stop making cars. But now this has popped up. Could this be a new 2021 Ford Fusion station wagon?

If it is we know it will ride a bit higher and be marketed like a Subaru Outback. Call it what you will but this could be the Fusion whatever we keep seeing. Back in November, there were some images of a cobbled mule running around Dearborn that looked like it was configured from a Fusion. 

You could tell it was cobbled together from a Fusion

You could tell it started out as a Fusion sedan as the back was pieced together to crudely look wagon-ish. It looked like a wagon with some extra ground clearance-like an Outback. Around the same time, Ford trademarked “StormTrak.” Maybe it’s coincidental but if Ford were contemplating making a lifted wagon this is probably it.

We know that when Ford announced it was killing off all of its sedans it left out Fusion. Then it came out that Fusion might be used for the name of a new SUV. Soon, AutoGuide was told the next-gen Mondeo, which Ford calls Focus here, would use a stretched Focus platform. That’s the same setup as the 2020 Escape. 

Since the StormTrak would use the stretched platform like the Escape, it would use those engines

It would make sense that if this is true the StormTrak would use the Escape’s engines. Those are the 1.5-liter three-cylinder turbo, a 2.0-liter four-cylinder turbo, and a hybrid model. The all-wheel drive seems like a necessity and would be easy to configure for this platform. So, is this just a lifted station wagon trying to be a small Fusion SUV?

This also adds another vehicle to Ford’s portfolio which was decimated by the elimination of all sedans and their variants. Though Ford had announced plans to discontinue the Fusion in 2021 it also said it wanted to utilize the name in the future. Adding a Fusion StormTrak would make for a seamless continuation of the Fusion name.

Over the next few years, we’ll see companies split truck and SUV platforms

We have to expect that as SUVs and pickup trucks increase in sales and as sedans are cut, that all of the car companies will parse model lines. They’ll be looking to plug every hole and add to every possible niche it can find. So a proven segment like the outdoorsy, all-wheel-drive SUV-like station wagon should be a no-brainer. 

Being a stalking horse for new markets is shaky ground for vehicle manufacturers. And, having to create a whole new vehicle for s single market is just as shaky financially due to the huge costs of development. But, if you as a manufacturer can spin-off of an existing model into a whole new segment then you should be on that because it’s a smart and feasible move. 

Plus, we love wagons even if the manufacturers like to call them SUVs. No matter what it wants to call them, please Ford, make this.

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