Ford says it sold record number of Fusion sedans

Ford Motor Co. said Thursday that its Fusion midsize sedan has already broken the model's annual sales record even though U.S. auto sales have dropped 25 percent.

Ford sold 151,137 Fusions through Wednesday, beating the full-year sales record of 149,552 set in 2007, the company said in a statement.

Fusion sales through the first 10 months of the year were up 15 percent from the same period in 2008, according to Autodata Corp.

The Fusion was the top-selling car made by a Detroit automaker through October.

The Fusion is made at Ford's factory in Hermosillo, Mexico. It gets up to 34 miles per gallon on the highway when equipped with a four-cylinder engine and six-speed automatic transmission.

A gas-electric hybrid version gets up to 41 miles per gallon in the city.

The car's base price is just under $20,000 including shipping.

Even at record levels, the Fusion's sales numbers still lag behind the top-selling midsize cars in the U.S. Through October, Toyota Motor Corp. sold 294,493 Camry and Solara cars, while Honda Motor Co. sold 244,579 Accords.

The Fusion and its Mercury twin, the Milan, have received good quality rankings from outside ratings groups. Four-cylinder versions of the cars finished second in the family car category, beaten only by Toyota's Prius gas-electric hybrid, in Consumer Reports magazine's auto rankings.