I have always liked the look of this car. In fact, I find it hard not to stare at a Fusion when I see one on the road. I don’t really know why that is, possibly that gorgeous 3-bar chromed grille, but perhaps it’s because they just look so darn European!

That is, until you open the door of one, and then you realize that Uncle Sam’s lot have been busying themselves inside! The interior looks more Lincoln-like than anything produced on the banks of the Seine. Mind you, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. After all, I’m old enough to remember the ridiculous gear lever on the 70’s built Renault 4, which slid out of the dashboard at 90 degrees and turned. The one that required rotating wrists to operate!

Yes, sometimes the Euro designers get a little carried away with their individual ideas on how a motorcar should work.

However, if I’m totally honest, I was a tad surprised, and perhaps even a little disheartened to see the interior of such a smart Euro-looking machine get the Americana treatment. Somehow I had expected a typical no-nonsense, business like approach to the interior. What I got however, was a mixture of plastic Mustang and leathered Lincoln.

Looking at the vehicle it’s hard to decipher whether the Fusion was designed here (Peter Horbury, Ford's Director of Design for North America is a fellow Brit and importing foreign designers seems to be increasingly popular nowadays ), or is in fact, a design from across the pond which has been breathed on by the Americans. Whatever it is, the Fusion seems to blend both worlds, and perhaps that’s where it gets its name.

Never mind, you can’t always get what you want, as the Rolling Stones used to shout to me (or was that my Mum?). So I jumped in the Fusion and went for a drive.

Oh yes, they might have slapped a little New York and Vegas into the interior, but the drive was exactly what I was looking for. In many ways it reminded me of the old Ford Cortina’s back in my heyday in Britain. The only difference being, the Fusion comes standard as a front wheel drive (also available in AWD).

For those of you who never experienced the Cortina, it was a model which Ford produced for decades in Europe. The Ford Taurus of Europe would be a fairly accurate interpretation (In fact, it was actually called the Taurus in Germany). A true people’s carriage, which went through 5 variations before it was replaced by the equally successful Ford Sierra (remember the XR4Ti?).

The Ford Motor Company on both sides of the pond has always been good at producing this type of vehicle. They seem to be able to exactly meet the needs of the family man in the street.

So what went wrong with the Fusion? Why has it not galloped away from the dealerships? Why are we not seeing them on every street corner?

Well I can’t really figure that one out myself. Maybe we simply have too many choices nowadays. What with cars, four-door pickup trucks, CUV’s and SUV’s, the family buyer is almost spoilt for choice.

I know that the marketing, or lack of it, might have had something to do with it, but honestly, I can’t for the life of me understand why the Fusion is not selling like hot cakes.

It is almost perfect in size for the average Canadian family, and the availability of AWD makes it a smart choice in car for our winter wonderland.