AOL names 2013 Ford Fusion 'Car of the Year'

(January 7, 2013) AOL Autos has awarded its second annual Car of the Year honors to the 2013 Ford Fusion. AOL reports Fusion is boldly redesigned to not only raise the bar, but to meet the stalwarts of the category pound for pound and dollar for dollar for value, performance and quality.

“The 2013 Ford Fusion is not only a leap forward from the previous model — already a very solid midsized sedan — but has quickly established itself as the class of this most competitive category,” says AOL Autos editor in chief David Kiley. “From stem to stern, inside and out, Ford designers, engineers and workers on the line have turned out a midsized family sedan whose biggest problem should be building enough of them.” Click here for the full review.

A year ago AOL Autos selected its first ever Car of the Year, naming the Audi A7 for the first-year honor. This year, our editors have voted, and the winner is a very different kind of car.

AOL Autos editors drive pretty much every new car that comes along. "Of course, we are not the only outlet choosing 'Cars of the Year,'" AOL notes. Motor Trend and Automobile Magazines each surprised readers and the industry by naming the all-electric Tesla Model S Car of the Year.

"Our editors did not have the Model S in our consideration set for the simple reason that not enough of our editors have been able to drive it. It is an exceptionally good car,and those of us who have been able to test drive it would stack it up against any gasoline-powered car for sheer fun and performance.

"But having eliminated the Model S from our consideration (and let's face it, very few people are going to actually consider this car), we did come up with a very solid list of top five, with just one winning the top honor."

Each editor chose three cars they thought worthy of the honor, ranking them first, second and third based on preference. Every car that got ranked third, earned one point. Each that was ranked second got two points. And those that were rated first got three points.

Other cars in AOL's top five finalists are the BMW 3-Series, Nissan Altima, Cadillac ATS, and Subaru BRS/Scion FR-S.