The Ford Fusion has been around for 11 years, having first been introduced in 2006. It’s done well to represent Ford’s foray in the mid-size sedan segment, but with sales of midsize sedans down across the board in 2017, Ford may be thinking of cutting the Fusion completely from its lineup. There’s been no word on the status of the Fusion moving forward, but recent reports have cast serious doubts on the future of the model in the U.S.

To be clear, Ford has not stopped selling the Fusion in the U.S. It’s still very much available for those who’d like to spend at least $22,000 on it. But the state of affairs among midsize sedans in the U.S. paints an alarming picture. Simply put, it hasn’t been a good year for the segment as some brands have posted year-over-year sales drops on their respective models. In Ford’s case, sales of the Fusion have dropped 22 percent through November 2017 compared to the same period last year. To date, Ford has sold 192,170 units of the Fusion compared to 246,708 units in the first 11 months of 2016.

The Fusion’s slow sales in the U.S. this year has already caused some upheaval with regards to where the sedan is going to be built moving forward. Ford confirmed as much when it announced that it’s going to stop building the Fusion in its production facility in Hermosillo, Mexico. A Ford representative quickly added fuel to the fire when he told Automotive News that the company has “no plans to export the next-generation Fusion/Mondeo from China to North America and Europe.”

Assuming that’s the case, it’s going to be interesting to see how Ford is going to offer the Fusion if it’s not going to be built in Mexico and it’s not going to be exported in China. The answer is likely that Ford will stop selling the Fusion in the U.S. altogether. New CEO Jim Hackett even alluded to it in a wink-wink manner when he responded to an Automotive News question about the Fusion’s status by simply saying, “I’m giving you a hint.”

Put all these “hints” together, and it does look like we’ve seen the last of the Ford Fusion in our shores for the time being.

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Automotive News

Read our full review on the 2017 Ford Fusion.