DEARBORN, Oct. 27, 2006 -- Several tricked-out Ford Fusions will be on display next week at the 2006 Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) show in Las Vegas, where 2,000 specialty-equipment and new-vehicle manufacturers will gather to unveil new customization trends and technology.
One of the vehicles being unveiled at SEMA is the Fusion T5 -- the "T" is for turbo and the "5" is for 5-speed automatic transmission. It was developed by MRT, an aftermarket engineering and customizing performance shop.
"The base vehicle is very well appointed, very solid and very stable. It does everything well," said Scott Hoag, president of MRT. "We wanted to keep the base vehicle DNA intact so what we tried to do is pick certain attributes of the car to reinforce or express a little bit differently."
Stock Ford Fusion Pictured
The light silver frost T5 sports a 3dCarbon body kit, twin MRT hood scoops and an MRT black chrome trim kit that transforms all the silver chrome on the car to a black chrome finish.
To kick things up a notch under the hood, MRT added a turbocharger to Fusion's new all-wheel drive 3.0-liter V6 engine.
"This is MRT's way to help Ford announce to BMW, 'Let's bring the game. We've got it,' " said Hoag.
For the most part, Hoag says he and his team left the interior alone.
"Fusion's got a fabulous interior. It's comfortable. It's well laid out, and it has nice materials," he said. "But we did add a considerable amount of technology to the car."
MRT added an 8½-inch touch screen monitor that allows for mobile internet access, Bluetooth technology, a navigation system and a DVD system.
"All of that technology is along for the ride with this particular application," said Hoag. "We left the stock stereo head unit in place, but we reinforced the audio system with dual Rockford amps and eight aftermarket speakers, including a subwoofer. It definitely fills the room with sound."
Hoag says he and his team had a certain customer in mind when they developed the Fusion T5.
"We're trying to target market to a 30- or 40-year-old professional male or female who can't afford a BMW but wants to accomplish that look and feel and performance in a slightly different way," he said. "The Fusion T5 will deliver those goods plus some."
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