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 November 11th, 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.
It gets up to 34 miles per gallon (14.5 kilometers per liter) 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 (17.5 kilometers per liter) in the city.
The car's base price is just under $20,000 including shipping.
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.