Ford offers the new 2013 Fusion with four different engines, a 175-horsepower 2.5-liter, a 178-horsepower turbocharged 1.6-liter (1.6T), a 240-horsepower 2.0-liter turbo (2.0T), and a Hybrid. With the mid-grade SE, you also have the option of adding either a sporty Appearance Package or a Luxury Package. In choosing among the engines and packages, a buyer might want to know how much each adds to the price. But Ford, intentionally or unintentionally (most likely the latter) has made this far from easy.

If you go to the official configurator at ford.com, and select the SE, you’ll see the three non-hybrid engines listed with their prices: $23,700, $24,495, and $25,950. So the 1.6T costs $795 and the 2.0T costs $2,250, right? Yes, and no…

The 1.6T, which can be ordered entirely by itself, does add $795. But the price for the 2.0T includes $1,250 for the Appearance Package, as you must get the 2.0T with either this package or the Luxury Package.

So the 2.0T actually adds only $1,000, just a bit more than the 1.6T? This is the price you’ll see in TrueDelta’s pricing pages, for the sake of consistency with the Ford site and the window stickers on the cars. But it’s also wrong. The price for the Appearance Package includes $795 for the 1.6T engine, as you cannot get this with the base engine. The $2,300 price for the Luxury Package similarly includes $795 for the 1.6T.

If Ford wanted to make their prices less confusing, and less potentially misleading, they’d change this:

1.6T – $795
2.0T – $1,000 (implied, never explicitly stated)
Appearance Package – $1,250 (only a separate line item with the 1.6T, included in the base price for the 2.0T)
Luxury Package – $2,300

To this:

1.6T – $795
2.0T – $1,795
Appearance Package – $455
Luxury Package – $1,505

There’s one remaining wrinkle: you can’t simply add the 2.0T and Luxury Package. The most powerful engine also requires 18-inch wheels. These are included in the Appearance Package, but a $495 option with the Luxury Package. So, with the 2.0T, the Luxury Package actually adds $2,000.

And the Hybrid? The SE Hybrid lists for $3,500 more than the regular SE, but it also includes additional standard features that TrueDelta’s car price comparison tool values at $850 (including $300 for automatic stop/start). Adjust for these, and they’re charging about $2,650 for the hybrid powertrain over the 2.5.

You can also get the Appearance and Luxury Packages with the Hybrid. But with it they add:

Appearance Package – $1,000
Luxury Package – $2,000

Judging from the ford.com configurator and window stickers, you’d conclude that they’re charging about $250 less for these packages with the Hybrid. But the more accurate prices, with the 1.6T engine removed, make it clear that they’re actually charging about $500 more for them with the Hybrid.

Why not just charge the same price with every engine? I can only venture a guess, and this guess is that they’ve underpriced the Hybrid to get it a few hundred dollars below the base price of its archrival, the Toyota Camry Hybrid XLE. With the option packages, they’re recouping this discount.

One again there’s another wrinkle. About $625 of the Hybrid’s additional standard features–reconfigurable LCD instruments, dual zone automatic climate control–are included in the MyFord Touch Technology Package offered with all engines. So does this package cost $625 less with the Hybrid? Well, no. It costs only $105 less.

So with this package they’re recouping another $500 or so? Not quite, as they toss in the bonus of an AC power outlet, worth roughly $100.

Wait, there’s more! To get the AC power outlet in the non-hybrid SE, you must get the Driver Assist Package, which requires both the MFT Technology Package and the Luxury Package. Since the AC power outlet was already included with the former package on the Hybrid, logically Ford would charge about $100 less for the Driver Assist Package on this model. But, as you might guess at this point, they don’t. Instead, they charge the same price for this package with both the SE and the SE Hybrid.

Load up both an SE and the Hybrid, and now how much more do the charge for the hybrid powertrain? We’ve found (all prices adjusted for feature differences):

Base car difference – $2,650
MFT Tech Package – $400 more with Hybrid
Luxury Package – $500 more with Hybrid
Driver Assist Package – $100 more with Hybrid
Loaded car difference, total of above – $3,650

The final difference is compared to the 2.5-liter engine, but you can only get the first package with this engine. So in practice the loaded car hybrid premium will be $2,850 over the 1.6T or $1,850 over the 2.0T.

Loading up the hybrid adds a full $1,000 to the additional charge for its powertrain. Put another way, however long it takes to recoup the hybrid’s additional cost over the 1.6T with the base car, it’ll take 54 percent longer with a loaded one.