By Sarah A. Webster,Detroit Free Press

With a pink Ford Fusion visiting shopping malls and special Fusion eye shadows on sale at the beauty store Sephora, you have to wonder: What will Ford Motor Co. come up with next to peddle its cars to women?

On Wednesday, the automaker announced that it had teamed up with San Francisco cosmetics company Benefit to sell a new Curve Hugger eye shadow set with a Fusion vehicle imprinted on the front of the package. And the palette is far from “Red, White & Bold,” which would fit with the Ford division’s new marketing mantra. Au contraire, for this trio, it’s light copper, champagne and soft gold.

“Just like the new Ford Fusion, this sexy trio of shimmering nude eye shadows will generate heat and drive “em wild,” the ad pitching the new product says on www.Sephora.com.

What’s more, the automaker is in the midst of a special promotional campaign aimed at women called Fusion Studio D, a reference to the sedan’s ad tagline: “D” stands for Life in Drive.

Fusion Studio D is a pop-up display that will travel to 10 malls across the country through the end of October and feature a special pink Fusion with a Race for the Cure motif. The mall visits will coincide with local Race for the Cure events. Last year, Ford teamed up with the nail polish company OPI in a similar promotion for Mustang nail polish where the shades of polish were chosen to color-coordinate with the vehicle.

The Curve Hugger eye shadow is part of a wider promotion. Ford is joining with Benefit, Sephora and Hearst Publications , which publishes women’s magazines such as Cosmopolitan, to host a sweepstakes, which can be found at www.fusionandbenefit.com. The winner will (surprise!) drive away with a new, fully loaded Fusion and a cosmetics bag of goodies.

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