2008 Ford Focus

**sikuya** · January 8th, 2007 12:38 AM

From Detroit, the new USDM/CDM Ford Focus:

**bbt** · January 8th, 2007 12:49 AM

the exterior looks boring. on the other hand, i do like the new interior better than the old one

**niky** · January 8th, 2007 12:55 AM

Too bad it's still based on the Mark I chassis and not the Mark II that we get in Asia and Europe.

That's not a bad thing, as the Mark I chassis is still very good in terms of handling, but I'm sure it required a lot of buttressing to bring it up to the new class standards in terms of on-road refinement and NVH isolation.

**sikuya** · January 8th, 2007 12:59 AM

This one proof on why Ford is losing market share. They should have called it Ford ION (from Saturn's outgoing bad-designed car). It took Ford almost 8 years to replace the Focus, and this is what they came out with. At least the interior is modern.

**carlocaraddict** · January 8th, 2007 01:09 AM

the front face resembles the Citroen C4

Teana-ish side profile

Over-all looks boring hehe

**Jun aka Pekto** · January 8th, 2007 01:25 AM

Originally Posted by niky

Too bad it's still based on the Mark I chassis and not the Mark II that we get in Asia and Europe.

That's not a bad thing, as the Mark I chassis is still very good in terms of handling, but I'm sure it required a lot of buttressing to bring it up to the new class standards in terms of on-road refinement and NVH isolation.

Only Ford itself knows why it wouldn't bring the "international" Focus here. Must be politics. But, I do like the AWD version of the Fusion.

Let's see... Mustang for the sporty crowd, Fusion for sporty mommy cars, 500 and Crown Vics for the old farts, GT for the filthy rich, and Focus for the low end, economy crowd. Seems well-defined to me.

Maybe Ford didn't want the "better" Focus competing with the Fusion......

**ssaloon** · January 8th, 2007 08:44 AM

300c-ish rear....

**niky** · January 8th, 2007 09:23 AM

Nah. The Focus, even though it's bigger now, is too small to compete in the midsize market... no matter how the EPA classifies it (frankly, their interior volume calculation sucks, and doesn't take into account useable space).

Ford doesn't want to spend on expensive tooling for a car that won't sell as well as the old Focus. And it won't. Simply because it's more upmarket. Ford of America is still heavily reliant on fleet and budget sales, and they can't imagine making more profit by selling less (which is what smaller manufacturers like Honda are doing). By keeping your margins high by charging a little extra and keeping demand high by limiting supply, Ford can make the new Focus a sales success.

There's a reason Ford of America is suffering despite having the F-series trucks outselling everything else. Fleet sales and incentive-laden specials don't make you money.