Wednesday, November 09, 2005

Focus Turbo Diesel in Europe, why not here?

Over at Blue Oval News I found this link to an acrticle on Ford's new TDI Focus, that's Turbo Diesel Injected. And again I wonder why the "New" Focus didn't come here. I'm tired of hearing how it's too expensive and won't sell at the higher price point. The Euro Focus is a great car and yes it comes here as a Mazda 3 and a Volvo S40/V50/C70, but this could be a real turn around vehicle for Ford. In Europe the Focus is one of the best selling cars, winning awards everywhere. I read this morning somewhere, that it just won the Scotish Family Car of The Year award. There are more variations of Focus in Europe including the Vignale Convertible-Coupe, with it's retractable hard top, and the ST with it's 218 hp I5. Diesels are nothing new in Europe, unlike here in the US they never went out of fashion, and now Ford is bringing a new Turbo Diesel Focus out to compete with the "performance" Diesels from VW and others.

The new Focus looks so much better than the "freshened" version we have and with fuel prices a Diesel would be a wise move. Ford claims to be "Driving Inovation" well maybe with some new models, but not with the Focus. With Honda's new Civic and the other tough competition, it's time for the Euro Focus and it's many flavors to come here.

I'd seriously consider a TDI Focus if it looked like the ST above.

1 comment:

Big Ford Fan said...

Well what "development" was done on the US Focus, just some minor sheetmetal work. No real investment. That's the shame. And the same chassis comes here as the Mazda 3 which competes with the Focus, so don't tell me it can't be done.