While Ford quietly rolls out the new Expedition SUV, where is the new Focus? It's not as if the Focus is a bad car, it's not. But while the rest of the world got a new Focus and many platform-mates, we got a "freshened" last generation Focus. This is not inovation, it's not even good business. GM brings out a new Cobalt to replace the Cavlier, Honda brings out a totally re-designed Civic and Ford puts more chrome and a spoiler on the Focus. To add insult to injury they drop the SVT version with it's 170 hp and leave the ST sedan as the top performer with 150 hp. You can't even get the 150 hp in the hatchback.
And while we suffer this situation, everywhere else around the globe (Except Canada and Mexico) Get this! A new C1 platform Focus. The performance version making over 200 hp and styling that is smoother and more graceful. They even build and sell them in Russia and China! You can get the new Focus in India, South Africa, All of Europe, Australia, Asia and South America! Ford's excuse is that it had been too expensive for the US market. But you can get this same platform from Mazda as the Mazda3, or Volvo as the S40/V50 and soon C30.Enough with the big trucks, bring the new Focus and some of the other small Fords here to the US. I'm sure that there is still a market for SUVs, but can't Ford recognize that there is a resurgance in the small car segment? And the current Focus is just not exciting enough to capture attention.
1 comment:
Joe,
As part of the "way forward" plan, Ford's management has decided to delay or outright kill some upcoming products.
The Sport Trac Adrenaline was slated
for production, is now cancelled.
Ford was investigating building a compact SUV similar to the Brazilian EcoSport, that program is bookshelved for the time being. Concerns included the high cost of meeting crash and environmental standards, compared to the expected low profit margin on these vehicles.
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