Ford unveils 2011 Focus!

[Kal-El]

A few highlights.
Both body styles initially will be powered here by a new, 2.0-liter direct-injected four-cylinder that makes 155 hp and 145 lb-ft of torque, up from the current car’s 143 hp and 136 lb-ft. The engine will feature variable valve timing on both the intake and exhaust cams and will be mated to either a six-speed manual transmission or a six-speed dual-clutch automated manual gearbox that was co-developed with Getrag. Expect EcoBoost engines to make it into U.S. cars, too, including one with over 225 horsepower in a sporty version, perhaps wearing an ST or SVT badge. A 1.6-liter turbocharged EcoBoost four likely will be included as a more mass-market choice, as well, offering a more efficient and more powerful alternative to the naturally aspirated 2.0-liter.

Various Ford officials have said that they believe people will be trading down to smaller cars in the U.S. in the future, especially since C-segment vehicles now feature so many luxury amenities. The new Focus, for instance, will be offered with rain-sensing wipers, a parallel-parking system, a blind-spot warning system, a backup camera, ambient lighting, push-button ignition, a stitched dashboard, and a sophisticated navigation system. Jim Hughes says that pricing will be held close to the current car’s $17,570 base price when it goes on sale. However, we can see a Focus easily creeping into the mid-to-high-$20K bracket by the time many of the desirable options are added.

One more interesting feature that will be available on the next-gen Focus is Dynamic Cornering Control. While torque vectoring has been increasingly used in high performance all-wheel-drive systems from Acura, BMW and Audi, Ford is applying the concept to the front-wheel-drive Focus. If it delivers, this should help provide even better handling balance with less understeer in the new compact.

With Chevrolet aiming for 40+ mpg on the highway for the the Cruze, Ford will surely be trying to match it. To that end, designers have also focused a lot on functional aerodynamics in addition to just aesthetic styling. One of the more interesting features are thermostatically controlled shutters behind the grille. At higher speeds when more air naturally flows through the radiator, the shutters automatically close and force air around the sides of the car.

Although dimensionally similar to the current European Focus—the track is slightly wider and the car is lower—the body in white is all-new, with 55 percent of it being made from high-strength steel, the highest proportion of any car in the American Ford lineup. As a result, the torsional stiffness is 25 percent higher than that of the current U.S-market car. According to Jim Hughes, chief nameplate engineer for Focus in North America, “the platform architecture is similar to the current European Focus.” That means the new car has a multilink rear suspension and struts up front. However, the suspension attachment points have been altered, the front knuckle design has been changed, and the spring and shock tuning has been modified. Gunnar Herrmann, the vehicle line director for global C-segment vehicles at Ford, says that “the carryover on the platforms is effectively only seven percent.”

WOW!

The sedan looks pretty amazing. Nothing conservative about these cars. Makes the current Focus look like a joke.

Between this and the Chevy Cruze, looks like America is taking a lead in the compact class - for the first time ever.

Still wouldn't count on them lasting as long as the Corolla and Civic but these are very compelling cars.

Way to go Ford!

[marcus]

interior is pretty sick!!

[BailOut]

It's 2010 and we're all living with the impending reality of peak oil, but the review only goes on about expensive-at-the-dealership and even-more-expensive-to-repair superfluous toys and meaningless horsepower ratings. It even mentioned the smallest and best-fitting engine size last.

Like so many remnants of the old auto age, they just don't get it.

[r3b3l]

Originally Posted by Kal-El

looks like America is taking a lead in the compact class - for the first time ever.

to be more accurate I would say they are taking a step in the right direction, albeit a small step, it is forward progress.

[Kal-El]

Originally Posted by BailOut

It's 2010 and we're all living with the impending reality of peak oil, but the review only goes on about expensive-at-the-dealership and even-more-expensive-to-repair superfluous toys and meaningless horsepower ratings. It even mentioned the smallest and best-fitting engine size last.

Like so many remnants of the old auto age, they just don't get it.

Is your criticism directed toward the writeup or the car itself? They do point out a good thing. That people will be drawn more to these compacts because they offer the "luxury" features they desire once only offered in large gas guzzlers. So really, it's a good direction.

[sqcomp]

I see that interior and see a nightmare trying to put an aftermarket source in there...

I'm a stereo guy though.

I think I'll be satisfied with Toyota though. There is nothing out there that makes me want to change. It's not even the looks and performance that would move me to buy a car. It's the service and support from the dealer and manufacturer that sells a car to me. GM, Chrysler, and Ford don't have it like Toyota does.

[Kal-El]

Originally Posted by r3b3l

to be more accurate I would say they are taking a step in the right direction, albeit a small step, it is forward progress.

You would seriously consider this only a "small step"?

The reality is that this will be the best car in the compact class in 2011. We'll have to wait and see what Honda has in store with the next civic though whichb is soon due as well. The corolla, a car I love in "S" form, doesn't come close and we won't see a new one for 3 years.

I'd like to hear why you think this is just a small step in the right direction.

[Kal-El]

Originally Posted by PK198105

because as much as they have improved they are still a Ford and that interior as much as it is cool and trendy will be broken within 48 months. Yes Ford did the right thing when they realized that it is better to follow the lead of Japanese car makers but they are still playing catchup and they are far from being close. Your post reflects a typical North American consumer who is influenced by the packaging rather than content, and I'm sorry but some of the "innovations" that Ford is putting out there are just plain silly. I already witnessed a Ford Fusion Hybrid owner being so concentrated on making his Green tree grow on the dash he took a one way street against traffic..... One thing I do like about some Fords is the capless gas tank, makes it feel a bit like a fighter jet refueling process. All in all the new Focus is nice, but I want to see more proof about their reliability and maintenance cost before I buy any product from them. Other than that Ford is a ok in my book as they tried and succeed in saving themselves by themselves .

BTW that door latch on the inside is completely against physics, can you imagine how hard it will be to open the door when the latch is located so close to the hinges? someone forgot their physics 101 in the engineering department

And your post reflects an ignorance of the immense improvement Ford has made in the last 3-4 years under the new CEOs direction.

You have clearly not heard that Ford's such as the Fusion are rated over Camry and Accord in QUALITY as well as driving dynamics. The fusion hybrid also beats the Camry hybrid easily in efficiency.

I know your argument may ask about long term reliability and that is legitimate. Only true time will tell. So far though, Ford's from the last 4 years are on top of their game.

I'm surprised by the negativity so far. There's a thread about in on a Lexus forum that is praising this as the best compact ever and their standards are very tough as Lexus owners.

[supmet]

Originally Posted by Kal-El

I know your argument may ask about long term reliability and that is legitimate. Only true time will tell. So far though, Ford's from the last 4 years are on top of their game.

You have the answer but you don't get it. Long term reliability is ALL that matters, and has yet to be proven in new fords. Consumer reports can blow hot air up everyone else's ass, but conscious consumers wait for proof. All I have proving ford's reliability is a bunch of reviews from some paid off writer. Toyota's on the other hand, I can't get to the corner gas station without seeing a 70s or 80s corolla still beating around.

I don't get why you don't understand most people believe real world statistics over some marketing campaign....

[talnlnky]

Originally Posted by Kal-El

Still wouldn't count on them lasting as long as the Corolla and Civic but these are very compelling cars.
:

The last 3-year study I saw (JD Power i think)... put Honda down in the teens on the list... and was closely followed by Ford. Toyota and lexus were both in the top 5 I believe.

So... i'll believe the ford will last as long as a civic... but not until the 2nd or 3rd year of this car is made and they are allowed to work out some of the glitches.

[Thirty-Nine]

Nice. I think the new Focus looks fantastic.

[Sabretooth]

Looks awesome, If they can figure out that people here want an ST model that is Euro Spec based...I will be in line for my Focus ST Turbo Hatchback ;)

[mr9865]

Originally Posted by supmet

You have the answer but you don't get it. Long term reliability is ALL that matters, and has yet to be proven in new fords. Consumer reports can blow hot air up everyone else's ass, but conscious consumers wait for proof. All I have proving ford's reliability is a bunch of reviews from some paid off writer. Toyota's on the other hand, I can't get to the corner gas station without seeing a 70s or 80s corolla still beating around.

I don't get why you don't understand most people believe real world statistics over some marketing campaign....

You really see cars that old evertime you are at the gas station? I never see anything cool only 90s and 2000s autos

[Kal-El]

Originally Posted by supmet

You have the answer but you don't get it. Long term reliability is ALL that matters, and has yet to be proven in new fords. Consumer reports can blow hot air up everyone else's ass, but conscious consumers wait for proof. All I have proving ford's reliability is a bunch of reviews from some paid off writer. Toyota's on the other hand, I can't get to the corner gas station without seeing a 70s or 80s corolla still beating around.

I don't get why you don't understand most people believe real world statistics over some marketing campaign....

What marketing campaign? I don't listen to any advertising. I know full well it's just a bunch of crap most of the time. My knowledge isn't based on what Ford or any automaker says about their own product. My knowledge is based on pure reality. Working at a car dealer, I drive most of the cars out there at different age and mileage levels and see first hand how cars hold up.

My primary purchase priority is long term reliability too. Why did I buy the Yaris if I "don't get it".

Even with my support for Ford, I'm still a Toyota guy and will more than likely only buy Toyota long into the future. I'm just saying that it's foolish to dismiss what Ford is now because they were crap in the past. Do you guys not remember that Toyota and Honda was once crap too? What if we never gave them a chance after the 70's? Things can change quick, just look at Hyundai who also rate among the best in quality.

Time to stop living in the past.

[jekqmb]

Ill keep my Yota, cause it will be running while that ford breaks down a few years down the road..

[Kal-El]

An interesting read. A background story.

January 10, 2010
Ford’s Bet: It’s a Small World After All
By BILL VLASIC DEARBORN, Mich.

HE blew into the Ford Motor Company in 2006 as an outsider from a different industry, and he was hailed as the latest in a long line of purported saviors of a faltering, century-old automotive icon.

At the time, skeptics in the clubby world of auto executives whispered that the newcomer, Alan R. Mulally, would be swallowed up by the complexities of the car business, his ebullient personality smothered by the feudal infighting for which Ford had long been famous.

Yet three years into his tenure as chief executive — and with a host of still nettlesome challenges awaiting him — Mr. Mulally has thus far proved to be the unifying figure that Ford has needed for decades.

His vision is distilled in the laminated, wallet-size cards carried by tens of thousands of Ford employees that spell out his management principles beneath a simple heading: “One Ford ... One Team ... One Plan ... One Goal.” And on Monday, at the opening press conference of the 2010 Detroit auto show, Mr. Mulally will unveil the car that embodies his strategy for returning Ford to its status as a leader in the global auto industry.

That car, the new Ford Focus, is arguably as important to Mr. Mulally as the Model T was to Henry Ford, the founder. Despite some previous efforts, the Focus is Ford’s first truly global car — a single vehicle designed and engineered for customers in every region of the world and sold under one name. It is small, fuel-efficient and packed with technology and safety features that, Mr. Mulally believes, will appeal to consumers in Europe, Asia and the Americas.

The car also represents what Mr. Mulally calls the “proof point” of everything he has done since joining Ford after a 37-year career with Boeing: he hopes that the vehicle will provide a rolling blueprint for generations of Ford cars to come.

“If we were going to be world-class, we needed to pull together and leverage and use our global assets around the world to create a powerhouse ‘One Ford,’ ” he said in an interview in his office at Ford’s headquarters. “It’s exactly why we are here.”

In an industry populated by naysayers and familiar with wrenching disappointment, Mr. Mulally’s doubters have largely disappeared because he has already delivered more than what was expected of him when he replaced Ford’s chairman, William C. Ford Jr., as chief executive.

One of Mr. Mulally’s first, prescient acts in 2006 was to borrow $24 billion, which later gave Ford the cash it needed to stave off the government-sponsored bankruptcies of its crosstown rivals General Motors and Chrysler. He has also shifted Ford’s emphasis away from trucks and sport utility vehicles to cars and crossover vehicles, and dumped luxury brands like Land Rover, Jaguar and Aston-Martin that were consuming Ford’s resources and distracting management.

Perhaps most important, Ford has shrunk drastically, shedding jobs and factories to better align its production with demand. For decades, Ford executives and workers labored inside a bureaucracy that made decision-making cumbersome and often undermined dexterous responses to market shifts. It was a system that also withstood repeated efforts by others to streamline it.

But under Mr. Mulally’s hand — and in response to a downturn that threatened the very existence of Detroit’s Big Three — Ford has finally started to run a tighter ship.

All of this is beginning to show up in Ford’s bottom line. It reported $1 billion in earnings in the third quarter of 2009, its first profitable quarter in nearly two years. Mr. Mulally, however, says he doesn’t expect Ford to become “consistently” profitable until 2011. (Coincidentally, that’s when the new Focus will begin appearing in sizable volumes in the United States and Europe.)

While the Focus is only one of several new products on the way, it is the centerpiece of Ford’s transformation from a truck-heavy manufacturer to a producer of smaller, lighter and more environmentally friendly passenger cars.

The impact of the Focus on Ford’s global operations is even more significant. While Ford has been an international company since early in the 20th century, its overseas divisions have long operated as semiautonomous units geared to individual markets.

In the 1990s, Alexander Trotman, then its chief executive, developed a plan called Ford 2000 to standardize some vehicles around the world. The new system saved money, but the products it yielded were successes in some markets and flops in others. The initiative was summarily dropped by Mr. Trotman’s successor, Jacques A. Nasser.

Upon his arrival, Mr. Mulally took his own shot at knitting together Ford’s far-flung operations, seeking the economies of scale that a “world car” could bring.

“Why are we doing it this way?” he asks. “Because we believe the customer requirements are going to be more the same around the world than they are different.”

INDUSTRY analysts have long derided Detroit automakers as being overly fixated on the United States market and unable to see how vehicles designed for Europeans and Asians could appeal to American consumers.

“There’s nothing revolutionary about selling the same car around the world,” says John Casesa, an industry consultant. “Toyota does it. BMW does it. But the Detroit companies were always disproportionately run around their North American strategy.”

In that regard, the Focus is Ford’s first big bet that it can effectively sell a single, largely uniform car — with variations to come later — in several global markets. Currently, the company has three engineering “platforms” serving what the industry calls the C-car segment — essentially, compact vehicles the size of a Toyota Corolla or a Honda Civic. The three platforms account for annual sales of about 1.1 million vehicles, although the various models are substantially different inside and out.

The new Focus is built on one platform for all markets, from Shanghai to Seville to Seattle. The platform is also flexible enough that it can be adapted for different body styles, whether hatchbacks or small crossover vehicles.

Within a few years, Ford expects to sell as many as two million vehicles a year off the new C-car platform and to save billions of dollars in costs by avoiding multiple platforms.

“The Focus represents the first tangible evidence of a global strategy,” says Mr. Casesa. “For the first time, Ford is executing it and not just talking about it.”

A YOUTHFUL-LOOKING 64-year-old with close-cropped red hair and a toothy smile, Mr. Mulally is relentlessly optimistic and perpetually in motion. Educated in engineering at the University of Kansas, a father of five and married for nearly 40 years, he can be so exuberant that he’ll sometimes hug people the first time he meets them.

But Ford executives quickly learned that beneath that sunny disposition was a demanding and competitive executive.

“The very first conversation I had with Alan was around the opportunities that we had never taken full advantage of here at Ford,” says Derrick M. Kuzak, a 30-year Ford veteran and the head of global product development.

Mr. Mulally saw Ford as a messy conglomerate of brands, divisions and international businesses that obscured its best asset: the Ford brand and its blue oval badge.

Why, he asked executives repeatedly, did the company insist on pouring money and resources into Volvos and Jaguars when its Ford product line was a mishmash of Mustangs, S.U.V.’s and pickup trucks?

“We made a strategic decision to move from a house of brands to a laser focus on Ford,” Mr. Mulally says. “That brand clarity was going to be absolutely essential and a competitive advantage.”

He was also prepared to stake Ford’s future on a thesis that consumers around the world are becoming more and more alike, and that what they want in a car is the same in China and India as it is in Germany or the United States.

After all, customers in disparate markets were already showing preferences for the same attributes in cars: safety, technology, fuel efficiency and appearance. The Internet was allowing car buyers everywhere to pore over the specifications of vehicles available in the United States or Europe, enabling consumers in developing countries to home in on quality products in mature markets and empowering them not to settle for lesser products.

“Everybody knows everything, and everybody knows what’s available,” says Mr. Mulally. “You look at the reasons people buy vehicles, and all those requirements are coming together.”

The first planning sessions for the global Focus kicked off in late 2007, a year after Mr. Mulally came aboard. He told executives that it was crucial to design a single model that could serve many markets, and challenged the conventional wisdom that parts of the car had to be tailor-made for different regions of the world.

Gunnar Herrmann, head of the Focus project, recalled how Mr. Mulally kept referring to his years of developing airplanes that were the same no matter where they flew.

“He said, you guys are always doing multiple doors on these cars; at Boeing, we have only one door,” Mr. Herrmann remembers.

Mr. Kuzak and Mr. Herrmann were assigned to create a development team that had European engineers and designers at its core, but also included members from Asia and the Americas. Mr. Herrmann assigned the team to develop a “program paper” that laid out projections for production volumes, market-share targets and competition. He says he ended up receiving a hefty document larded with traditional Ford approaches to doing business.

The paper was 150 pages long and contained separate analyses for Europe, Asia and North America. Rather than zeroing in on common goals for the three regions, the sections emphasized the differences. Mr. Herrmann says he threw it back at the team. “Where is the common denominator here, so we can do a single car?” he recalls asking.

His boss, Mr. Kuzak, had spent his three decades with Ford working here and abroad and was keenly aware of how the company’s past practices could weigh it down — and how important it was to embrace Mr. Mulally’s emphasis on global product development.

“It would allow us to bring our vehicles to market quicker than we have ever been able to do in the past,” Mr. Kuzak says. “The benefits were in the neighborhood of 25 percent to almost 50 percent quicker time to market.”

So the Focus team ended up rallying around a few main objectives. The car had to drive and handle like a European sedan and have the creature comforts like wireless Internet access that American consumers demanded.

When it came to designing the exterior of the vehicle, the team faced a quandary. Whereas European and American buyers appreciate flair, Chinese consumers, in particular, have more conservative tastes. In the past, Mr. Herrmann, said, Ford would have designed separate bumpers and headlights for the different markets. That approach, however, wouldn’t fly with Mr. Mulally.

In the end, the Focus team came up with a front end with a low-set, three-part grille and tapered headlights. The look is striking but not too flashy, and the team was given freer rein to make the hatchback version sportier than the four-door sedan model.

TOWARD the end of 2008, Ford conducted dozens of market research clinics with potential customers in several countries. In the clinics, the team learned that it could tailor the interior of the Focus for different regions by simply changing colors and materials rather than pursuing larger design changes that would have been more complex and expensive to manufacture.

The development process entered the home stretch last April, when the first prototypes were presented to Mr. Kuzak for a test drive. Beyond look and feel, he was focused on sound: he wanted to be sure the car was quiet when driven.“We needed to elevate customers’ perception of our cars,” he says. “When I drive the vehicle, I am the customer. We needed it to be refined.”

The team gathered at the company’s test track in Lommel, Belgium, on the day Mr. Kuzak came to test the Focus. “Any time the boss drives the prototype, you think, ‘I hope we survive this,’ ” says Mr. Herrmann. But after he had driven the car, Mr. Kuzak broke into a big smile. “They exceeded my expectations,” Mr. Kuzak recalls.

THE Focus is also serving as a laboratory for sweeping changes in how Ford markets its vehicles. Ford’s previous C-car models had not only different and distinct engineering platforms, but also as many as 20 advertising campaigns. James Farley, Ford’s global marketing chief, said the new Focus would have just four or five ad strategies around the world.

Mr. Farley says that in the past, Ford had to shape the ads based on vehicles’ differences. Now, any variation will be based on the campaign’s audience.

“This is not a one-size-fits-all effort,” he cautions. “But the diversity of the marketing is created by the customers we want to reach, and not by the differences in the vehicles.”

Analysts view the Focus project as a significant step forward for a company that, for years, had been burdened by the weight of its own complexity. Aaron Bragman, an analyst with IHS Global Insight, compared the new direction to Toyota’s systemic approach of building high-quality vehicles that have a singular identity and global appeal.

“In its history, Toyota’s growth was basically organic,” says Mr. Bragman. “They used the same production system everywhere, and sold the same cars everywhere. Their success was all in the execution.”

For his part, Mr. Mulally has long been an unabashed admirer of Toyota, and he relishes the comparison. He also makes no apologies for Ford’s dependence in the past on selling pickup trucks and big S.U.V.’s to earn profits. With the new Focus and other passenger cars in the product pipeline, he expects to compete head-on with Toyota, Honda and other leaders in the car market.

That won’t be easy. Japanese auto companies still dominate the small-car segment in the United States, and their customers have proved very loyal to the brands. G.M., now out of bankruptcy and well financed with government money, is also laying the groundwork for its own product offensive.

Moreover, Ford has yet to prove it can command healthy prices for cars that were historically sold on the cheap.

“The biggest issue that Ford is going to have to deal with is convincing hundreds of thousands of people to pay premium prices for small cars that used to be a bargain,” says Joseph Phillippi, a principal of Auto Trends Consulting.

Mr. Mulally promises that Ford is up to the challenge. “We can make cars and make them profitable,” he says. “You know how much money Toyota has made on cars? The new Ford can make money on all of its vehicles.”

He concedes that Ford’s rebirth is a work in progress. But within three years, as many as 80 percent of Ford’s products will be built on global platforms, Mr. Mulally says. It is the essence of a strategy to simplify a sprawling, complicated company, leverage its still vast resources and talent, and try to change its direction forever.

The company must still show that it can earn profits quarter after quarter, and not allow its costs to creep up in its pursuit of more sales worldwide. And Mr. Mulally has to be wary of overconfidence after his recent success. “There’s no question that he has to keep the pressure on constantly,” says Mr. Phillippi.

Ford did dodge the bankruptcy bullet that hit G.M. and Chrysler, and many consumers are gravitating to it precisely because the company did not need a government bailout. That momentum should help as it brings new cars like the Focus to its dealer showrooms.

What Ford won’t do is change direction again, at least not under Mr. Mulally’s watch. He promises that he — and Ford’s 200,000 employees — will not waver from his “point of view” about the future of the auto industry.

“That is what strategy is all about,” he says. “It’s about a point of view about the future and then making decisions based on that. The worst thing you can do is not have a point of view, and not make decisions.”

[Goose]

My experience with Ford was with a basic Ranger that I owned for a while. Although the truck never gave me any trouble, it was not an impressive piece of engineering. I had a basic Tacoma some time later and it was light-years ahead of the Ford in terms of ride quality and overall drivability.

The new Focus looks like a solid effort, although it appears that Ford's domestic designers got to the interior. The original Euro interior looked much better. I'm sure the Focus will be reliable, but I'll bet the resale value will be poor versus the Toyota.

Edit: Sorry - I had to add more. What is it with American car interiors? The Euro Focus looked clean and simple; the interior pictured above looks like a bad video game.

[BluYrs]

I think it looks great and if Ford's product development so far is anything to go by, it will be a decent car with great driving characteristics. Nice to see Ford are trying to add a bit of excitement to the class. Then again "interestring" designs tend to age worse than their more classic counterparts.

The hackback reminds me of the Mazda 3 and no wonder, they share platforms. Keeping this in mind, I think current Mazda 3 drivers will recognize more of the new Focus than current US Focus drivers will...

I'm a little doubtful of the sedan, because I've always found compact (as you call them) or small middle class sedans a bit awkward. The Corolla might be the only exception, but I think the Mazda 3 sedan looks just plain stupid.

Actually, my dad drives the current Focus hatchback. I've driven it a few times and I have to say it handles well and is quite nicely built. That said, it does depreciate quicker than a Toyota equivalent.