Ford Focus 2009 News

... to take on the most competitive segment in this country. It's up against a classy field including Mazda3, Corolla, Lancer and locally-built Holden Cruze as well as VW Golf. But new Focus has plenty to recommend it ushering in a dynamic new look with real cut-through on the street and a classy new interior featuring Ford's acclaimed kinetic design language. Two distinctive bodystyles are available, sedan and hatch, each with its own appeal. Drivers will no doubt appreciate the cockpit-style driving environment yet the cabin has lost none of the comfort and practicality that has become a characteristic of Focus. Within the two bodystyles there are  three powertrains and four specification levels. The car has an impressive array of smart technologies, outstanding occupant safety and further advances in levels of driving quality. The strength of new Focus's body is down to extensive use of high-strength steels. Fifty-five per cent of the body shell is made of high-strength steels, of which 31 per cent is ultra-tough boron steel, more than any other Ford built to date. Meanwhile, high-strength steel is used in the integrated door opening reinforcement rings and door load paths to provide excellent protection from side impacts. New Focus also features a patented front chassis subframe, which de-couples during severe frontal impacts, avoiding deformation in the passenger cell footwell area. Pedestrian protection has been boosted by the addition of a "soft" cowl design in the front body structure and Ford has also relocated the windscreen wiper system to help further reduce injury risks. Option packages such as the Convenience Pack bring new technology to Focus. The well-specified mid-level Trend model is $24,490 for the 2.0-litre GDi petrol engine with five-speed manual transmission. Focus Sport has a greater emphasis on driving enjoyment. Key features include sports suspension, 17-inch alloy wheels, sports front seats, dual zone climate control and a Sony audio system with 4.2-inch colour screen and multi-function display. Sport also scores the Convenience Pack as standard equipment. It is more comprehensively equipped than the outgoing Zetec model. Focus Titanium has even more goodies and sells from a starting price of $32,590 for 2.0-litre GDi engine and six-speed PowerShift transmission variants. Needless to say, Focus is a key element of the Ford product portfolio in Australia. Expect a "European" feel to the car's dynamics and impressive fuel economy from the diesel model. The double clutch Powershift manumatic would be difficult to overlook for everyday and sporty driving as it offers the best of both worlds and an extra gear over the manual which is five speed only. What happened to the six-speed manual? NEED TO KNOW Four variants; Ambiente, Trend, Sport and Titanium. Engines: 1.6-litre four cylinder or new 2.0-litre GDi (Gasoline Direct Injection) and a 2.0-litre Duratorq TDCi turbodiesel. Dual clutch six-speed Powershift manumatic is available, manual `box is a five- speed. First appearance in Focus of rain sensing wipers, auto headlights and auto dim rear view mirror, follow me home lights. Available in five door hatch and four door sedan. Five star crash rating. Prices start at $21,990.

...as Australia returns to the series for the first time in more than five years this week.Mikko Hirvonen has a narrow points lead over five-time world champion Sebastian Loeb before Repco Rally Australia and knows he needs to win on the far north coast of NSW. There are only three events still to run in the 2009 world title and Hirvonen intends to exploit his advantage on unsealed surfaces, where he cut his teeth in rallying, to blunt Loeb's edge on the single bitumen event.But Hirvonen, in Sydney yesterday, said he is not feeling any extra pressure. "I don't feel any pressure. We have good rallies behind us. I am leading the championship," Hirvonen said. "Ok, it starts to be quite exciting now. I hope we can win, for sure. I'm really confident."Rally Australia will be a two-way tussle between Hirvonen and Loeb, as there are only two factory teams in this year's championship and the Finn's Ford team mate Jari-Matti Latvala and Loeb's Citroen sidekick Dani Sordo are both expected to run in supporting roles.But there will be plenty of other interest, as former Australian champions Neal Bates in a Toyota Corolla and Cody Crocker in a Subaru look to be the first local home. "This is the biggest event of the year, for sure. We're definitely looking to be the best of the Australians," Bates said yesterday. There is also the prospect of a different type of battle with anti- rally protesters - who failed last week with a Federal Court challenge to the event - planning to disrupt the rally, which is based south of Tweed Heads.Hirvonen did not want to comment on the anti-rally feeling, preferring to concentrate on the competition. "I do not know enough to say anything," he said.But he knows how to get the best from his high-powered, $500,000 Ford Focus, which has been the car to beat through the second half of the world championship. Hirvonen will start first, which can be a disadvantage as drivers battle for grip on loose surfaces, but believes his car is the best. "The car has been going very well. I will know more once we fly up to the rally tomorrow (MON) and after we recce the course from Tuesday," he said. "But it doesn't really matter. I'm sure it will be pretty fast, and the time differences between the drivers will be very small. A small mistake could be very costly." 

The Fiesta RS and Focus RS are setting a new standard for compact performance in Europe but have yet to make the mark for Australia. Ford Australia says it is already beating its sales targets with the Fiesta and Focus and has no immediate plan to add the sporty go cars to the mix."You have to be smart about it, you can do niche models but you have to be really intentional about what you're going to do with it when you bring it," says Beth Donovan, vice-president for sales and marketing. "It's early days but we're pleased with the variety of buyers that we're getting, and we're certainly getting plenty of conquest, which is important in this market, it's about growth."She says Ford's feedback shows the latest compacts are bring buyers who have not looking at Ford for "a long time." The sales of Fiesta mean anyone waiting for the on-again, off-again RS Fiesta must still wait, although Ford hasn't ruled it out."We have Zetec, we're looking at something above that - we're selling a high-end model mix at the moment, a lot of the customers want it to look sporty but don't necessarily need the powertrain," Donovan says.There is already an XR5 turbo in the larger Focus and Donovan says there are plenty of people taking the car. "We still have XR5, which is a great little package - we do well with that car, the dealers have people lining up for them," she says.European Ford buyers can upgrade to the Focus RS, which is propelled by an upgraded version of the XR5's 2.5-litre in-line five-cylinder which produces 224kW and 440Nm.

We've now had three different presidents with three very different plans for the company's future and the latest one, reported in detail this week, has some significant holes.When Tom Gorman was in the big chair he was certain the Falcon should be switched to a V6 engine, then Bill Osborne arrived and changed the focus to local production of the baby Focus.Now we have Marin Burela and the Focus is dead, probably with production to move to Thailand for duty-free imports to Australia, and the new plan calls for a four-cylinder Falcon with much more work on diesel and LPG power for the Falcon and Territory."We have a lot planned," says Burela.Yet none of these plans have become a reality and the latest one shows very little of the detail needed to generate real enthusiasm. There is talk of a diesel engine for the Territory, but no confirmation of a second-generation model.The Falcon engine developments look good on paper, but do very little to make it more attractive as an export car. And that's the big question. How does Ford Australia now fit into the company's global strategy?The Focus plan would have linked Australia to the Asia-Pacific region but we now have to wait and see if the Falcon and Territory can survive only as locals, or if they can become export earners.The end of the Focus plan is bad news for the component suppliers who would have won fresh business, and could also hurt the other local carmakers - Toyota and GM Holden - who are relying on suppliers to keep their business models working.I always like to keep my glass half full and I'm hoping the Burela plan will work. But there are lots of questions still to be answered. 

The company already gets the Escape off-roader from Taiwan and Ranger ute out of Thailand, which will be joined mid-2010 by the Fiesta hatch. Now an as-yet unnamed Asian plant will build the next-generation global Focus sedan and hatch for local launch in 2011."But in terms of the detail and what location in Asia it is still to be finalised," according to Ford Australia president, Marin Burela. A decision is expected within a few months. Thailand is unlikely despite a $608 million upgrade to the Auto Alliance Thailand joint-venture plant at Rayong south-east of Bangkok.Ford announced earlier this year that the upgrade would allow AAT to lift production capacity from 175,000 to 275,000 vehicles a year, building the Mazda2 and Fiesta for export markets. If AAT had the capacity for Focus, Thailand would be attractive as Australia enjoys a free trade agreement with zero tariffs with the Asian country.Burela backs his decision to cancel local Focus production. He says the global car industry was different back in July 2007 when Ford originally announced it would build 40,000 Focuses a year at Broadmeadows, with 15,000 exported to Asian and African markets.Since then the industry has been rocked by the global financial crisis. "The economic climate has changed," Burela says. "When we made this decision in 2007 it was the right decision at that time. Since then the world has changed and the rules have changed completely."The decision to abandon the Focus Broadmeadows plan was not taken lightly. "I think we're responding absolutely appropriately with the direction that we're taking," he says. "We came to the conclusion that to make a small car viable with the right level of technology, feature, content, styling in this country we needed to bring the most competitive levels of opportunity with that vehicle""We recognised, after studying this to death, that there was just no appropriate way for us to be able to do that by producing the vehicle locally."Burela is confident the next-generation Focus will lift the company's ability to compete in the C-car segment. "The C-car segment is very crowded," he says. "There are 24 different competitors fighting for 180,000 units in this country."The key for success here is you have to make it right, it has to be competitive and it has to have the highest level of technology, features and content. We are so confident we will deliver."

...four years after its global launch in Europe. The small family car replaced the Ford Laser here, New Zealand and Japan; and the Ford Escort in Europe, South and North America and South Africa.The Focus has become increasingly popular worldwide and is now the 39th most purchased nameplate globally.Since 1999, the Focus has been heavily involved in motorsport, debuting at the Monte Carlo Rally.Ford Focus Mk 1 The Focus Mk 1 was produced between 1998 and 2004 and included three and five-door hatchbacks, a four-door sedan and a five-door wagon.Codenamed CW170, the Focus introduced critically-acclaimed fully independent multi-link rear suspension, derived from the Mondeo wagon, to give class leading ride and handling. Ford managed to do this very cost-effectively.The interior was panned however, compared with the Holden Astra and Volkswagen Golf.The Mk 1 Focus remains in production in Argentina where it known as the Focus One. It is also still marketed in Brazil.In 2001 the Focus received a facelift that included revised headlamps and bumpers, a six disc sound system, modifications to the interior and a new TDCi engine.Mk 1 petrol engines were the 1.8 and 2.0 litre Zetec-E and the 1.4 and 1.6 litre Zetec-SE. The Endura TDDi was replaced by the Duratorq TDCi in 2001. Performance engines were modified versions of the 2.0 litre Zetec-E.Variants included the CL, LX, Zetec, Ghia and the performance ST170 and RS(2002-2004).Ford Focus Mk 2 Produced since 2004, the Ford Focus Mk 2 was launched at the Paris Motor Show on September 23 of that year. It launched with a three and five door hatch, a four door sedan, a five door wagon and a two door coupe cabriolet.Under Ford’s “Global Shared Technologies” program, the Focus uses the same platform as the Volvo S40, V50, C70, the Mazda3.The Mk2 is quite a deal larger than the Mk 1 but has kept almost the same suspension set-up. It shares the design language of the Mondeo and Fiesta and follows the same interior and dash design as the Mondeo.The Focus sold in Australia is exported from factories in South Africa. Initially New Zealand received the same cars but now imports from Germany.Safety improved for the Mk 2. It achieved a perfect five EuroNCAP stars, beating regular class leaders like the Renault Megane and Volkswagen Golf. It also received five ANCAP stars here in Australia.The 1.4 and 1.6 litre Zetec-SE engines were carried over from Mk 1 and renamed Duratec, but that was where the consistency ended. The new petrol engines included a 1.8 litre Duratec Ti-VCT, a 1.8 and 2.0 litre Duratec-HE, a 2.5 litre Duratec turbo 15. The diesels were the 1.6, 1.8 and 2.0 litre Duratorq.Variants included the Studio, Style, Zetec, Ghia and Titanium. Optional X-Packs were also available.A facelift revealed at the 2007 Frankfurt Motor Show included a reworked design language, softer interior plastics, a new transmission and the Duratorq TDCi engine. ECOnetic and ST were the new trims.In 2008 the Zetec S was introduced that added a sporty body kit.Ford Focus Mk 3 The Mk 3 Focus – in production in Europe - will have the same model spread as today, but is expected to have better performance with improved fuel consumption and emissions. It will also have an ECOnetic hero car with benchmark economy and emissions.We should see the new car in 2011, out of Victoria’s Broadmeadows factory.There is also likely to be the global launch of an electric Focus called the RV in the same year.Focus RS Ford predicted that the Focus RS would do well to invigorate the Ford RS brand but they didn’t expect how popular it would actually get.Ford have nailed the styling in the latest version and its performance at 5.9 seconds to 100km/h and affordability means that it is sure to continue selling well. 

In the blue corner, Ford is getting to within a whisker of Holden in the red corner in the passenger car sales race. Last month Ford came to within 1 per cent of Holden's share of vehicle sales. Ford had 11.2 per cent of the May market versus 12.2 per cent for Holden.Holden is still ahead in year-to-date terms with a total vehicle share of 12.5 per cent against Ford's 10.3 per cent but the individual model count shows the gap is closing.Sales of the tradies' favourite, the Falcon and Holden utes, are with 0.1 per cent of each other this year. The Falcon ute has a 17.2 per cent market share and the Commodore ute a 17.1 share.In overall terms Ford has experienced a modest gain in passenger car market share, up from 9.5 per cent last year to 10.5 per cent this year. By comparison, Holden's passenger share has remained relatively stagnant since last year but the Red Lion brand is still ahead by 3.9 per cent.Ford is soon to ramp up its marketing message by launching a Fiesta and Focus assault on its toughest market, Sydney, to go head to head against Toyota."Sydney remains our toughest market," Burela says.At the other end of the Ford scale Burela says the FG Falcon, after a slow sales start at launch last year, is gradually winning over large car buyers.In overall terms both sedan and ute sales are still down 2 per cent and 14 per cent, but importantly Falcon, along with the VE Commodore, is improving its large car market share. The Falcon's share of the large car sales pie has increased this year to 31 per cent against 25 per cent for the same period last year. The Commodore's share has increased from 42 per cent to 47 per cent.Burela says the FG is also bringing younger buyers to the brand. The average age of a Falcon owner has also come down from 55 to between 35 and 45. Although it is still too early to forecast full-blown large car recovery, Burela believes the signs are good.A key indicator for Falcon's climb back into buyers' minds is that Ford is selling a richer, more profitable, mix of high-end FG Falcons than the previous model.The XR sports models are the most popular, accounting for more than 50 per cent of FG sales, followed by the luxury G-Series cars, with 43 per cent and the XT accounting for 4.5 per cent. In the previous Falcon the XT was by far the most popular car, accounting for 60 per cent of sales.With Holden's new VF Commodore around the corner, Ford plans to respond with a range of initiatives to maintain its FG sales momentum by promoting the car's economy and technology.

Power play Will Power was the best-placed Australian in the Indianapolis 500, finishing fifth for Penske as his team mate Helio Castroneves took his third victory at the Brickyard. Power was in contention for a while but faded like Ryan Briscoe, who only managed 15th after a tyre problem ten a late fuel stop for the third Penske car dropped him way back in the pack.Latvala bests Loeb CRASH-prone Jari-Matti Latvala finally ended Sebastian Loeb's winning streak in the world rally championship with victory in Sardinia last weekend. Latvala was helped when Loeb lost a minute changing a tyre then another four with a penalty, but still came home on top in his Ford Focus with his team mate Mikko Hirvonen second and Petter Solberg third in his private Citroen.Kelly joins 100 Club RICK Kelly becomes the youngest member of the '100 Club' this weekend in Tasmania when he makes his 100th V8 Supercar start with Jack Daniels Racing. Ironically, the former champion will be taking the 'youngest' title from his older brother, Todd.Castroneves wins pitstop challenge HELIO Castroneves got an early victory in Indy 500 week when he and his Penske team won the pitstop challenge. The team took just 7.962 seconds to change four tyres in the final, when they beat Marco Andretti of Andretti-Green Racing, but they needed to set a record of 7.636 seconds in the semi-final to beat their Penske team mates on Ryan Briscoe's car.Davison improves JAMES Davison was sixth in the Indy Lights curtain-raiser to the Indy 500, four places better than his starting spot for the event. "A sixth-place finish is definitely nothing to be ashamed of," Davison says.Finke practice for Dakar team BRUCE Garland and Harry Suzuki begin their build-up to the 2010 Dakar Rally next month with a start in Australia's biggest off-road event, the Finke Desert Race at Alice Springs. The Isuzu D-Max crew will be out to better their 11th place in this year's Dakar and, as one of the favourites for the Finke, intend to test new go-fast parts during the Northern Territory sprint.Martin solid in Monaco Australia's A1GP regular John Martin took a solid 12th at Monaco in his first Renault 3.5 race. The youngster is looking for more openwheel experience and took up a guest drive in one of the supporting races at the biggest F1 event of the season.FIA GT and DTM on TV THE motorsport content on the new ONE HD channel has been boosted by coverage of two classes not previously seen in Australia. The FIA GT series, for road-going sports cars, and the DTM, or German touring car championship, have just been added to the channel for their 2009 seasons.GT race joins V8 Supercar rounds GT sports cars have joined the support race program for the two biggest V8 Supercar events of 2009. The Australian GT championship will now run on the undercard at the Bathurst 1000 and the new Telstra 500 at Homebush in Sydney.

No-one is a stronger believer in the blue oval and the Falcon, Focus and Fiesta - especially the Fiesta - are among my personal favourites.But we have to blow the whistle on the quality problems at Broadmeadows after months of letters, emails and telephone calls complaining about everything from brakes to rust, paint to balljoints.Graham Smith has his own take on things in Ask Smithy today, as well as a huge collection of complaining emails from Falcon and Territory owners. So it's not us kicking Ford, but the people who paid for a car in the belief it would do their job without drama.And now I've had a couple of other worrying emails.The first, from a brake repair specialist in Melbourne, raises again the question of the faulty brake hoses in Falcons."Ford should go down to a taxi repair shop and see what their failure rate is," he says."Admitting their own figures of two per cent affected is worse than they think, that means one in 50 BA Fords have gone barreling down the road with brake failure . . . and this is only the cars that have failed so far."Also, I expect that their two per cent rate is a survey of the cars being fixed by Ford dealer workshops, but the majority are being repaired by the aftermarket because the cars are out of warranty and Ford are probably not counting these. We even had one here this week that was still IN warrantee but the owner preferred to pay us to fix it properly. "Then I had a call just yesterday from a mechanic who had a hose fail whilst road testing a customer's car and ended up crashing through a fence."Then, as I looked at the update work on the Ford Territory, I got an email from Scott Pedder. He is one of the top men at Pedders Suspension, which has seen a lot of repair work on front balljoints in the Ford SUV.Ford claims no major mechanical changes in the 2009 update of the Territory but Pedder highlights the complete overhaul of the front balljoints. It's not just a change of component, but a re-work of the way the front end operates."One of the most noticeable and welcomed changes is the repositioning of the load carrying lower ball joint of the rear lower arm," Pedder says."The original ball joint was incorporated into the lower arm and attached to the steering knuckle in a "pull apart" situation which meant all of the vehicle weight was constantly trying to pull the ball joint out of its socket. The new design has moved what appears to be a larger and more robust ball joint to the steering knuckle itself and it then has the stud fitted through a taper hole in the lower arm in a "push together" scenario."The new design is a big step forward in making an already great vehicle even better."But what about the people who already have a Territory and have run into wear problems with the front balljoints? 

Two months after Ford Australia fixed a potentially dangerous brake defect on some versions of its Territory, the company is now recalling its Focus and Mondeos to check problem with brake vacuum pumps. The recall for the LV Focus and MA Mondeo, built since last year, only affects those with a diesel engine. Ford says under certain conditions the supply of vacuum to the brake booster may be reduced causing a hard brake pedal and increase stopping distances. Ford is contacting known owners by mail. In March, Ford recalled more than 83,000 Territories to fix a brake hose defect which was uncovered by Carsguide after complaints from readers.