Ford Focus 2010 News

The Focus wagon made its debut at the Geneva Motor Show, along with the revelation that a hot performance Focus will also hit the roads some time this year.“There will be an increasingly global approach to our performance Fords in the future,” the company's group vice president of product development , Derrick Kuzak revealed after the wraps came off the Focus wagon. Kuzak said the performance Focus would be a global car, which means it could be heading to Australia. “It will have both left and right hand drive,” he says.However, Kuzak would not be drawn on whether the hot Focus would be sold under the Ford Performance Vehicles banner. “Obviously, it’s a very strong brand,” he says.

Back in 1999, the only diesel-powered vehicles on the Australian market were sports utility vehicles, light commercials and trucks.

The company is also unlikely to build another turbo Territory after the lacklustre reception of its F6X version. FPV boss Rod Barrett says Campbellfield operation will build "fast Falcons" only for the foreseeable future. "We've noted our speciality," he says. Barrett says the Focus would have been a welcomed entry addition to the FPV range but Ford's decision to cancel local production has ended the chance to go up against HSV's hot Astra-based turbo VXR. "If the mothership doesn't produce the mother car, we have got very little opportunity to make a locally-produced Focus now. That was always our waiting game. A hot Focus sourced out of Europe is also unlikely. "We don't do imports," Barrett says. "They are just price-prohibitive for our business case and when the decision was made that the Focus wouldn't be made at Broadmeadows that effectively ended the FPV locally built Focus." With the company building just 2000 hot Falcons a year, Barrett admits the options are few for growing the FPV brand. Although a hot Focus would have given enthusiasts a leg up into an entry FPV, going down the import path to bring in an Focus RS as a badged FPV was no longer an option because of exchanges rates. "We did look at it and then the dollar dropped," he says. Ford of Europe's, Focus RS, which sells in the UK for $52,000, was the likely candidate. The RS has a heavily reworked version of the same five-cylinder turbo petrol engine that powers the XR5 that lifts performance to 224kW/440Nm. To cope with the extra power the RS gets a beefier sports suspension, upgraded brakes, dual exhausts and retuned steering as well as a limited slip differential. The car accelerates to 100km/h in 5.9 seconds and has a top speed of 260km/h. Barrett says that if the company could have got 200 Focus RS models it could have been profitable, with a price under $60,000. Apart from the Focus, Barrett also says there are no plans to revisit the Territory F6X. "It's not in our immediate plans to go back into a Territory at the moment," he says. "We didn't have plans to go into an F6X at the new Territory." Barrett says the F6X was accepted as a very good car but "unfortunately it didn't appeal to the market".

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."

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.    

The 'all new' Mazda 3 shares its mechanical platform with the Volvo C30 and Ford Focus and the engines are basically carried over from the previous 3

Ford has produced the key to parents' peace-of-mind.The U.S. car-making giant has produced a car ignition key to make teen drivers adopt safer and more fuel efficient driver habits.Called “MyKey”, the feature is set to become standard on the 2010 Focus coupe in the U.S. and subsequently will be offered on other U.S. Ford, Lincoln and Mercury models.The key can be used to limit the vehicle's top speed and sound system volume as well as programming the car to issue earlier “low-fuel” warnings. The system, which also can be programmed for alert chimes at several different speeds, reads the ignition key and sets the appropriate driving mode.The standard seatbelt reminder can be extended to include muting the sound system until seatbelts are used. The key also can keep active safety systems - such as parking radar, blindspot warning and stability control - from being deactivated, as well as limiting the top speed to 130km/h.Reduced speeding also is beneficial to fuel economy, which Ford's research says can be improved by as much as 15 per cent driving 88km/h instead of 104km/h.Ford group vice president of Sustainability, Environment and Safety Engineering, Susan Cischke, said the company was committed to crash protection systems and developing new technologies.“MyKey can help promote safer driving, particularly among teens, by encouraging seatbelt use, limiting speed and reducing distractions,” she said.Ford electronics engineering team director Jim Buczkowski said they had upgraded the existing anti-theft system. “Simple software upgrades . . . we've developed a new unique feature that we believe will resonate with customers,” he said.“We also developed MyKey's functions in such a way to quickly spread it across multiple vehicle lines, giving us the ability to go mass market in the spirit of other Ford innovations such as safety belts, stability control and SYNC.”Ford Australia public affairs brand manager Edward Finn said the system was a U.S.-only proposition at this stage. “Ford Australia has a keen interest in new technologies offered by Ford Motor Company and monitors these developments as they are introduced,” he said.“We will consider consumer interest and demand in relation to new developments to ascertain if they are desired in models available for sale in Australia. Until that time, we are not prepared to speculate on future model plans or possible features of new models.”Ford's research shows 75 per cent of parents of teen drivers liked the speed-limiting feature, 72 per cent liked the more insistent safety-belt reminder and 63 per cent liked the audio limit feature.The survey also said about 50 per cent of parents would consider purchasing MyKey and said they would allow their children to use the family vehicle more often if it were equipped with the new technology.The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says teens are more likely to take risks such as speeding - a contributing factor in 30 per cent of all fatal crashes. Teens also are less likely to wear safety belts than older drivers.

In a swiftly changing motoring environment carmakers are searching for new ways to cut fuel use and emissions and improve efficiency.Among the hundreds of concepts and new and updated models on display at the Paris motor show over the next 15 days are some definite standouts. Renault has combined gull-wing doors, comfort, refinement and a slippery design with a hybrid diesel engine and plonked it all on massive 23-inch wheels in its range-topping Ondelios concept car (cover picture).It's 4.8m long and has a hybrid 150kW version of the 2.0-litre dCi engine.There are also two 20kW electric motors at the front and rear to provide extra boost recovered during braking.Mercedes is unveiling one of the world's fastest cabriolets. The SLR McLaren Roadster 722S has 478kW of power and accelerates from 0-100km/h in 3.7 seconds before reaching a top speed of 335km/h.Just 150 of the two-seater supercars will be built. It complements Mercedes' other show star the ConceptFascination, a wild two-door sportswagon. It's a modern version of the old British “shooting-brake” where a wagon tail has been planted on a sporty saloon.Citroen's crossover concept, Hypnos, hasa 150kW engine that boasts miserly fuel efficiency figures of 4.5-litres per 100km.However, it what's inside that is different. An extremely colourful rainbow light show highlights its sleek styling.Honda is using the Paris show to highlight its green commitment. Star of its stand is the new Insight Concept, a dedicated petrol-electric hybrid car in the vein of Toyota's Prius.It is expected to go into production within the next few years.From the US, GM will debut a close to production version of its revolutionary Volt electric car. Chevrolet is showing its new crucial small car the Cruze, plus its first seven-seat multi-purpose family car, the Orlando show car.A form of SUV-family van and wagon crossover, it has a 2.0-litre diesel engine.Alfa Romeo is unveiling its little MiTo compact which is due to come to Australian the middle of next year.Fiat is showing the MiTo's likely competitor in the super-mini category, the 120kW 500 Abarth EsseEsse (SS) plus its PUR-O2 eco-range of cleaner, greener 500s. New technology includes the ability for the engine to turn itself off while idling and back on to continue driving.Mini will show its all-wheel-drive Crossover Concept, while BMW will premiere its X1 wagon. The Mini is intended for adventurous twenty-somethings, while the Concept X1 will go into production as a safe, practical family car.Chasing a similar small, sporty car market is Audi with its new A1. The near-production version will be a feature of its stand.Saab is exhibiting its 9-X Air concept car, while Volvo is debuting its production-ready ultra-safe XC60 crossover which is headed for Australia.Porsche has several new models in the911 range plus the go-anywhere Cayenne S Transsyberia super-4WD.Mazda's all-new Kiyora urban compact four-cylinder concept car will sit alongside the world debut of production cars, the new generation MX-5, the Mazda6 with a 2.2-litre turbo diesel engine and the Mazda2 1.6-litre diesel.Lamborghini has joined the rush to GT supercars with its four-door Estoque concept.Like Porsche's Panamera, Maserati's Quattroporte and Aston Martin's upcoming four-seater, the Estoque, brings a new versatility to one of the world's most uncompromising sports marques.Lamborghini stresses that although there are no production plans for the AWD Estoque it has been developed as fully production capable.Toyota has three world premiere vehicles ranging from its little four-seater city car, the iQ, to the all-new Avensis sedan and wagon and the 1.4-litre diesel-engined Urban Cruiser All Wheel Drive.Ford is debuting the all-new Ka city car with a choice of 1.2-litre petrol and 1.3-litrediesel engines, the hot Focus RS and the new economic Fiesta.Volkswagen will show off its latest Golf GTi. The hot hatch for 2009 is cleaner, smoother and much more refined than earlier cars.It will still come with a 155kW turbo petrol engine and the promise of a 7.2-second sprint to 100km/h, but is missing the wild body bits of earlier GTi road runners.Nissan's debuting Nuvu concept is just three-metres long. It only has two normal seats plus a third that folds down for luggage and groceries. The city car has solar panels on the glass roof.Ferrari will debut its chic two-seater V8 California sports car.From Korea will come Hyundai's i20 small car and a 2.4-litre engined hybrid SUV.Kia is showing its Soul range of urban crossover concepts that come with either petrol or diesel engines. There's also a hybrid version. Additional reporting by Kevin Hepworth and Paul Gover. 

Developing a convertible version of any modern passenger car is always going to be an exercise in compromises. You can make the body stronger and stiffer to stop it flexing, but that adds extra weight that can also undermine dynamics – and boost the fuel bill. The trick is to find a good compromise point, and the Coupe-Cabriolet version of Ford’s Focus has managed that by coming close to matching the roofed variants’ handling without feeling like it’s been carved from a lead billet. They’ve even met the design challenge of making the car look equally good with the metal top up or down, with help from legendary Italian designers Pininfarina – who have penned quite a few high-end cars, including the occasional Ferrari and Maserati. As you’d expect, there’s a strong Ital-chic flavour to the car from the A-pillar back, the part that Pininfarina developed to accommodate the Coupe-Cabriolet function. What’s surprising is how well they’ve segued the design from what is basically the Focus sedan/hatch nose (with a bit of extra chrome tarting up around the grilles and fog lights). The best example is how the headlight wing sweep – arguably the best line on the donor car – now flows along the rising window-line and blends into the C-pillar’s subtle trailing slice that throws light along the side of the boot-lid, and visually trims what could otherwise be a bulbous butt. It’s hard to decide if the C-C looks better with the powered two-piece roof up or down, but since it takes only 29 seconds to change it, you can indulge any indecision without too much time or effort. Just be careful not to do it when you’re backed close to a wall, because the boot lid slides back about 30cm to accommodate the operation. A cargo separator stops the roof closing if your gear is piled too high, and boot space is excellent, offering a class-leading 534 litres with the roof up and 248 with it down. And unlike some other convertibles there’s enough of a gap with the roof folded to slide a small suitcase in and out, but sadly the spare wheel is a skinny 80km/h space saver. The front row gets plenty of room, and with seats lowered 20mm, even plenty of headroom by convertible standards. The back seat is too snug for adults on a long trip, but the expected buyer for this car will only be taking friends for a chic cruise and very few will be strapping kids in the back – although it might see a lot of use carrying matching luggage or fashionable pets. There’s a premium feel to the interior with quality materials and switchgear, very comfortable heated leather seats, cooled glove-box, automatic headlights, rain-sensing wipers, and a perimeter anti-theft alarm The six-speaker Sony audio system has an iPod jack and offers better clarity than most standard systems – especially when you consider it has to fight wind noise — but still tends to diminish some of the high and low nuances. There’s an extensive safety fit-out, including anti-skid brakes (20mm larger than on the sedan) with electronic brakeforce distribution for better effort and brake assist for panic situations, switchable stability control, traction control, twin front and front-side airbags. In a crash, moveaway systems reduce the chance of you being speared by pedals or the steering wheel column, and 20cm rollover bars fire upwards in 0.10sec – breaking through the rear window if necessary — when their gyros detect things are about to go topsy-turvy. Sits on 17” alloy wheels at each corner of an ultra stiff body with a rigid passenger safety shell and McPherson strut front/control blade rear suspension borrowed from the Focus Turbo. The sole engine on offer in Australia is the 2.0-litre Duratec four-cylinder that develops the same 107kW of power at 6000rpm and 185Nm of torque at 4500rpm in the other Focus variants. This is mated to a five-speed manual for $45,490 that Ford says uses a low 7.5L/100km, or a four-speed sequential automatic for $2000 and 0.8L/100km more. Options include metallic paint at no cost, 18” alloys for $1200 or reverse parking sensors for $500. Ford says 100 of the cars are already at dealerships, and they hope to sell that many every month – with about 75 being the automatic option — in a segment that has grown 27 per cent over the past five years of this self-rewarding decade. ON THE ROADThe worth of the body’s extra stiffening shows in it feeling very solid under all conditions, but over rough sections things like the rearview mirror and other bits around the cabin succumb to a touch of rattling, which undermines the pleasure There’s also a lot of top-down turbulence above 80km/h, which can be reduced a bit by putting all the windows up, but might be better addressed with the wind deflector on the accessory list. This would also prevent you leaving the indicator on after accidentally fumbling around the volume control stalk below it – as we did – for at least three postcodes before we heard it clicking its little heart away, probably to the annoyance of following traffic. As with the rest of the Focus range, there’s responsive steering and good turn-in, with just a touch of understeer from the front wheel drive. The short-throw manual shifter is smooth and definite, but at times when one of the five slots is too high and the next too low, you start to wish for an extra gear and shorter ratios However it works well to motivate the engine, which also appears in the sedan/hatch but is working against an extra weight penalty of 150kg in the Coupe-Cab. Add in a couple of adults and a steep hill, and it starts to get overburdened, even with the engine’s otherwise usefully flat torque curve. The four-speed automatic, while quite a good thing in itself – especially with the effortless shifting on the simulated manual side – isn’t quite up to keeping the engine aroused unless you have the revs bubbling, but does make boulevard cruising a breeze. And that’s really the natural habitat for the car. It wants to glide along the café strips with the occasional weekend tour out in the country. And for those purposes it’s a well-sorted and better equipped package rivals at the same price level. Ford Focus Coupe-CabrioletENGINE: 2.0-litre Duratec four-cylinderPOWER: 107kW at 6000rpm TORQUE: 185Nm at 4500rpm PRICE: $45,490 five-speed manual (7.5L/100km), $47,490 four-speed sequential automatic (8.3L/100km)

Though Ford Australia is concentrating on putting the Focus into local production from 2011, president Tom Gorman says its shared-platform architecture also presents other opportunities. The next-generation Focus, codenamed C2, will share much with the new C-Max multi-purpose vehicle and Kuga crossover all-wheel-drive. Though keen to hose down speculation, Gorman says something like the C-Max or even Kuga could present opportunities. “That might be the case. But right now it's really just about the Focus four and five-door,” he says. “Some of the smaller brands like the XR5 won't be localised." “We'll still take that out of Europe. But it does open up for us more opportunity for success in that small-car segment. If things happen in the future and something like C-Max or other derivatives make sense, you'd have to see what size the volume is. What I don't want to do is be in a position where we're putting 200-units-a-month opportunities into the plant. That's very hard to justify economically.” The Kuga goes on sale next year after its Frankfurt motor show debut in September. Though details are scarce, the Kuga will probably offer a range of petrol and turbodiesel engines, including the 2.0-litre 100kW/320Nm TDCi that has just appeared in the Focus. The Kuga is based on the Iosis X concept unveiled at last year's Paris motor show and introduces Ford's new “kinetic design” language into a compact and distinctive AWD crossover. Ford of Europe executive design director Martin Smith says the company knows image-conscious customers want a very individual car. The Kuga, which uses underpinnings similar to those in the robust Land Rover Freelander and proposed Volvo XC60, will be built at Ford's Saarlouis plant in Germany.