Ford,
why oh why oh why oh why oh why oh why oh why?

You know what I mean, Ford?

5 cylinder engine is borrowed from Volvo part bin. I love “duratec” badge: does this mean that for 10-12 years at Volvo it was less durable? It is academic article for us in US.

On the second thought Ford management is an assortment of complete sphincter muscles: this Volvo engine is eligible for US and the car be brought into US market at very little cost, if any.

one of the best hatchbacks out there, a complete car. very little to fault

Why can’t this come stateside?

It’s a much better car than our Focus, but it’s still a Ford-badged Mazda3 with a slightly different engine. Nothing special.

I am really starting to HATE Ford. Why do we get crap in the US and Europe gets all the cool cars. This is supposed to be an American car company for chrissakes. Oh well, Ford is paying the price for their stupidity.

Does the Volvo c-30 share chassis and engine or just engine.
I want the one Marcus Gronholm drives.

CA36GTP,

First this looks a LOT better than the Mazdaspeed3 - which is also a beautiful car.

Secondly, being built off the same co-developed platform does not make them the same car.

Third, if Mazda can build it/bring it at a good price, so can Ford.

I really don’t understand Ford. Once I really liked them (and still think they make great full-size trucks) but they have completely driven me away from considering any N.A. Ford cars at all. There is not one Ford car offered stateside that I would even look at - even if I were casually strolling down the sidewalk in front of a dealer. Not one. I wouldn’t even use a calorie to turn my head. Maybe I’d use one to shake my head in disgust, but not turn it. If Ford management had any brains they’d realize they are quickly losing any interest even from those who like them as we see other cars on the USA roads and can no longer justify giving Fords a chance given their line-up and obviously poor opinion of their customer base.

Stop it! Just stop it!

Give to us or leave us alone about it!

FORD you sicken me with you cruel taunting!

Ricardo, but in many cases, cars on the same platform DO end up the same. Just look at many GM products.

The different engine displacement will shift the powerband, but both strive to accomplish the same basic level of performance. I’m willing to make a decent guess that the suspension is similar.

A Mazdaspeed3 with some front fascia improvements based on this Focus would be the best scenario, IMO.

Isn’t it the problem with GM that they do have great amount of overlapping products? Honda sells 300K Accords and Toyota sells 400K Camrys and their balance sheet is in great shape. Also their cars are not any worse then GM’s variation on the theme.
However, Ford does not have a small car in US market during 100/barrel oil prices. Chrysler has PT and Caliber, GM has awful Daewoos and Ford has last century Focus. At least they should bring Pinto back. Then company can go down in a real bowl of fire!

Actually, for the price they’re charging for that ST 3-door I’d rather have a Volvo C30. And you can even get that in the US! With the exact same engine and chassis as the ST! I think the C30 looks better anyway.

Sadly, Europe gets the hot chick, and we get her fat friend.

Isn’t the issue here that Ford has seperate design houses and was trying to not make their products all look the same worldwide? I’m sure they invested heavily with this scheme and are now having a heck of time admitting it was a huge mistake. It appears as if they know it, and are working to resolve it, but it may be too late.

CA36GTP - I’ll take a Mazdaspeed3 wrapped in a euro-Focus shell with the euro-Focus interior any day! I trust the Mazda motors more than Volvo motors anyway, and that would rock!

Oh wait, but Ford N.A. Marketing is making the call that I don’t want that.
Silly me for not goose-stepping to the tune of the Ford Marketing Marching Band.

Earth to Ford,

Here’s a hint: MAKE this car here in the US, and from now on USE only the Euro designers queue’s for any and ALL Ford CARS, and abort the Detroit punks from their drafting tables cause it doesn’t seem as though they use CAD on a computer to come up with the boring designs we get now.

If it’s so bloody expensive (so you say) to import sweet cars such as this to the US, at least adopt the designs here and make them here. Is it that hard of a concept?

Here in Canada the market segment for small, fun to drive, efficient vehicles is much higher than in the U.S. Why is that? I’m not entirely sure, but perhaps in America Joe Average is more likely to give in to the peer pressure of seeing his neighhbor’s new behemoth in the next driveway and be hesitant to consider a smaller alternative. I also believe that since a greater percentage of the Canadian populace have family ties to Europe we are somewhat more aware of how and what people drive there.

Eventually, whether by necessity or by choice, the realities of global production will see many of the excellent European products filter their way to North America. The question is: which of the traditional “big three” has the balls to be the first to make this happen.

Why not you- Ford? You don’t seem to have a hell of a lot to lose right now.

johnnycanuck, you are somewhat correct. We have an issue with “keeping up with Jones”, but we also have 10 times population occupying about the same amount of land. And although there is no land shortages in the “middle” of the country the majority of population by the Oceans makes most of social and economic decisions. Some of those are establishing of air quality and vehicle survivability standards which preclude most of manufacturers who freely sell in Canada to sell in US. Furthermore, if Honda sells 60K hatchbacks in US it is a failure and Honda will not sell hatchbacks. 10K in Canada is a great success. It is a matter of size for manufacturer.

very nice, but im not with the racing stripes, just way too thin.

Yikes! Check out the current price in dollars: almost $38K for the 3-door ST and almost $42K for the ST-3! No way this would sell in volume in the US at that price. For the US market, the Focus would definitely need to be assembled locally, at least until the dollar regains some strength against the GBP and Euro.

Point well taken, autonut. Acura has sold iterations of the Civic for the Canadian market only for a decade now. But I do believe the inherent risks for the likes of GM, Ford and Chrysler to bring over that hatchback and sell only 60k could be somewhat offset by the 30k of those sales not going to Honda etc.

A lot of loyalists will buy anything if it has their logo- be it bowtie, blue oval or pentastar. The trick is to get the other ones back.

what a cool-ass car- what the **** are they thinking? JUST SELL IT HERE

autonut: I saw a ford Ka not long ago. had mexican plates. I think your point about $100 oil is a good one.

mar solo: or get U.S. designers to “study” in europe for a year.

JackJim: Study in Europe, sure. But would they retain and implement what they hopefully learn? If they are willing at all?

Or would the old farts running the show simply shoot down anything modern and I dare say ‘risky’ of the European design concepts here. I think they have nothing to lose but maybe a false sense of pride.

Suck it up old farts at Ford, and try a real bold move, adopt a Euro look, feel and see what happens. I’m pretty sure you won’t lose any more money than you already do.

Nice car. Just make sure you don’t offer it in the U.S. You wouldn’t want to create any small car success stories in the U.S.

Wasn’t the Mazda3 originally based off the original Focus platform? So basically the newer platform is a collaboration between Ford and Mazda.

This thing looks great though, cant wait to see what the RS is gonna be like. Rumors had it to be at 350hp AWD.

scrw Ford.

scrwing is done by Firestone clan and vise versa. That is the reason for mental disability at the top of the company.

I think the kinetic design elements look a little out of place on the carry over body design, but this still looks much better than the oddity that Ford offers here in the U.S. I hope the U.S. version is short lived and we see the next generation European version in the U.S. within the next 3-4 years (although, that still seems like a very long time).

After this morn I went out to a Dealer (U.S.) and looked all over a brand new Focus.

Ford-

Why the hell are you doing this to OUR customers here?
There has to be 8 potential customers for a focus like this to every one you gave us.
Give it a chance and sell cars here like you want to kick butt for a change.

Another painful reminder of what we don’t have here.

Yikes! Check out the current price in dollars: almost $38K for the 3-door ST and almost $42K for the ST-3! No way this would sell in volume in the US at that price. For the US market, the Focus would definitely need to be assembled locally, at least until the dollar regains some strength against the GBP and Euro.

Comment by Spingood Tanoya,

Thanks for saving me the time of looking up the exchange rates. Which I’m glad someone finally put up because everytime Ford shows a new Euro Focus. All the posts say Ford bring it here, bring it here. Yet they don’t bother to think why Ford can’t. Ford cannot just bring this car here. Our Focus starts under $15,000, this Focus starts over $35,000. Get real guys. You could probably get two Mazdaspeed3’s for the price of one loaded ST-3.

You know, Mulally is the only one who could force the kinetic design as the global style for Ford. If he fails at this, I’m afraid Ford’s days are counted. Nobody, and I do mean nobody, wants to see the stupid 3-bar grille on another vehicle.

Too bad, it looks incredible….the first real alternative to the MAzda3

To the guy who claimed “the Focus is nothing more than a rebadged Mazda3″: you are a moron. The Mazda3 is based off the Focus C1 architecture and not the other way around and the Focus is a much better car to drive and it’s handling is second to none while the Mazda3 is a good car but nothing special. But sure, everyone is keen on bashing Ford..

My god when are you troglodytes going to learn the C1 is a Volvo design but meant for global divisions. The Current I-5 is a Volvo engine, the current Duratec designs are based off Mazdas 2.3 litre engine and yes the past WRC Ford engine was a destroked Mazda 2.3 litre engine. Researching this stuff is not hard at all guys/girls show some due diligence.

I don’t care what’s based on what. I just want Ford N.A. to show some common sense in its product decisions.

Believe me - I was once quite favorable toward Ford. Indeed their quality is fine, but I won’t even bother to look at them any more. Month after month and year after year they are bewildered that sales are always down and that nobody wants the products they sell here, and then they insist on not bringing fresh products in their global stable that do sell well. I have no idea why the obvious solution is so difficult for them to comprehend, but I gave up already and until they get a clue I will neither buy a Ford nor recommend a Ford.

Thats a very good looking car.

Ricardohead-
It’s true there is nothing wrong with their quality - check the records and ask a dealer service rep - they are starving - but that’s a different story - its their design in N.A. F150 and Mustang have been killer but the cars have been taken over by the wimps and nerds of the company. No vision, no youth, no BOLD. There must be a huge battle between N.A. and Europe and the N.A. guys will be damned if they are going to give in to the customers in the U.S.

Nice front end revamp… very very nice…

Back is still a little…. dull, but still, not too bad…

Can’t wait for a full new Focus, but for now this one will do and the engine is brilliant both in sound and torque (especially when chipped - my mate’s 300bhp chipped Focus ST is putting out a LOT more torque and he is loving it!)

The quality of these cars is now up there with some of the best.

Neighbour has the brand new Audi A3 S-Line and it’s pretty damn good looking, but this pips the post for me… The front definitely looks like something you’d pull over to let you pass if you saw in your rear view hurtling toward you at 150mph!

Looks decent from the front although i cant help thinking that they could have put more effort in the rear light design.

LP640 - Exactly… the Photo 1 at least shows different arches with the vent and differen tailpipes, but Photo 4 just looks like the current Focus ST.

For those of you who have never heard this car’s lovely i5’s sound on revving, get youtubing, cos its worth hearing… might not sound as eager as a Type-R’s revvy V-Tec, but it comes across a growler ready to pounce instead, quite akin to V6es…

Aside from the engine, I swear I’ve seen this wagon before. It was the 2002 Focus wagon.

And 222hp is a bit anemic for a 5-cylinder with a turbocharger.

Mazda3, Volvo S40/V50, Volvo C30, Volvo C70 all share platforms with the current European Focus. I just drove a European Focus and was unimpressed with the clutch and the shifter. If brought to the states, the European Ford Focus would retail in the $25k range (hence why it’s not imported, Americans would buy Accords instead).

US Focus is based on the previous Focus platform, which is 9 years old and very cheap to produce.

CAT36GP, hence a simple chipping is required for the increased hp… modifying turbo, exhaust system etc and you’re looking at 350-400 bhp easily… but I see what you mean…

Just the implication of them putting 300+bhp to the front wheels out of the factory is not good I think.

Hence AWD RS with 300+ bhp would be just fine.

Even the original Focus could take 450bhp from the cammer crate 5 L v8 with a RWD conversion… that focus RS8 lapped a track quicker than a Gallardo by a second in a motortrend test…

The fact you get the torque (320nM/236 ft lbs standard) at 1600rpm through to 4000 makes for easy overtaking though…

Why don’t they get their WRC car, (which is winning) and add whatever it takes to be road legal. That would be a proper performance car, not this. Any fool can get a Focus, paint some stripes on it, up the power and stiffen the suspension. But not anyone can make a rally car. That’s the difference between a chav/yob and an engineer.

I just found out that Ford imports the Ford Focus ST to Mexico???? WTF!!!!

Note to Ford: Kill off all your American market cars except the Mustang. Then replace them with the cars you send to Europe. Can’t be that hard, right? After all, you’re making cars now that nobody wants. You know there’s a high demand here for the Euro Focus. So do what you gotta do to make the Euro Focus pass safety standards here, and put it on the market.

Ford should just shut down all its North American factories and let the Europeans build them and move Ford headquarters to Europe and turn it into a European owned company. Its obvious that Europeans are better at running Ford than Americans. And they build better and nicer looking cars than Americans. Also Europe doesn’t have a terrible virus called the UAW that keeps screwing things up.

planet _drive

Well said!!

Comment by cwwilson, posted

So do what you gotta do to make the Euro Focus pass safety standards here, and put it on the market.

It is not a saftey issue its a pricing issue. The Euro Focus starts $10,000 higher then our Focus. And the performance version is actually over $40,000 in U.S. dollars.

planet_drive - the only part that I agree with you on is the UAW virus thing. THAT is the reason Ford of America sucks. Ford (as a whole) is resposible for approving all these Euro cars anyway, so NA Ford has a big part in the Euro models.

And why would Europeans be better? Last time I checked, most Americans ARE European

“with no current plans to bring it to the U.S” - Yeah yeah blah blah, more tease F Bold American! It’s more like BALD American!

I can’t see the heavy influence of the Verve concept here, just looks like a face-lifted current-model Focus.
.
Love watching the USA pining for this car, which in Europe is considered a very, very average offering. Maybe Ford Europe should ship their cars to the states, then they could stop selling them at a discount to company and rental fleets and Europeans can keep buying the VWs, Audis and BMWs that we actually want.

Europe wants VWs, Audis and BMWs?

Top selling cars in Europe 2006:

1) Vauxhall/Opel Astra

2) Renault Clio

3) Ford Focus

4) VW Golf

5) Fiat Punto

6) Ford Fiesta

7) VW Passat

Peugeot 307

9) VW Polo

10) BMW 3 Series

Really, does it seem BMW is topping Ford sales in Europe?? VW comes close (Golf was top 2005) and Audi is nowhere to be seen!

Also in the reliabilty index in the UK, the Focus, Fiesta, Ka, Puma, Cougar and Mondeo all rank higher than the BMW 3 Series…

Johnnycanuck,

The reason we have a larger small car market is very simple - cars are more expensive and we have less expendable money per capita than in the U.S. So, smaller cheaper cars. The epicenter of that phenomenon is Montreal - Civics, Mazda3’s, Cobalts, and Golfs galore.

The minute someone turns a few dollars, Range Rovers and Escalades can be seen.

Incidentally, that prostitute is looking around for cops in the first pic, but the driver is already in the backseat, pants unzipped, waiting to get his filthy smegma-covered pork sowrd polished!

Also note the first Focus’s RS incarnation won the Auto Trader award for best used hot hatch and overall best used buy…

Not bad for a Focus on the CD170 (C170 in US) platform you all are shouting to be rid of.

The C1 platform is great, but you guys get updated versions of the original platform, which set the standard.

If only your cars looked better!

All things considered though, I definitely prefer the newer Focus as a whole car, but as the hot hatch versions go, the Focus RS was the one to have. LSD, smaller engine and a 4pot which was true to its rallying heritage.

That being said… I still love the i5’s growl in the current ST!

Man that wagon looks like hot sex to me.

Droooooool….AAAhhhhhh……

Baby what a shape……

LLN likes stirring the pot. lol