Maybe they would see a growth in the U.S market if they braught over the models they sell over there. But no, all we get is the Mustang. Blah. Ford your an idiot.

thank god i live in germany for the next 5 years HOO-AHH

Andre are you sure your (sic) not an idiot; probably not, since you realize why sales there are so good. Oz-market Falcon should come stateside as well.

poerstroke: My wife is from germany, and when i was there, I saw all manner of cool rides, including big BMWs with sticks. Gotta love it!

Found a pic slideshow of GM_Sales installing his new Delco AC unit on his car ….

http://media.myfoxhouston.com/news/2007-08-08/coolcar/slides/carac1.html

^^^^^lmao

Ford’s got better cars over there. Ford is a Mustang away from kickin’ even more European ass.

BRING THE ****ING FOCUS OVER ALREADY. TAKE THE HINT IDIOTS.

It’s not hard to explain Ford’s sales growth over here, in the past year they’ve introduced the S-Max/Galaxy, the new Mondeo and expanded the Focus range. Things should get better in the next year with a new Ka, Fiesta and the Kuga (Focus-based) SUV but it’s hard to say which of these models would work in the US

Ford has already stated the the ST will not hit our shores. But GM has stated the next Corsa/Vectra cars will be built here. Trust me when Ford brought their little sideshow showing off the GT car I was laughing and asking the guys if the ST would be brought over and I had a couple of em huddled around their kiosk while I was showing them the Euro ST. Ford of America are idiots.

AT LEAST THEY ARE DOING WELL IN EUROPE.

Come on seriously. All ford european are german engineered with german and british tested. It like the best method to make a car.

I bet Ford wishes it could sell 40,000 Focuses in the American market, and they probably could have if they would’ve brought over the new Focus. I know I sound like a broken record, but whoever decided not to bring over the Euro Focus (as well as the Mondeo) really needs to have their head examined or they should’ve been fired long ago.

Not really. The problem is that the current focus is not suited to meet the american markets minimum requirements. To be able to meet them the company would have to put the price up considerably which would make the car near the camry price range. Even ford isn’t that stupid and know that 99% of people would rather buy the camry so they optioned to sell the cheaper model. The next focus WILL be a worldwide platform designed to meet any market minimum requirements even china and india.

I just hope they brand them as ford and kill the murcery badge while they are at it.

Stuart, I understand what you’re saying, but it’s not a complete answer. No one in the USA is demanding a Focus for a Camry price. They are demanding the most current Focus for a Focus price - like Mazda gives us and like Ford Australia offers its customers (net dollar price after adjusting out VAT).

The current “old” Focus still sells something like 10-12,000 units per month here, so clearly it meets some form of minimum. At the same time, Civics, Mazda3s, Corollas (Matrixs), Cobalts, etc are all moving many times more than that in total. This market is probably 2 to 2.5 million units per year here, so the market is there. And the current Focus is selling for basically the same money as those others. If anything, given the developments in gas prices, the demand for vehicles in this size/mileage range has increased and the sales have expanded.

So the question is (basically what Pauly was saying), if the Focus was selling in much higher volumes 7 years ago when gas was $1.40, why is it selling in lower volumes now at $3/gallon? The answer is obvious - Ford failed to update and upgrade the model over the years, thus giving the competition a relative advantage when customers shop around. The sick part is, Ford has a better design and implemented it elsewhere, but not in the USA. If I adjust for taxes, a loaded out Ford Focus Euro ST in Australia is about us$25k NET - that’s Camry price territory, but the Focus is loaded and with a souped up 240hp (or whatever) engine. If they can offer a loaded up high output version there - which I would buy here at that price, then a dumbed down lower budget version of the same platform could be under 18 to 20k easily, which is Corolla/Mazda2/Civic territory. Do I get that improved version? No. Mexico does, but I don’t. So FordNA thinks my dollars are not good enough for the improvements, but Mazda likes me and values my purchase. Basically the fact that a Mazda3 manufactured in Japan (high wage country) can be built on the new platform, fleeted around the world, trucked and sold to me in that price range tells me clearly that Ford could at the least build these in Mexico and sell them to me. They don’t, so they lose.

By the way, it is a bit of a fallacy to say Europeans pay more for small better engineered cars. Europe is a continent loaded with very innovative small cars due to the street layouts, geography, crowded areas where most people live, and taxation. Pretty much if it is a good small car, it is offered in Europe. Still, they buy a load of Focuses, so the euro Focus is clearly a highly competitive offering. Right now, with the dollar currently in the dumps, the pricing on their small cars looks high but first you must remember to factor out the circa 20% VAT (sales tax) buried in their car prices, and then you must remember that everything is relative, and so most things are more expensive there at current exchange rates, especially when you put everything as a percent of net income (basket of good basis). The average American can afford more and therefore does, so the average European buys what fits both their terrain and their net income the best. Ford did not have to bring 100% of their euro Focus here, but they could have incorporated the substantial platform improvements at minimal cost, but chose not to, and now when the good small cars are in demand here they have little to offer. That was their decision. Mazda apparently was not as short-sighted because I see Mazda3s everywhere here in Austin and Hill Country in the west where I live - certainly more than the Focus, and even more than Civics and Corollas.
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[end of diatribe]

RicardoHead pretty much nailed it. Plus I’d rather spend $19-20,000 on an excellent car like the C1 Focus or the Mazda 3 than $14,000 on a mediocre one like the Cobalt or the Caliber. Given that Mazda can’t keep 3’s on the lot provides a fairly good indication that this is what most people want as well. In my opintion Alan Mulally could not have arrived at Ford soon enough. At least he’s bringing the Fiesta over here. The poor leadership of their past CEOs really does not surprise me though. More often than not leaders of the Detroit 3 have failed to step up to the plate when the time called for it or when the public environment demanded it. Instead they have rested on their laurels only to be surpassed by Toyota and soon Honda (at least with Chrysler). I think this might be Ford’s last chance given that they’ve mortgaged the entire company on the future of what will happen in the next five years.

Well well well Ricardohead, surprise surprise.

Well written essay, kudos to you for that. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it! Nothing but compliments to you in this particular post!

ricardohead is WRONG, the next gen focus ****s on the euro focus, dont give a **** what any un-informed **** tells me

you can get mustangs in europe, not in large numbers though.

Recardohead you are right about the exchange rate also being a major factor in ford not taking the focus to europe. It also obvious why american don’t buy as many focuses, but trust me if you ever come across the focus gen 2 you will understand that in quality terms it almost up there with the VW golf and way way way better then the toyota Corolla as a complete package.

Plus don’t forget the exchange rate won’t really matter if they produce the car in america somewhere as they have done with the Generation 1.

The best selling family car is the Golf followed by the Focus and thats for good reason. Ironically the golf is the most expensive in its class by some margin but people still buy it knowing they are getting a reliable well engineered car. Same goes for the ford focus. As they say, “You get what you payed for”.

yeah you can a4, but why would you want to.

It’s funny, you read in the magazines about cool cars coming out, but not to america. I realize there are situations about emissions, crash tests, right drive, etc. But then there are some models that they just choose not to bring. They look great, they make sense, but they just don’t bring them here. Saturn for example has decided to bring over Opels, why can’t others adopt this strategy?

Outside of the states I’ve seen mustangs mainly in two places… Old ones in Aus and the latest ’stangs ALL OVER dubai… like more than mercs… weird.