NAIAS: Ford Reveals New Focus Sedan, Coupe for 2008
Ford is unwrapping its massively updated Ford Focus twins today, which the automaker says reaffirms its commitment to small cars.
We’re happy to see substantial updates of the still sweet-handling Focus, but it’s sad to see that many models are going away. For 2008, the company will offer a four-door sedan and a new two-door coupe – the three-and-five door hatches (ZX3, ZX5) are going away, as is the wagon variant.
The new Focii at least gets a pretty convincing new look, with markedly more “bling
Comments
Reilly Brennan
I hope they make this car in a hatchback.
Jeff
Yawn. If there's not going to be a hatchback or wagon variant, I'm not interested.
That shiny dashboard has to go. The ambient lighting feature is a waste of development dollars. That kind of thing belongs in the aftermarket.
They're using the same platform of the current 9 year old car? Come on, Ford. The state of the art won't be advanced if you don't develop new things. That helps explain their choice of engine though. They're dumping the 2.3 in favor of a 2.0 that makes less power than a 1990 Nissan Sentra SE-R.
Is it any wonder that Ford is in trouble?
Winding Road » Archive » Detroit Auto Show: Hot Sync - Ford,
[...] Ford and Microsoft have teamed up to bring Star Trek The Next Generation technology to your vehicle. No, not warp engines, think more along the lines of, “Computer, where did I leave Dark Side of the Moon?
LandCrusher
I HAD been thinking of buying Ford stock. Let's see, James Bond drives your hatchback in his new movie so what do you do? Yep, refuse to sell it to his biggest fans in the US. I would never buy a GM product after all the crap they sold my parents over the decades, but at least their new stuff is attractive and intelligent.
Austin
I think it's past time for a change of administration at Ford Design. There are interesting details here but it hardly feels coherent. The back end is a wide expanse of bland. Dash is again over wrought. The two bar grill is weak evolution of the more substantive and well branded 3 bar grill. Why only two?
And, while I like some of the headlight details, They don't really hold the front end together. The same problem presents it self in the 500 rework.
Serious design problems. Serious.
Scott
The European Focus is beautiful and looks purposeful, but we get the old Focus with a new body that looks like a Chevy Impala got caught in a blender with a Toyota Prius. The derivative Honda Civic headlamp and grill treatment up front and Saturn Aura tailamps are the only good looking components on this thing.
I wonder if the half-acre of chrome paint on the dash will create distracting, if not dangerous, glare. No hatchback for a small car means NO utility, and is contrary to Ford's supposed aim to phase out of the SUV market. This car makes no sense. It should be scrapped and replaced with the same car Europe gets, or Ford should just keep building the same old US Focus but with some LED interior lights and the Sync feature.
rick
The profile view from the a-pillar back is good; a-pillar forward looks like it belongs to a totally different car. The back is bland and the front looks cheap. Ford should be giving us its' euro focus with good looks, a la Mazda 3. Ford continues to make the same mistakes 30 years later - ride out a successful platform (Taurus, Ranger, Focus, crown vic, etc)until it cannot be rescusitated. Well Ford, soon you will not be able to be rescusitated. When ford introduced the Taurus (I was 13?)I thought it was the turning point. I have endured disappointment after disappointment ever since. I have lost hope.
Tyler
Get over it people. The comments that bash the Focus redesign are pointless. Face it, it is a Focus, the entry-level compact for FoMoCo. It is not a Nissan Skyline or even a Civic. It is underpowered, but where I live (and probbably most other places) people who buy the Focus are looking for a car that gets good MPG and is easily customized, nothing more. So basically, quit bashing it. Ford is trying to make the car a might bit more appealing, nothing more!
Salas
I think the car has an overall good design except for the front face. Maybe it's something so radical that we have to get use to it. But definetly it's front part doesn't represent an evollution of the legendary focus. It looks more than a resucitated 2008 ford escort. Maybe what ford needs is to call this car the escort and then buid an exclusive hatchback called focus. If they do not want to spend money building a new hatchback, just send us the european focus.
Tyler
I like this new design a whole lot, more than the Honda Civic. I'm not really a big fan of Japanese cars, but I could totally tell the Civic and Corolla were walking all over the current Focus is style, handling, and definitely reliablity. This Focus I think is a whole new start for itself. It now has a new foreign looking exterior, which I really like how they made it look sportier with the fascial, the small vent by the front doors, and the modern taillights. The interior looks absolutely thought out and looks like there's creativity in it and not all that cheap plastic everywhere along with a bland design in the current Focus. I think Ford has finally learned from their mistakes by making bland, unreliable vehicles. Now I have highho-pes for Ford. With their upcoming 2008 Taurus, the Edge, the Fusion, this Focus, and the Taurus X will show the way for Ford and bring their reputation back and also take some from the Japanese. Long live Ford.Also, it's really a great idea to put the Ford Sync in this car, mainly beccause the younger generation mostly drives these kind of things and they also carry cell phones and MP3's everywhere and always want the latest technology. What better way to answer all their needs than the Sync in a car that they will drive? Absolutely outstanding.
Ford Reveals New Focus Sedan, Coupe For 2008 « Fiesta Ford L
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joe
it sucks!!!
Art Wilson
I'm continually surprized that domestic manufacturers sell their best products overseas while reserving their 2nd rate cars for Americans. After having flogged the Cavalier domestically for over a decade, GM seems to be finally getting the message at least with its Saturn brand.
Ford on the other hand is going in the opposite direction. When Europe got the new Focus a few years ago, Americans got a "freshened" (read blander inside and out) version of the first generation. Now to scrap the ZX5, which was one of the best looking small cars around, for this ultrabland sedan is a huge mistake.
Message to Ford: start selling Americans your #1 products or Americans will continue to abandon their support for your company.
emma
shuttup loosers fords rule!!!! and ford focus's are hot as ecspecially the gorgeous ford focus XR5 Turbo!!!
GO FORD!!!!!
Naz
Look I like this car very much. I own a 2001 Ford Focus ZX3 2dr. hatch right now. I have test driven a 2007 hatch back...I am not going to buy another ford until they take out that stupid head unit. I paid a lot for my current head unit...and i can't install it in any current models of ford. I don't like all the buttons...
by the way... if you don't make a hatchback...many teens will not be interested...
TAKE OUT THOSE HEAD UNITS...thanks...
Winding Road » Archive » Ford Will Sell Sync System For $395
[...] The first car to offer the Sync option will be the redesigned 2008 Ford Focus, a car that has not exactly been praised for its handsome looks. However, it is the company’s volume seller to the digitally-connected generation and if any vehicle in Ford’s lineup would be in a better position to deploy this technology, we can’t think of it. Soon after the Focus launch, Sync will be available in the Ford Edge and standard in the Lincoln MKX. Eventually it will be standard on all Lincoln models. [...]
Steve
Wow. I drive an '03 ZX3 hatch, and just love it to death... But this? Weak. Give us the Euro Focus!!! I'll buy the ST!! This? No thanks... I'll look elsewhere.
RGB2CMYk
Leave the chassis the same, but add gills (that don't quite line up with the lines of the car) and we'll call it refined and sporty..
As long as companies keep producing cheap looking and feeling compact cars for the US, how can Americans be blamed for associating small cars with cheap crap.
We need the Euro Focus (and many of the other Euro compacts) to ad cool and fresh to the compact market.
Tyler
I like the new look inside and out. (especially the coupe) However WHY ONLY 136hp, i was hopeing it would be put up around 160hp makeing it a little more inpetus for when the need to get up and go when you feel like impressing your friends. I am a daily commuter so the 35mpg's is nice. But for the 18k, i could get something more suitable like the Nissan Sentra or Mitsubishi Lancer.
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