Ford Focus sells like crazy in US

looks nice in THAT pic, not in real life.....i dont see very many of them actually

— lexusrox123 (View Profile)

Posted on 4/16/2008 9:09:20 AM | reply to this comment | Votes: 2   

Good to hear Ford is making progress. One step at a time. I can see Ford becoming a sucessor out for the 3 domestics. GM and Chrysler will soon have to pack their bags and jump off a cliff if they continue to work & think half ass like Bobby boy Lutz. GM is all talk with marketing and no show, while Chrysler runs in circles chasing their own tail.

— BigShow50 (View Profile)

Posted on 4/16/2008 9:09:21 AM | reply to this comment | Votes: -9   

good for ford,

personally i wouldn't buy a new ford yet unless it was a f series truck, but i dont want ford to keep sucking at everything.

hopfully they will get smart and bring over some euro and auzzie models, or at least use them as the basis for new design.

im rooting for ford. (from my R32)

— DROOPYSAKK (View Profile)

Posted on 4/16/2008 9:11:00 AM | reply to this comment | Votes: 4   

Its design isn't all that bad. Its the underpinnings and performance(especially compared to the euro Focus) that sucks. Ford says the Focus will be global for its next model in 2011 so we only have to deal with this for 4 more years.

— PlanB (View Profile)

Posted on 4/16/2008 9:34:50 AM | reply to this comment | Votes: 1   

Why insult Bobby "No Clue" Lutz? Well for starters he is part of the equation of GM loosing billions of dollars...no excuse should be heard from him. He had enough time prior to knowing what is better for GM, instead he played the ignorant role, and got bit in the ass like all other domeestic execs. Remember as smart as a person can be...they can also be just as dumb.

— BigShow50 (View Profile)

Posted on 4/16/2008 10:41:34 AM | reply to this comment | Votes: -1   

and btw...Ford will prevail over the other 2 domestic yahooos'.

— BigShow50 (View Profile)

Posted on 4/16/2008 10:43:11 AM | reply to this comment | Votes: -5   

toyota quality will keep dropping and the big three will be just fine

— carguy68 (View Profile)

Posted on 4/16/2008 11:27:23 AM | reply to this comment | Votes: -3   

Ford has turned the Focus into a small "Buick". Frankly that's what many people want. Quietness,a smooth ride good fuel economy and an affordable price.The fact that it does not compare to the Euro
Focus is meaningless to the average "non auto enthusiast buyer".

— mini22 (View Profile)

Posted on 4/16/2008 11:59:59 AM | reply to this comment | Votes: 4   

This could possibly be a re-born Good ol days selling Ford Escort. I miss that car.

— silver1 (View Profile)

Posted on 4/16/2008 12:14:11 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 6   

cheap, full of features, not an ugly car. makes sense.

— M35MT (View Profile)

Posted on 4/16/2008 12:14:57 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 5   

VERY ugly car, very cheaply made, underpowered, cannot compare to the attributes of Civic, Corolla, Sentra, Cobalt, etc.

It is the old focus with new sheet metal and interior.

And I'm not sure how they are selling them, but I can gurantee that nobody has noticed where the sales are. Most likely my speculation is they are being turned into fleet vehicles for companies and rental car operations. They are cheaper than the competitors and so they can be replaced easier.

I would bet that is where most of the sales are and why we are not seeing a ton of them on the road.

— Whelan (View Profile)

Posted on 4/16/2008 12:48:37 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 1   

We actually like ours (for what it is and what it cost). We shopped it against all the imports (from Fit to Civic to Mazda3)...and some of those cars are better in some ways, but when you are looking at a mid-optioned Mazda3 for $22,000 and a fully loaded Focus for $16,500...well...those other cars aren't THAT much better. They are economy cars after all.

— 09CTSVforMe (View Profile)

Posted on 4/16/2008 1:39:12 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 0   

I saw the new Focus coupe going through an intersecting a few days ago and honestly, it looks like the rebirth of the old Escort. While it's not the most attractive car, it's not ugly. I agree with silver1 when he says: "This could possibly be a re-born Good ol days selling Ford Escort. I miss that car."

So many of my friends and family drove Escorts "back in the day" and if the quality (which should be "Job 1 " for Ford, right?) holds up, maybe it will become the best seller again.

Go Ford! Do your thing!

— aeyjay (View Profile)

Posted on 4/16/2008 1:41:52 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 1   

And they goofed on the Escort in the US too. Remember Europe got a bad@$$ Cosworth powered Escort for a few years that was never offered in the US in any way shape or form. Then the Focus came out with an SVT and 170hp, but never modified into anything special cause it came out right when the others started bumping at the 200hp mark.

Just blows my mind that Ford doesn't think anything of themselves in the US as compared to the European market. In terms of style we lose everytime. And the point of a redesign is to upgrade and enhance, not take the thousands of old Focus underpinnings and slap them into a new car?? That just makes no sense. Your paying more for a new car that is identical mechanically and drivewise to the old Focus. So why not go by a year old Focus for half as much fully loaded. At least it looked better. Oh that's right they have Sync. For people who have a hard time pushing buttons and paying attention at the same time. It's a girl with a cell phone on her ears dream. Not to mention I highly doubt the Sync is that easy. "Play artist the strokes." OK, what if you have like 5 strokes albums, then you gotta tell it the song and all that. I don't know tons about music, I know what I like, I may not even know the bands or the songs, but I have them in my ipod, so using Sync would not be very helpful for me.

I just feel they should have done a little more to make it appealing instead of slapping on big bulgy rubber, huge wheel gaps, and poor aesthetics. As I said, I don't see a lot of them driving around, so these huge sales must be from companies and rental car fleets.

And I would totally take a Mazda 3 GT over a fully loaded Focus anyday. Yes they are econoboxes but even us with little cash who like mpgs can have fun in our cars and not drive slushboxes everywhere.

— Whelan (View Profile)

Posted on 4/16/2008 2:55:25 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 4   

If only they brought all the Ford vehicles from Austrialia and the UK, they'd do a lot better.

— Carboy (View Profile)

Posted on 4/16/2008 3:23:35 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 3   

C'mon ladies....Ford will prevail. I'm not much of a domestic fan more so a Japanese and German fanatic. Just my personal opinion as to who I think will be on top in the future between the Big 3. And for my thoughts about Bobby boy remains entact, he is still a fool. Yes he may have made changes, here and there. And of coarse sales are better than last year. But for GM comparing previuous sales figures, anything is better at this point. And they are still not in the clear...they keep up the same song & dance of cannibalizing their own models within. GM could be heading for the worst to come...and as of Chrylser....well they're still chasing their tail.

— BigShow50 (View Profile)

Posted on 4/16/2008 5:02:57 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 0   

What Ford is doing right now is just keeping sales up to generate some extra cash. The next version will blow everyone up. The same with the Escape otherwise they would have redesigned it from the bottom up! The focus is the middle of the pack and average never seen the car in person so I cant judge the build quality. What Mullaly is doing is trying to work with the mistakes that were released (five hundred) and what was being developed (focus).

— jt716 (View Profile)

Posted on 4/16/2008 7:54:41 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 3