Ford has today officially taken the wraps off its new Focus ahead of next month’s Geneva Motor Show.
The redesigned Focus, which is set to go on sale from the second half of 2014, also marks the European debut of SYNC 2, Ford’s new in-car connectivity system, as well as the new 1.5-litre EcoBoost petrol and TDCi diesel engines.
Ford first launched the Focus in 1998 and since then more than 12 million have been sold worldwide, including 6.9 million in Europe. The current Focus was confirmed last month as the world’s best-selling vehicle nameplate based on Ford’s analysis of the Polk registration data for the first nine months of 2013. Ford estimates Focus sales globally reached 1.1 million in 2013, including more than 300,000 in China, making it the best-selling passenger car in the fastest-growing new car market in the world.
The new Focus will be built in eight plants on four continents. Factories in Germany, U.S., Russia, China, Thailand, Vietnam, Taiwan and Argentina have a combined capacity to produce more than 1.5 million Focus vehicles annually at a rate of more than two vehicles per minute. In Europe, Ford builds a new Focus every 90 seconds.
The new Focus design reflects the One Ford global design language that carries through the new Mondeo and Fiesta. The redesign includes a lower, wider stance, with a new bonnet, front fascia and grille.
Slimmer, more chiselled front headlamps and more rectangular, elongated fog-lamps complete the front end. The rear of the car also gets a new fascia and tailgate arrangement, as well as thinner tail lamps.
“The vision was to add more emotion to the design of Focus,” said Martin Smith, executive design director, Ford of Europe. “The new Focus is more toned, and more athletic, with more refined surface language; and clearly offers a promise of the drive experience to come.”
When redesigning the interior of the new Focus, Ford says it has listened to consumer feedback and responded with a more ergonomic layout that features a steering wheel and central stack with fewer controls and switches.
“We’ve responded to a clear customer desire for more simplicity inside the car, creating a clearer visual connection between the key components and significantly reducing the number of buttons in the cabin,” Smith added.
In terms of driveability, Ford engineers say they have been able to improve the car’s ride and handling by increasing the structural stiffness at the front, revising the suspension geometry, increasing lateral stiffness of “steering-relevant” suspension bushes, retuning the shock absorbers and incorporating a new Electronic Stability Programme. The Electric Power Assist Steering also has been retuned.
The new Focus is also the first Ford to offer Perpendicular Parking, a new hands-free parking technology that helps drivers reverse into spaces alongside other cars. The addition of two new sensors to the rear of the new Focus enables Perpendicular Parking to operate in the same way as parallel parking aid Active Park Assist.
The extra sensors also enable the new Focus to help drivers as they manoeuvre out of parking spaces. The first of these new technologies is Cross Traffic Alert, which warns drivers reversing out of a parking space of vehicles that may soon be crossing behind them. Operating with radar at a range of up to 40 metres (131 feet), the system will issue three distinct warning signals if it detects a vehicle approaching. A second technology is Park-Out Assist that helps drivers as they exit a parallel parking space. After the driver has chosen either the left or right hand side the system operates the steering while the driver operates the accelerator and brake
Ford also says it has improved its Active City Stop collision avoidance system, which pre-charges the brakes and – if the driver still does not respond – reduces engine torque and automatically applies the brakes to reduce the impact of collisions. It has been adapted to operate at speeds of up to 31 mph, compared to 19 mph with the current version.
Other new driver aids include Pre-Collision Assist and a new Distance Alert and Indication system.
Ford claims the new Focus offers improved fuel efficiency on many versions compared to the current model owing to new powertrain options. The most improved diesel model will offer a 19 per cent reduction in fuel consumption, while the most improved petrol model will offer a 17 per cent improvement.
The new Focus will be the first vehicle in Europe to offer the new 1.5-litre EcoBoost (148 bhp and 178 bhp) petrol engine and also will be offered equipped with the new 1.5-litre TDCi (94 bhp and 118 bhp) diesel engine. The Focus will continue to be offered with the 1.0-litre EcoBoost petrol engine (99 bhp and 123 bhp). There will also be a new version of the 99 g/km CO2 1.0-litre EcoBoost, said to be the first non-hybrid petrol family car in Europe to offer sub-100 g/km CO2 emissions.
Ford says the 118 bhp 1.5-litre diesel PowerShift automatic that will be introduced next year will offer a 19 per cent improvement compared to the equivalent-powered current Focus. The new Focus equipped with the automatic transmission and 1.0-litre EcoBoost engine that also will be introduced next year will offer a 17 per cent improvement over the equivalent powered engine it will replace. A 148 bhp 2.0-litre TDCi diesel model will show a 14 per cent improvement when specified with a manual gearbox (13 per cent with an automatic transmission).
The new Focus also will be available with optional paddle-shift controls.
Source: Ford
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