Ford Focus
The Ford Focus is a compact car that has been a popular model in Europe for many years. It's popularity in North America has declined in recent years for a number of reasons, mainly that people stopped buying compact cars. there was a trend away from small fuel efficient cars towards larger vehicles in North America that has hurt sales of the Focus. However the current economic climate has seen a reversal of this trend and the Focus may well benefit.
The Ford Focus was introduced to the North American market in 2000 where is quickly became popular. The decision to introduce the car to North America was made based on the success of the model in Europe. The car quickly became a success because it met the demand for a low cost and fuel efficient compact car at a time when that is exactly what the market was looking for. After it's initial success sales declined as competitors introduced cars to compete with the Focus so Ford did a major redesign in the hopes of winning back customers. Although this had some success sales have not rebounded to the levels they were at earlier. In 2012 Ford plans to discontinue production of the North American Focus and use the European model in all of its markets.
The Ford Focus is available in 2-door coupe and a 4-door sedan version. The station wagon and hatchback versions which were were offered on the original model are no longer available. In recent years Ford has focused on increasing the fuel efficiency of the Focus and to do this they have dropped the optional 2.3 litre engine that was previously available. Now all Focuses come with a 2.0 litre Duratec engine, although horsepower has been increased slightly on the current model. The Focus has also had it's weight reduced and has been made more streamlined in order to help with fuel efficiency. The car is now rated with a fuel efficiency of 6.7L/100 KM.
The Focus comes with all of the standard safety features that would be expected on a modern car like anti-lock brakes and crumple zones. There front and rear side curtain airbags and front seat torso mounted airbags. The Focus received a good rating in frontal impact crash testing but only an acceptable rating in side impact crash testing.
The Ford Focus meets the demand for a good quality, fuel efficient car with a low price tag. Popular when Ford first introduced the model it's sales have declined in recent years due to a number of competitors taking market share away, and a trend away from small fuel efficient cars. The car however remains popular in European so Ford has decided to sell the same model in all of it's markets rather than having different versions for different markets. Whether this will work for them remains to be seen.