Official 2008 Ford Focus Pics and Information!

[focalized31]

From my understanding Car&Driver just reported this is not the New Focus this is the new Escort Zx2 is this true if so take it off the front of the forum

[Ted7rns]

Originally Posted by focalized31

From my understanding Car&Driver just reported this is not the New Focus this is the new Escort Zx2 is this true if so take it off the front of the forum

What date did they issue the story?? (4/1/07).

[focaljet-1]

Originally Posted by focalized31

From my understanding Car&Driver just reported this is not the New Focus this is the new Escort Zx2 is this true if so take it off the front of the forum

I guess you missed the other two threads huh?

[CrUziN4L]

ahhh man the stuff i have missed since this past weekend


u guys crack me up

[MrPotatoes]

yeah you did.

unfortunatly it is a prank. it's what i've been thinking forever. i just wish it were real.

yo, we're gonna go to carlise together right? one day bitch, then i'm gonna be back home the next day. BOOYAKASHA!

[Mr_Mike]

I thought Ford made the Focus low budget with the 05 makeover. I still don't like it too much, but I can still see the original idea.

With this Ford has managed to build their very own Pontiac Aztek. Way to go, Ford.

[ZIPYSVT]

Awesome! Honoring our heritage!





(I hope this thread is still going April 1st 2008 so we can enjoy it again)

[CrUziN4L]

Originally Posted by MrPotatoes

yeah you did.

unfortunatly it is a prank. it's what i've been thinking forever. i just wish it were real.

yo, we're gonna go to carlise together right? one day bitch, then i'm gonna be back home the next day. BOOYAKASHA!

YYYYEEEESSSSS. I may go with u the next day depending on festivities and womens

[CrUziN4L]

also...shouldn't we change the title to:

"Official Pre-production 2008 Ford Focus Pics and Information That Will Be Changed and Modified To Something Wayyy More Attractive"

[MrPotatoes]

well, that BBQ will last until way late at night and there will be heavy drinking. and the next day should be just as good. i dunno what they plan to do then. pretty sure we can go together. there will be plenty of hot bittys there

[CrUziN4L]

:d

[focaljet-1]

OK, back on topic guys... take it to PM.

[rpvitiello]

anyway before the escort apral fools stuff...

It does seam ford ws somewhat trying to go after scion with funky styling, and the interior lighting, but they did not get it right at all...

IF they want to do that they need to ELMINATE 90% of the factory options to the car. Offer one trim level, and a choice of auto or manual, and make ALL other options dealer installed accessories. Just sell the thing in massive volume fully loaded and let people "customize" the car to make it look better etc...

Also i DID think ford should rename this car something else and make it their "value" scion fighter. Don't try and target it at the Civic etc... where it clearly can't compeat, and target it right at the "value" cars like scion...

Then ford could take the focus name, and do what saturn is doing. Import the current euro focus in limited volume (say 10-20,000 a year) price the car higher, and only sell it as a hatch back. This way they can still have a car for people that want hatchbacks and not leave a hole in their line up. IF the cheaper car goes well they can redesign it, or replace it with a b segmant car to continu after scion, and they can have the focus as there premium small car going after the Rabbit, Civic, ETC as the focus was designed to do.

I see NO reason why they can't do this. Unlike the mondeo/fusion the cars would not directally steal sales from each other since one car would be sedans/coupes, and the other could be hatchbacks and waggons. And they could both be targeted at different price brackets.

[focaljet-1]

As I have said from Day One, import the C1 Focus but badge it as a Mercury and price it against the GTI. Maybe even slap the "Capri" name on it. And let Ford sell the C170 Focus as an entry level car, as is.

But, this is not going to happen. So people need to get on with their lives.

[rpvitiello]

Originally Posted by focaljet-1

As I have said from Day One, import the C1 Focus but badge it as a Mercury and price it against the GTI. Maybe even slap the "Capri" name on it. And let Ford sell the C170 Focus as an entry level car, as is.

But, this is not going to happen. So people need to get on with their lives.

well mercury in its current form needs to GO AWAY. They should be able to accomplish "mercury" by just having a top trim of all their cars with a ford badge. Also their are things they do on purpose to make fords WORSE cars, and mercury better to improve the "perceived value" of mercury. Many of these little touches have no cost difference, but they just make fords look worse. Most people do not think of mercury when they cross shop toyota, the think the ford brand. If ford owned the car market this would be fine, but the existence of mercury is actually hurting the competitiveness of ford, and the whole company at this point. Ford needs to be moved a little upscale to where mercury is now, and placed in direct completion with Toyota in quality price etc... (what people EXPECT of the ford brand) and if they want to sell super cheap cars they need another brand UNDER ford (to go against scion)

They could spend ALLOT of money on marketing to make people think of mercury over ford when cross shopping ford products, but do you really want your company’s name on the WORST brand you sell?

Also it IS no late to kill off this car since they are already tooling up to mass produce, but, as fords CEO has mentioned it is NOT too late to have a MASSIVE shift in their marketing effort of their cars. They can’t just pull products out of the air, they have what the precious management planned to build that is about to come out in the US, and the cars from other markets they can import for the car selection. The other thing they have control over is MARKETING.

[focaljet-1]

That was my whole point, to change Mercury from its "current form". But, there is not enough money there to do it.

The mission statement of Mercury from it's inception was to be "near-luxury".

It's just my opinion. But, today I would position Mercury, as "perfomance luxury". I've always used the phase "Ford's Acura".

[rpvitiello]

Originally Posted by focaljet-1

That was my whole point, to change Mercury from its "current form". But, there is not enough money there to do it.

The mission statement of Mercury from it's inception was to be "near-luxury".

It's just my opinion. But, today I would position Mercury, as "performance luxury". I've always used the phase "Ford's Acura".

and then what do you do with Lincoln, which is fords competition to Acura...
Or Volvo which is also a "near luxury" brand

Make Lincoln pure luxury/performance and go after Cadi, BMW, etc...

Then where do you put jaguar...

there is just too much overlap in their brands.

You have too many.

Ford also needs to be the "mainstream" brand NOT the value brand the "average" American is not buying a kia rio price car, the "average" car in the US is $36,000. They need to position ford in a more "average" position like toyota. Toyota has 1 or 2 cheep cars and then everything else with options is close to $30k.

Ford needs cheap brand against scion, an "average brand" which SHOULD be ford. and a luxury performance brand to go up against bmw (jaguar)
They already made the decision to put Lincoln against Acura, Mazda is performance, Volvo is family/safe, euro (and could probably replace Lincoln) and Jaguar needs to be upscale to replace Aston. Land rover is there dedicated SUV brand which can be successful as the Hummer brand is for GM, and Jeep is for DamlerChrisler

Also the thing I dislike making mercury the “American ford Europe” is as small as it is, they will be spending money re-badging the cars with new grills, logos etc… and will be hurting global recognition. In the modern car market it is MUCH better to have a global presence, something GM and DamlerChrisler are not struggling to do. They are re-branding, and introducing there brands to Europe, something ford has a big advantage with. MANY of there brands are ALLREADY known the world over and have global recognition.

[focaljet-1]

Lincoln needs to compete with Cadillac directly IMHO. If you don't, there is no reason for it to exist. The Lincoln brand needs to once again mean something.

And as much as GM wants Cadillac to be compete with BMW, it ain't happening. You might convince some Americans to cross shop, but in Europe, it's not working.

I'll reiterate my stance that Mercury could sell the C1 Focus, the Mondeo, etc. Although I do agree that you lose the global branding momentum. But, it would be better than what Mercury is now.

Ford is not in the position, financially, to introduce a new brand (the Scion-beater as you refer to).

And, you really have to leave the PAG brands and Mazda somewhat out of the equation. They have their spots, but should continue to operate outside the Ford Universe IMHO.

[Chalz]

Originally Posted by focaljet-1

Lincoln needs to compete with Cadillac directly IMHO. If you don't, there is no reason for it to exist. The Lincoln brand needs to once again mean something.

And as much as GM wants Cadillac to be compete with BMW, it ain't happening. You might convince some Americans to cross shop, but in Europe, it's not working.

I'll reiterate my stance that Mercury could sell the C1 Focus, the Mondeo, etc. Although I do agree that you lose the global branding momentum. But, it would be better than what Mercury is now.

Ford is not in the position, financially, to introduce a new brand (the Scion-beater as you refer to).

And, you really have to leave the PAG brands and Mazda somewhat out of the equation. They have their spots, but should continue to operate outside the Ford Universe IMHO.

Funny...I had always thought of the Focus as Fords version of the Scions. (Despite the fact Ford did it first.)

A little mini-model lineup of cars that don't bear much relationship to the rest of the Ford lineup, introduced as something new and refreshing, fun and zippy. I think Toyota took the Scion cue from Ford...but Ford never continued or elaborated on it with the Focus. Just think, Scion is already re-doing the entire line with sheet metal, and with the XB, the drivetrain.

[P-51]

C&D must have read this forum. Remember, I was the first to joke about this.

But, you never know, sometimes truth is stranger than fiction.

[snake eyes]

Originally Posted by focaljet-1

Lincoln needs to compete with Cadillac directly IMHO. If you don't, there is no reason for it to exist. The Lincoln brand needs to once again mean something.

And as much as GM wants Cadillac to be compete with BMW, it ain't happening. You might convince some Americans to cross shop, but in Europe, it's not working.

I'll reiterate my stance that Mercury could sell the C1 Focus, the Mondeo, etc. Although I do agree that you lose the global branding momentum. But, it would be better than what Mercury is now.

Ford is not in the position, financially, to introduce a new brand (the Scion-beater as you refer to).

And, you really have to leave the PAG brands and Mazda somewhat out of the equation. They have their spots, but should continue to operate outside the Ford Universe IMHO.

Not really, mazda can be a upbrand scion, they have the dealer acc. down with the mazdaspeed stuff (something I REALLY wish ford would do with the mustang and focus) and are from decently cheap and sporty (mazda 3) to sport coupe (rx8) etx.

for the focus idea, eh either that, or bring it over for mazda and call it something decent would be my idea, as most people don't put performance/sporty and mercury in the same thought.

my .02

<l><l>

[rpvitiello]

Originally Posted by focaljet-1

Lincoln needs to compete with Cadillac directly IMHO. If you don't, there is no reason for it to exist. The Lincoln brand needs to once again mean something.

And as much as GM wants Cadillac to be compete with BMW, it ain't happening. You might convince some Americans to cross shop, but in Europe, it's not working.

I'll reiterate my stance that Mercury could sell the C1 Focus, the Mondeo, etc. Although I do agree that you lose the global branding momentum. But, it would be better than what Mercury is now.

Ford is not in the position, financially, to introduce a new brand (the Scion-beater as you refer to).

And, you really have to leave the PAG brands and Mazda somewhat out of the equation. They have their spots, but should continue to operate outside the Ford Universe IMHO.

Ford already said they are NOT going after BMW, because Cadi is hitting for that market, and they just do not have the resources to go after it. They feel Acura and LExus is a better goat to shoot for...

And the reason Cadi is not doing well is they are releasing cars WORSE than the US spec models in the europe (like there saab based intro car) instead of importing there better RWD V8 cars. IF they sold the same cars in the US and EU, and listend to the demands of customers on BOTH sides, they would make cars that were more appealing to both markets.

And if i brought in the PAG group, i would do it by killing off allot of the ford side. Ford should be selling tricle down tech from those companies, not tryign to do there own thing. As it is many of the ford cars, motors, safety are ALL from the PAG, why not just improve relations and make them one, but NOT have ford teams take over, but have PAG teams take over. With the old polotics of the company that would have never happned, but now there is a chance to do that.

[focaljet-1]

Originally Posted by rpvitiello

Ford already said they are NOT going after BMW, because Cadi is hitting for that market, and they just do not have the resources to go after it. They feel Acura and LExus is a better goat to shoot for...

And the reason Cadi is not doing well is they are releasing cars WORSE than the US spec models in the europe (like there saab based intro car) instead of importing there better RWD V8 cars. IF they sold the same cars in the US and EU, and listend to the demands of customers on BOTH sides, they would make cars that were more appealing to both markets.

And if i brought in the PAG group, i would do it by killing off allot of the ford side. Ford should be selling tricle down tech from those companies, not tryign to do there own thing. As it is many of the ford cars, motors, safety are ALL from the PAG, why not just improve relations and make them one, but NOT have ford teams take over, but have PAG teams take over. With the old polotics of the company that would have never happned, but now there is a chance to do that.

I think you mis-read my post. I don't think Cadillac is competing directly with BMW (yet) either, even though that's what they are trying to do. They are closer than ever, but just not there IMHO.

Lincoln and Cadillac use to go after the same customer. They still should.

And yes, if you are referring to the BLS, it has not sold well in Europe at all. Even with the diesel option.

"American" cars are a novelty in Europe. Sure, many people would "fancy" a Mustang over there, but that's a different crowd than the lux sedan buyer.

Cadillac is still not appealing to their taste. It's still a bit rough around the edges to them in terms of styling, driving dynamic and interior quality. You would only buy one to be "d