Euro Focus in the US
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Ford recently hinted they might actually change their mind and bring the European Focus over here.
That would be good news. But…
It has already been on sale since early 2005. It would be over 2 years old by the time they actually bring it over here.
(You’re right, that kind of concern never stopped VW…)
And will they make it cheaper to keep the price down, or are they willing to sell it for a bit more?
Would it compete too much with the Mazda3 ? Which underneath is the same car…
Will the price be to close to the Fusion?
I guess they’ll have to answer all these questions, and that might take forever….
What do you think?
Would any of you consider the Euro Focus?
Should they do it?
Should it me a Mercury?
I would like to see the euro focus come to the U.S. Mercury or Lincoln could use a small car, maybe lincoln could compete with acura or bmw?
I say bring it on! If Honda can bring the Fit, an “old” car from 2001 then Ford can surely bring a 2yr old car. It looks great…love the European influenced design. I haven’t read all that much about it, does anyone know if it’s a good car?
Its a no brainer. Have you seen the sales numbers of US ford focus in a time when small cars are hot! I can’t believe it didn’t happen a year ago!
Bring Euro Focus, Mondeo and Fiesta here but badge them as Mercurys!
the euro focus is built in UK. There is no way they’ll be able to sell it anywhere near the price of US spec focus.
Perhaps they can test the market by bringing just one model, and sell it as Focus RS os something.
Just like previous Civic Si looked completely different from the regular 2 door civic, I think people won’t mind if the there are two different, yet kinda similar looking Focus.
I think there is market for Euro Focus here.
Its a great car and its doing really well in europe. I’ll never understand the reasoning not to bring it over here in the first place. Besides the fact that the current focus sales must be droppping like crazy, keeping old cars around too long hurts brand image and that is what’s priceless.
I haven’t heard anything about the EU Focus coming stateside, but I would certainly consider one if they did. I love everything built on that platform and although the Mazda3 gets mucho accolades, I just can’t wrap my head around it. I love the V50, but am priced out cause I’d want the T5. Where would the Focus fall price wise? That first generation is getting old…And can anyone point me to the hint that Ford might bring it on?
This one has been on sale since early 2005, the current US one has been on sale since….when? 2000? Bring it over, it will at least make the US roads look better than now.
i say give it to mercury, do like gm is doing to saturn make it the us opel, and give mercury all the european products
They should bring it as a Ford to replace the cruddy US Focus. NOT to Mercury.
I’m sure Ford is doing this because of what GM is doing with Saturn and now it appears that we might get the actual Astra in place of the Ion instead of an opel-styled cobalt based vehicle.
That would be so sweet.
Wouldn’t be funny if Mercury did get this like the second to last poster had suggested.
They could have comparisons of cars from both Saturn and Mercury.
I can see it now… “The battle of the gods(or planets)”
> Anonymous said…
> Bring Euro Focus, Mondeo and >Fiesta here but badge them as >Mercurys!
What he said….TIMES 2!!
I’d love to get my hands on a Focus RS! 🙂
There is no such thing as focus RS. It hasn’t been in production for years. Maybe you are thinking of the Focus ST with the Volvo engine.
Either way I would rather have the Mazda3 or Euro Civic.
Yes, you are correct, I was thinking of the ST. Thank you for the heads up.
Anonymous, The Euro Focus is not built in the UK. I believe it is built in Germany. Ford build NO cars in the UK. They build engines and the Transit van here. The last car they built was the Ford Escort, which was built until around 2000.
hell yes they should bring it over here. No reason not to, especially with all the brand new/ significantly upgraded small cars in the US market.
Plus, its sharp looking. Not quite as groundbreaking as the first gen, but, its body lines are alot sharper, and I say, better. If they can seel the Mazda3 from about $15k-$21k, why can’t the Focus be priced in roughly the same range, say, $14k-$22k?
I’ll take mine black, hatch, and with diesel. Ford or Mercury makes no difference, just don’t over price it.
They should bring it here as long as they can lineup another car to slot in beneath it, to compete with the Aveos, Accents, Versa and Fits. Otherwise they should just let the current Focus languish, which is typical of Ford management.
How is it that Japanese auto makers can build a plant in the States, design and sell cars at a competitive price, and make a profit, but Ford can’t sell this Focus here because “it’ll cost too much?”
Bullsh*t.
Ford and GM treat America like a red-headed stepchild. I wouldn’t have their warmed-over sh*t if were free.
Okay, maybe then.
Let’s face it. American car companies make the STUPIDEST decisions! If they show a concept that everyone appeals to, they change it drastically when it reaches production. Always a bad move. If there is a HOT car (Mondeo for example) sold overseas, they refuse to bring it here, and if they do, they SCREW it up. We got the Focus SVT, they got the RS. They screwed up. I agree that the Euro Focus should be sold here, but not as a Mercury, rather as a Ford.
I would buy the convertible Bring It
If the new Focus comes to America, it will be built in Dearborn or Mexico. They will not import from Europe. European built cars cost considerably more than North American built cars.
The Mondeo may have some fans here, but the previous Mondeo was sold here, the Contour/mystique. You didn’t buy one of them, so why should they think you will buy the new one?
We need some smaller cars, like the new Fiesta, but they can’t source them from Europe and sell them for less than a Focus in the US. Brazil makes the nifty little Fusion (not like ours) and we don’t get it here because they can’t make money at what it would sell for.
North America is a very price competitive market, cheapest place in the world to buy a car.
saw these on the road in italy this past summer. very nice, substantial road prescence. I would drive the black one in a minute
They were going to bring it over here in 2005, but two things kept them back: (1) they had finally gotten the teething problems out of the original generation Focus in the USA, and didn’t want to risk reintroducing defects and complaints by changing to a newer generation; and (2) they were too cheap to make the model change, and figured American drivers would never buy it, assuming American buyers buy this segment of cars purely on price to save money. In Europe, they HAD to change or lose their market share.
Well, I guess you could keep the Taurus forever too; or the Model T for that matter.
Duh, and you wonder why Ford is eff’d up now.
Hope they learned their lesson from the great Mazda3 sales (way more than the Protege) and Fusion sales (people buy hip cars? really? we thought we were a truck and SUV company!).
They need to get the updated chassis of the Euro Focus over here by January ’07 as an ’08 model.
They need thicker glass all around to reduce wind-rush and other noise, and better sound proofing (foam in A pillers etc.). They need to re-introduce the 2.3 as the stock engine – or a $100 option, like on the Caliber – to the ZX3’s, and have the ST suspension stock in the ZX3’s. The “family oriented” sedans can keep the softer “Euro style” suspension; the wagon can be in-between (the wagons attract both manure haulers and All Road wannabees).
Hey, if Steve Jobs applied his razor sharp marketing instincts to Ford, they’d be #1 of the Big 3. But Ford manages to shoot iself in the foot.
Their new Chief Dork wants to shit-can anything that looks “European” in favor of “F-150 American style”. He claims the Five Hundred is languishing because it is “blandly European”. Well, not everything European is bland – look at the Volvo line. I think the Five Hundred is languishing because it aims to replace the Crown Vic, and instead of offering a V-8 or even strong V-6, is stuck with an anemic 3.0 liter engine, often coupled to the very questionable CVT instead of the fine new Ford/GM joint venture 6 speed automatic. But what do I know?
So I think I’d expect a new Edsel before the Euro Focus. Ouch!
Great post MarkWeb… I agree with most of it. I really don’t understand why Ford bothers to build similar-sized cars like the Mondeo and Fusion on separate platforms for different markets, especially when Mazda and Volvo can successfully sell the same vehicles in all markets! The EuroFocus should have been here by now, especially considering how well the Mazda3 is doing with the same platform in the US and Canada! Nissan’s Versa/Sentra strategy is exactly how Ford should have handled it.. bring in a subcompact from Mexico or Brazil to battle the low cost battle, and then introduce the new Focus at a slight price increase.
I own a ford focus ST in Europe. It’s a briliant car, it’s fast, drives great and looks good. The european ones are built in Germany on a Volvo platform, so you can imagine the quality of the car. If they ever decided to bring it on to the US the starting price would be at least around 20K, but it’s so worth it. This is one of the best selling cars in Europe and Americans would definitely fall in love with it.