Ford to Reduce Focus Options in Next Gen

[2b2]

fwiw,

2018modelyear can start as early as Jan2017

[Pioneer]

fwiw,

2018modelyear can start as early as Jan2017

Yeah. But you can't run a 2017 model year in calendar year 2018. 2017 Focus doesn't start until November 2016. Edited September 17, 2016 by Pioneer

[focus05]

Wow, lots of heated opinions on this topic. In general, my perception around the current gen Focus is quite negative (and I bought a loaded one in 2012). The question of whether Ford is issuing subprime vs GM is sort of beside the point. I don't compare Ford to GM. I compare them to the broader automobile market.

 

Ford did several things well with this new car (hatchback!). But they also have several issues with the current gen that they failed to execute well on:

• Small interior - it is one of the tightest interiors in the class for legroom. Was from day one. That might be ok in Europe, but it doesn't fly in the US (or China) if you want to compete with the Civic/Corolla (gotta match the product) or if you want to compete on price (bang for the buck).
• Poor transmission - Ford completely bungled this one. It has left a negative perception around the Focus in terms of quality, meaning that you are forcing yourself out of the Civic/Corolla competition from day one. No hope going back.
• Econopremium - They missed the boat on interior usability in version one. The refresh was decent, though. However, they mixed premium features with poor quality bits here and there (NVH, some bad plastic moldings, low quality cloth seats) leading to a car that is neither budget nor premium. And then, failing to compete with Audi A3, they went straight to discounts on an econopremium product.
• Confusing options - the topic of the thread. The array of packages and combinations of tech are stupid. 97% consumers don't want to configure in detail. They want a good package, and off they go. I think Ford has also messed up some of their packaging, like how they bundle certain potentially desirable features into Sport packages that add styling features that might not appeal to mainstream buyer.

 

I read most of this as Ford not knowing what it wants to be. They had a good product in Europe but no one who could step up and drive the ship in the US to make sure the product translated. To me it was an exercise in bean counting, just starting with a better product from across the pond.

 

The Focus is about to have a really bad 18 months before the model change over. And even then... The grouping of options will help a lot to clarify things, but if I were the 2017 Focus product manager, I would be thinking about who buys the vehicle, where it's positioned, and do the following:

• Take the hatchback premium and the sedan downward
• Add the 1.5 turbo to the hatchback along with the 6MT and 6AT
• Keep the cheaper 2.0 in the sedan with the 5MT and the 6AT
• I would update the classes in the Sedan: Sedan would get a "Studio" with all the basics a rental car would need (LX in a Civic), an "SE" that is more like Honda's EX and an "SEL" that is more like Honda's Touring. I would create just 1-2 packages per trim + some transmission, wheel and color options. You could also give these levels names like Trend or Style or something.
• For the hatch, I would start at "SE", keep "SEL" and I would make the Titanium stand out a bit - minor fascia or body touches to make it feel unique and premium. Maybe even give the normal hatch the 148 hp 1.5 and Titanium the 178 hp version. Ditto the options. Of course, the ST and RS would stay.
• I would also spend time figuring out ways to incentivize dealers to sell small cars. Right now, they are good at trucks and SUVs. That hurts you because even if you have a good small car product, your dealer body will always view the small car as a "cheap thing."

 

Ford, however, seems to be paralyzed when it comes to decision-making and not focused enough on the end consumer's needs. I suspect too many specific decisions are still top-down rather than being bottom up based on general guardrails or principles from the top. At least, that's what it seems like (global low-cost B car - wait no; no US Ranger - wait no; no real EV - oh wait, we'll also do 5 EVs; and now driverless!)

 

Not disagreeing with Ford's broad priorities - they need to figure out how they fit into an electrified and driverless world where cars are a shared resources rather than an independently owned resource. But that means they need to know their Customer. If they don't want to know about the small/compact car customer, fine. But then cut the model. Don't let it hang around half formed. Seriously. Cut it.

 

Ultimately, I think Ford should be working overtime figuring out commercial vehicles (driverless Transit and Transit Connect; interaction between drones, bikes and other small vehicles and their larger vehicles; electrification; fleet deployment technologies - e.g., Ford as a platform?). They have the connections deep into those industries. I would be going all out there.

[Harley Lover]

This is true. Focus EOP is tentatively May 2018.

 

Fuzzy, some EOP for the C-Max? I'm thinking about buying another Energi near the end of production, especially if Ford do any sort of refresh.

[akirby]

C-Max should be roughly the same time.

[fuzzymoomoo]

 

Fuzzy, some EOP for the C-Max? I'm thinking about buying another Energi near the end of production, especially if Ford do any sort of refresh.

same time, may 2018

[jpd80]

And part of that reasoning would be planned builds to the finish, we're seeing that with Falcon and Territory

who have less than two weeks to live - October 7 it's all over red rover, 56 years of continuous manufacturing gone..

[630land]

Focus shouldn't compete with Audi, it's against VW Golf. And no don't "cut it" since some are expecting a 'dream ride'.

Want an Audi, buy one, though most are leased to avoid issues after warranty.

[BORG]

I don't think people realize how unique Ford is in the market, it's the only manufacturer besides VW to produce truly global products, basically the same thing made in multiple markets. Typically this only works for niche or luxury brands. The Focus is the only compact of its kind, virtually untouched everywhere it's sold besides engines and options. Ford's grand One Ford experiment definitely needs some alterations but it's been relatively successful. Up until recently it had been the bestselling car in the world, even without producing multiple variants under the same name (Like Corolla). It'll be interesting to see if the Focus can be fixed for the US market, and restore it's former glory in the rest of the world were it has seen a huge drop in sales. By the time this generation of Focus is replaced, it will be 7/8 years old which is undeniably long for both Focus and industry. Ford is just a very slow company, it's big and ponderous and it's getting slower because each product requires a mountain to move and Ford has a the bare minimum staff to do it all.

Edited September 26, 2016 by BORG

[jpd80]

And when you look at Ford, you can see that it's still on the platforms used to unify the company.

The next generation product cycles will build upon that and take the whole "one Ford" a step further.

Efficient design, specifically interior space and packaging will be crucial to compact and midsized vehicles

going forward because everyone now wants mid sized leg room in a compact

 

That's where I see an enlarged Fiesta and Focus striking more accord with global audiences,

the Mondeo has now grown a little too large for most markets and now identifies as a "tweener"

that replaces full sized car like Falcon and Taurus.

 

The rider over all of that is Utilities, Ecosport, Kuga/Escape, Edge and Everest/Explorer all have major parts to play

in growing Ford's business internationally. The domestic market is harder to predict in terms of growth pattern

but it's a sure bet that Ford will need to bring its A Game against competitors.

Edited September 26, 2016 by jpd80

[Harley Lover]

same time, may 2018

Thanks - now if only Ford would give it a few updates (I doubt it).

Edited September 26, 2016 by Harley Lover

[fuzzymoomoo]

Thanks - now if only Ford would give it a few updates (I doubt it).

I've sw seen the 2017 model. Very minor facelift.

[BORG]

And when you look at Ford, you can see that it's still on the platforms used to unify the company.

The next generation product cycles will build upon that and take the whole "one Ford" a step further.

Efficient design, specifically interior space and packaging will be crucial to compact and midsized vehicles

going forward because everyone now wants mid sized leg room in a compact

 

That's where I see an enlarged Fiesta and Focus striking more accord with global audiences,

the Mondeo has now grown a little too large for most markets and now identifies as a "tweener"

that replaces full sized car like Falcon and Taurus.

 

The rider over all of that is Utilities, Ecosport, Kuga/Escape, Edge and Everest/Explorer all have major parts to play

in growing Ford's business internationally. The domestic market is harder to predict in terms of growth pattern

but it's a sure bet that Ford will need to bring its A Game against competitors.

 

 

The Fusion is actually small for its main competition so it will actually need to grow its interior dimensions to keep up which may be an interesting challenge for Europe, but ultimately that's a small market compared to China and the US.

Edited September 27, 2016 by BORG

[akirby]

The Fusion is actually small for its main competition

 

You make up some of the strangest crap.....

[jpd80]

 

 

The Fusion is actually small for its main competition so it will actually need to grow its interior dimensions to keep up which may be an interesting challenge for Europe, but ultimately that's a small market compared to China and the US.

But you see what's happened there?

Those Mid Sized buyers now want cars with the same leg room as full sized car,

the result is an increase in cabin room but at the expense of trunk space in order

to keep the cars classified as (large) Mid Size instead of full size.

 

This is a tricky needle to thread, Ford probably has no choice but

to follow the internal stretch like Toyota did to Corolla and Camry,

[Trailhiker]

The Accord and Corolla both lost rear seat headroom over their last model and it is noticeable when sitting back there. The Civic, which was terrible in that respect for the last generation, gained a little back in this generation. I would hope that the next gen Focus follows the Civic.

[jpd80]

Strange since the latest Corolla is supposed to have 41.6" of rear legroom,

that's around 6" more than most competitors have...

[akirby]

It's tricky to build one vehicle for NA, LA, SA and Europe. That's another benefit to having a short and long C vehicle. Long C for NA and short C for everywhere else (as the volume vehicle - both can be sold everywhere).

[jpd80]

It's like the Chinese and Indian markets have influenced car makers to increase rear leg room

and perhaps that's now flowing through to North American customers. I think we first saw that

with the Cruze increasing rear leg room and then Corolla responded making it just short of the

interior volume for a Mid Sized car. Sure makes for interesting tines..

[BORG]

I think the issue with Ford globalization in particular is that it de-emphasized the needs of the US market in favor of the European market where they were being developed. Fortunately there seems to be a convergence happening thanks to Asia.

Edited September 27, 2016 by BORG

[Biker16]

It's tricky to build one vehicle for NA, LA, SA and Europe. That's another benefit to having a short and long C vehicle. Long C for NA and short C for everywhere else (as the volume vehicle - both can be sold everywhere).

Which does not exist

[silvrsvt]

Which does not exist

 

Yet....

[Biker16]

 

Yet....

 

The current C-platform is capable of wheelbases from 104in-------120.6in short and long today.

 

the EU civic, US civic are the same. not a short/long crap that saves 0 money and has no benefit for the customer.

 

Shorter does not Equal cheaper.

 

The EU has no problem with the size of the Civic, mazda3, or Cruze, there isn't a problem other than the Focus backseat is too small for all markets.

 

CD6= yet?

 

Ford is moving at a Glacial pace.

Edited September 29, 2016 by Biker16

[silvrsvt]

 

The EU has no problem with the size of the Civic, mazda3, or Cruze, there isn't a problem other than the Focus backseat is too small for all markets.

 

The difference between those three is about 2-3 inches in rear leg room. The Focus has had interior space issues since the 2010 MY

 

As for the long-short C platform...guess you never considered that Ford needs a B-sized CUV and the Fiesta would be hard pressed to meet that requirement for the NA market? EcoSport IMO is still too small.

[akirby]

Short C doesn't necessarily mean just a wheelbase change - think Nissan Juke and Nissan Rogue. 4.2M vs. 4.6M at roughly the same width. There are numerous examples of this especially in Europe and Asia. The styling can and should be different to appeal to a different demographic. Using the same platform keeps costs down. Ecosport and Fiesta are just too narrow for NA.