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2008 Focus an "out of the park" hit


twintornados

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Focus gets a 6-speed ? or are you talking about the escape?

I may be wrong, and the Focus will have to wait for the 6-speed. But the appearance of it in the 2K9 Escape is a case in point of product improvement. Adding ESC to the product line will go a long way to getting Ford on the list of the safety-freaks.

 

We all know about Ford's mistakes. The negatards crow about them, but as time passes and Ford's product improves, their mind-set becomes increasingly pathetic. :)

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In many of Pcsario's rants in the past there has sometimes been just a little bit of evidence to support his pessimistic interpratation of whatever Ford event was being discussed. But this time he is completely ignoring facts. Despite all evidence that supports the fact the Focus has become a retail hit for Ford, he still insists that it is due to fleet dumping. Totally ignoring the fact that a 36% increase in retail sales and an only 24% increase in total sales proves him wrong. By looking at last years data one can use the 26% fleet average from the last fleet central report for the Focus and assume that 12,628 Focus were sold at retail last year and 4437 went to fleets. It is likely that the fleet numbers were not as high as 26% in March last year since it was April of last year that the Focus sold over 20K but for sake of argument we will use the worst case scenario 26% for March. Knowing the growth rate of retail sales we now know that Ford sold 17,174 retail Focus this month and only 3,994 fleet sales. So fleet sales were only down a modest 9.89% in this worst case scenario. This amazing growth happened while at the same time the transaction price on the Focus increased by $2,000.00. No one else in this segment can make that year over year claim. This in itself makes the Focus a bona fide success. Even if sales were flat and you were able increase the price by $2,000 it would be a success.

 

Another way to look at this data is that the "never sold to fleet" Civic was up 18% (presume all retail) in March compared to the 36% increase for the Focus. If a vehicle is growing retail sales at rate that doubles the only real competitiion in the segment shouldn't it be considered at least a modest success?

 

Pcsario's total ignorance of the obvious smells of desperation. He is becoming aware of the fact that he will have to dig deeper and distort facts even more in order to post one of his negative rants in the future. Maybe he will migrate over to a Toyota board and start asking them about the increase in fleet sales, or the extra brand new factory they don't need, or why is your brand new C car tanking right out of the gate, why can't the Avalon keep up with the Taurus in sales, or maybe in a few short weeks he can ask them why was Ford able to rank higher than Toyota in the JD Power IQS report. I bet he can get them all really fired up over there. Do it PC, do it. You will get a real adrenaline rush just like you used to here at BON, but maybe not so much anymore.

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Corolla sales have been down all year, but I've noticed a lot more Corolla commercials lately. We shall see if the trend continues this month. Anybody know how many units the Corolla sold last April?

 

Here is March 2007 (could not find April 2007)

Corolla/Matrix ...... 34,355

http://www.canadiandriver.com/forum/index.....0;attach=21825

 

May 2007 ...45,238

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories....+2007,+01:16+PM

Edited by MKII
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Here is March 2007 (could not find April 2007)

Corolla/Matrix ...... 34,355

http://www.canadiandriver.com/forum/index.....0;attach=21825

 

May 2007 ...45,238

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories....+2007,+01:16+PM

 

Thank you , I appreciate that. I found April '07s numbers:

http://www.theautochannel.com/news/2007/05/01/046202.html

 

32,289 units in April of last year

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With the possibility of $4 a gallon fuel this summer Ford better make sure Wayne is punching these things out as fast as possible. The more I see the 2008 Focus the more I like it. One of the gals that I work with just got one and I am totally impressed with the quality of this small car. Sync is awesome too. Works just as advertised. That is the first thing she wanted to show me.

 

I cry when I think of the economy she is getting compared to what I get on my Explorer. I still have a trailer and own land off the beaten path though. I wish the Explorer was paid for because I would buy a new Focus and leave the Explorer parked except for essential use.

 

By the way...take a few minutes to read some of these reviews by actual owners on Edmunds. :happy feet:

 

http://www.edmunds.com/ford/focus/2008/consumerreview.html

Edited by 2005Explorer
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If I recall correctly, BOTH those models outsold the Fukkas last month...hmm...

 

Maybe the lack of standard ABS is keeping it down?

 

Heh, sorry. Considering who buys a Focus, I doubt ABS concerns are high on the list. I think it's more likey that the "talking to the cool SYNC radio thingy" is keeping sales up, which is good for Ford.

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By the way...take a few minutes to read some of these reviews by actual owners on Edmunds. :happy feet:

 

http://www.edmunds.com/ford/focus/2008/consumerreview.html

 

I read all 4 pages. Pretty impressive, if you ask me. Only one person who wasn't crazy about it............. and it was a company car.

 

The thing that I found funny, was that most of the comments raved about the looks of the car............... the one thing that the negatoids on here were sure would doom it.

 

Good read.

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Heh, sorry. Considering who buys a Focus, I doubt ABS concerns are high on the list. I think it's more likey that the "talking to the cool SYNC radio thingy" is keeping sales up, which is good for Ford.

Maybe...but don't forget the 5 LEDs for $300.00 that change color...retard.gif

 

I much rather have some randomly placed LEDs that change color than ABS...retard.gif

 

But, gimmicks are the new Ford so...

Edited by P71_CrownVic
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Maybe...but don't forget the 5 LEDs for $300.00 that change color...retard.gif

 

I much rather have some randomly placed LEDs that change color than ABS...retard.gif

 

But, gimmicks are the new Ford so...

If you don't like the option, don't check the box on the order form. I don't know how well the ambient lighting is selling, but SYNC seems to be a hit. It's pretty damn cool and extremely useful, so I don't find that surprising; I don't use the CD player at all. The phone function is nice as well

Edited by V8 Ford
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Orrrrrrrr maybe the new Ford is offering what consumers want. How's that for a change?

Yeah...I am sure millions people want five randomly placed lights that change color. I can only imaging the hate mail that Toyota and Honda are getting:

 

"I hate your stupid Corolla/Civic. I hate the fact that it comes with ABS standard. I would much rather spend $300.00 on 5 LEDs! SCREW YOU HONDA/TOYOTA!"

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Yeah...I am sure millions people want five randomly placed lights that change color. I can only imaging the hate mail that Toyota and Honda are getting:

 

"I hate your stupid Corolla/Civic. I hate the fact that it comes with ABS standard. I would much rather spend $300.00 on 5 LEDs! SCREW YOU HONDA/TOYOTA!"

 

Wonderful thing about OPTIONS. You can get them if you WANT them. If you want a Focus with ABS, buy a Focus with ABS. If you want a Focus with ambient lighting, buy a Focus with ambient lighting. Take rate on the ABS option is pretty high, and a lot of dealers hardly even stock models that DON'T have ABS. If Ford can make money installing cheap LED's that people are willing to pay for (it's apparently a pretty high take option, so a lot of people apparently DO like it), then good for them! I fail to see where your complaint is here.

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Wonderful thing about OPTIONS. You can get them if you WANT them. If you want a Focus with ABS, buy a Focus with ABS. If you want a Focus with ambient lighting, buy a Focus with ambient lighting. Take rate on the ABS option is pretty high, and a lot of dealers hardly even stock models that DON'T have ABS. If Ford can make money installing cheap LED's that people are willing to pay for (it's apparently a pretty high take option, so a lot of people apparently DO like it), then good for them! I fail to see where your complaint is here.

I think they should stop being greedy and have ABS standard like the competition.

 

And $300.00 for randomly placed LEDs is just stealing.

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Yeah...I am sure millions people want five randomly placed lights that change color. I can only imaging the hate mail that Toyota and Honda are getting:

 

"I hate your stupid Corolla/Civic. I hate the fact that it comes with ABS standard. I would much rather spend $300.00 on 5 LEDs! SCREW YOU HONDA/TOYOTA!"

yes, and Ford is the only evil car company - Toyota is the people's company running on smiles and hugs - and offering randomly placed LED's in Scion since 2004 for $400 ... hmmm ...

 

Igor

Edited by igor
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I think they should stop being greedy and have ABS standard like the competition.

 

And $300.00 for randomly placed LEDs is just stealing.

 

 

I guess Ford should drop the prices on Panthers by about $14,000 too then. After all, you keep saying how it is their most profitable platform. HOW DARE FORD STEAL FROM PEOPLE LIKE THAT!!!!

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I guess Ford should drop the prices on Panthers by about $14,000 too then. After all, you keep saying how it is their most profitable platform. HOW DARE FORD STEAL FROM PEOPLE LIKE THAT!!!!

I wonder about that.

In1996 the MSRP was around $20,000 and now it only approx. $23,000.

 

Back on topic,

Pleasing to see Focus getting back up to expected sales volumes - it's been declining since 2004.

With Mustang and large car sales off, it looks like buyers switched to Focus - still better than sales walking out the door.

Edited by jpd80
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