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Focus ST


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On 2/21/2019 at 7:44 PM, jasonj80 said:

 Gen Z prefers Sedans. Some of that could be that they are cheaper vs used SUV's but studies show they do like cars vs SUV's

https://thenewswheel.com/generation-z-prefers-more-outfitted-used-vehicles-to-cheaper-new-ones/ 

https://jalopnik.com/nissan-thinks-the-kids-will-make-sedans-cool-again-some-1829307017

Maybe that is because Gen Z is only 23 years old, most of them have never bought a vehicle before, when they do they can't afford new ones and used sedans are cheap because people that can afford other vehicles don't want sedans. It is probably safe to say that Gen Z drives vehicles that their Gen X parents bought for them, or helped them pick out, where fuel economy and insurance costs were primary concerns. As Gen Z starts to mature, have families, and incomes their buying habits will change.  I look at my own experience, went from a Tempo and Dodge D-50 in high school to a Chrysler LeBaron GTC in college, to a Thunderbird SC after working for a year. Few years later after getting married, got a Nissan Murano and Lincoln LS with kid 1. Kid 2 comes and the LS was swapped for an Explorer. Murano swapped for an MkC.

So automakers know this as well. I don't think they are concerned with the buying habits of 16-23 year olds.

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On 2/19/2019 at 6:44 PM, akirby said:

What about the others that are available here and not in Europe:

Mustang GT350, GT500

F150 Raptor

Edge ST, Explorer ST

What about them?  Any of these vehicles can and are imported quite easily to EU countries with simple changes such as rear amber turn signals and and in some countries a rear fog lamp. There are GT350s,' GT500's & Raptors over here.  Edge ST and Explorer ST I am not sure these are such wanted vehicles, I am sure there are some who desire these high riders in performance guise , but much easier if one really wants one here and much more economical to do to Europe than to the USA.

Not quite the same story if one is trying to import a Focus ST or RS or for any EU built car to the USA. Even if you wanted to import the new MK4 Focus base trim, the costs to meet the registration regs you could buy a brand new Porsche.

Edited by MKII
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3 hours ago, MKII said:

What about them?  Any of these vehicles can and are imported quite easily to EU countries with simple changes such as rear amber turn signals and and in some countries a rear fog lamp. There are GT350s,' GT500's & Raptors over here.  Edge ST and Explorer ST I am not sure these are such wanted vehicles, I am sure there are some who desire these high riders in performance guise , but much easier if one really wants one here and much more economical to do to Europe than to the USA.

Not quite the same story if one is trying to import a Focus ST or RS or for any EU built car to the USA. Even if you wanted to import the new MK4 Focus base trim, the costs to meet the registration regs you could buy a brand new Porsche.

 

That wasn't the point.  The point was that Ford isn't giving Europe all the performance stuff and ignoring North America.  They have performance vehicles in both markets.

 

I don't think the Focus ST or RS sold very well in North America.   Although I agree it would be nice for it to be available.

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1 hour ago, akirby said:

I don't think the Focus ST or RS sold very well in North America.   Although I agree it would be nice for it to be available.

 

I think the ST sold ok for what it was-the RS didn't though-lots of reports of them sitting in dealer showrooms and I'm sure the ADMs that were on them didn't help. Most people wouldn't want to spend $40K on a Focus anyways-when you can get a pretty nice Mustang GT for that much that has more cache to customers here in the US then the rest of the world. I think they only brought over 2500-5K of them a year too?

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ST so amazingly well in the US considering it is only available with manual transmission.

Ford could have easily sold a lot more ST had it been engineered with proper automatic (that could be said for the entire Focus line...)

RS was always intended as a limited production model and I think low awareness is part of the problem. VW Golf R and Subaru Impreza STI have been the market longer and have far higher recall and recognition. It's unfortunate that Ford pulled the plug on Focus entirely but I think Ford could have sold more RS in the future if they were willing to invest in it for the long term.

 

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5 minutes ago, bzcat said:

Ford could have easily sold a lot more ST had it been engineered with proper automatic

 

But then the ST mafia would have pitched a hissy fit like they're doing now with Edge ST.   They're pissed off because it's essentially just a renamed Edge Sport and it's not as tossable as a much much lighter and lower Focus ST.   I'm sure they'll have the same problem with the Explorer ST.

I asked them to please provide the document that details the performance parameters required for a ST badge.   I'm still waiting.

ST now just means the base level of tuning on a vehicle from Ford Performance.  No more, no less.

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On 2/25/2019 at 1:13 PM, akirby said:

ST now just means the base level of tuning on a vehicle from Ford Performance.  No more, no less.

This is a smart marketing strategy for Ford. ST has a good reputation. Seems like all of the new Ford ST products coming out in the next year will deliver competitive performance within their segments.

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On 2/25/2019 at 12:25 PM, akirby said:

The only stats I could find was that they sold just over 8K STs YTD in September 2016 and overall Focus sales in the same period were around 127K or about 6%.

 

More than I thought, actually.

The 2500-5k was for the RS-not ST. Forgot to put that 

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