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2022 Ford Focus Facelift Revealed


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4 hours ago, jpd80 said:

Maverick is the vehicle size that North America wanted way back when the T6 Ranger was being formulated  in 2006.

Agreed, as a Ranger owner I've been on Ranger forums for a couple decades now and have yet to hear anyone ask for a bigger Ranger. I repeatedly hear Ranger owners asking for a Maverick sized truck.

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8 hours ago, GearheadGrrrl said:

OK, let's look at just what Ford has accomplished with this transition- They killed off a bunch of low to medium margin cars and replaced them with low to medium margin crossovers, SUVs, and pickups... After spending a few billion on that transaction, what's that accomplish?

 

In the U.S. market, Ford's crossovers, SUVs, and pickups have a much better reputation compared to discontinued passenger cars like Focus, whose nameplates are permanently tarnished there.

 

By contrast, Focus nameplate is still somewhat respectable in the European, Australian, and Asian markets. By focusing (pun intended) its efforts for Focus in those regions, and sticking to crossovers, SUVs, pickups, and Mustangs in the U.S., Ford's is allocating its resources in the areas likely to produce the best results.

Edited by rperez817
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59 minutes ago, GearheadGrrrl said:

 

Ford car owners aren't making the big jump to Maverick, Broncos, or Rangers. Ford has lost 80% of them and the 20% that traded for Fords more likely traded for Escapes, Edges, etc..


They don’t need those buyers - the new products are bringing new buyers with higher profit margins.  

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1 hour ago, GearheadGrrrl said:

Agreed, as a Ranger owner I've been on Ranger forums for a couple decades now and have yet to hear anyone ask for a bigger Ranger. I repeatedly hear Ranger owners asking for a Maverick sized truck.

Yet in the rest of the world/RHD markets, that Ranger does battle with all the other similarly sized pickups.

Truth to tell, a slight larger Ranger would do in place of the F150 that Ford refuses to supply.

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1 hour ago, akirby said:


They don’t need those buyers - the new products are bringing new buyers with higher profit margins.  

That kind of logic works for BMW or Porsche, but not for Ford, GM, etc.. You could chase away half the customers who refuse to pay over $45k for a new vehicle and Ford would be even less profitable due to Ford's fixed costs not going away with half the customers.

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7 hours ago, GearheadGrrrl said:

That kind of logic works for BMW or Porsche, but not for Ford, GM, etc.. You could chase away half the customers who refuse to pay over $45k for a new vehicle and Ford would be even less profitable due to Ford's fixed costs not going away with half the customers.

 

Average New-Car Price Tops $45,000, an All-Time High
 

https://www.consumerreports.org/car-pricing-negotiation/average-new-car-price-all-time-high-a4060089312/

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On 10/15/2021 at 3:55 PM, FordBuyer said:

 

Maybe it's because Ford offers luxurious Lincoln lineup here and not in Europe. If you want a gussied up Escape, then buy a Corsair Reserve or better yet Black Label Aviator. 

 

The days of Lincoln being a "gussied up" version of a Ford vehicle are long gone. The g/f has a 2018 Escape and my recently traded in 2017 Lincoln MKC was nothing like it....while shopping for my 2021 Corsair, I looked at a 2021 Escape ...night and day difference. The suspension is different, the body panels are different, the interior is different, hell...even the wipers are different.

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10 hours ago, GearheadGrrrl said:

That kind of logic works for BMW or Porsche, but not for Ford, GM, etc.. You could chase away half the customers who refuse to pay over $45k for a new vehicle and Ford would be even less profitable due to Ford's fixed costs not going away with half the customers.


You don’t need high prices to have high margins.  You need to have a standout product that doesn’t have 8 direct competitors.  You minimize fixed costs by sharing platforms and filling up factories and Ford has done that fairly well.  Trying to keep cars and roll out all the new products at the same time would have increased fixed overhead dramatically.

 

You may not like it personally but you just can’t make a case where Ford killing Focus, Fusion, MKZ and Continental was a bad business decision.
 

 

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1 hour ago, akirby said:


You don’t need high prices to have high margins.  You need to have a standout product that doesn’t have 8 direct competitors.  You minimize fixed costs by sharing platforms and filling up factories and Ford has done that fairly well.  Trying to keep cars and roll out all the new products at the same time would have increased fixed overhead dramatically.

 

You may not like it personally but you just can’t make a case where Ford killing Focus, Fusion, MKZ and Continental was a bad business decision.
 

 

 

The verdict is still out on that. While I agree that it was probably best to end Focus and Fiesta here with their problematic trans and thus damaged reputations, not sure about the Fusion as Ford really put a lot of effort into that brand and it mostly paid off. Also add in the hybrid and plug in Fusion that really is needed now with $4 gas in many areas. Ford needs more electrics NOW, and Fusion could have supplied that demand.

 

I still shake my head everytime I see a Fusion on the road. Flat Rock plant is mostly empty and Ford could have kept it humming with Fusion. At least could have built only hybrids and plugins at Flat Rock until maybe the Fusion Active comes along. Ford dealers begged Ford to keep the Fusion and they have more credibility than the bean counters at Ford who refused to replace Focus/Fiesta trans. 

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2 hours ago, akirby said:


You don’t need high prices to have high margins.  You need to have a standout product that doesn’t have 8 direct competitors.  You minimize fixed costs by sharing platforms and filling up factories and Ford has done that fairly well.  Trying to keep cars and roll out all the new products at the same time would have increased fixed overhead dramatically.

 

You may not like it personally but you just can’t make a case where Ford killing Focus, Fusion, MKZ and Continental was a bad business decision.
 

 

While it's hard to make a case for the Fiesta in North America, Focus and Fusion each sold over 100,000 units a year with zilch advertising needed. The vehicles that replaced them like the Ecosport, Escape, and Edge aren't selling that well and before the chip shortage their transaction prices weren't that great either. Each has 8+ direct competitors, too... 

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18 minutes ago, GearheadGrrrl said:

While it's hard to make a case for the Fiesta in North America, Focus and Fusion each sold over 100,000 units a year with zilch advertising needed. The vehicles that replaced them like the Ecosport, Escape, and Edge aren't selling that well and before the chip shortage their transaction prices weren't that great either. Each has 8+ direct competitors, too... 

 

Focus reputation was destroyed by its faulty trans that Ford refused to replace, and manual trans didn't have strong take up rate. Now the Focus ST was a honey because of its manual trans.

 

Fusion on the other hand turned into a very competitive vehicle in its segment and very popular seller with Ford dealers with all its variations including hybrid and plugin. To this day the latest generation is still a head turner and only needed 8 speed trans and new interior to stay relevant. Maybe even a slanted tailgate like Audi.

 

Flat Rock needs a new product and Ford dealers could have easily sold 100,000+/year no problem with these gas prices. Having one competitive  sedan in your lineup is a good move. Having an uncompetitive CUV Ecosport in your lineup was a bad move. Not only was Ecosport uncompetitive, it had poor sales. Total failure. 

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As previously stated, I think ford is planning on bringing additional models to Flat Rock outside of the conventional mustang. A mustang sedan is all but confirmed, multiple individuals at multiple dealer meetings confirmed that Ford shared info about an upcoming mustang sedan. Not to mention ford has been spied benchmarking a model 3, charger hellcat, and a Porsche Taycan. That indicates they're developing a performance sedan of some sort. They wouldn't be using multiple sedans for benchmarking purposes if they were only planning on making SUVs and trucks. Something is coming.

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Neither one of you seem to understand that Focus and Fusion made almost no profit (and may have actually lost money).  Sales and profit are not the same thing.  There is no significant difference between Fusion and Focus and all the competition.  Competition and commodity products drives prices way down.

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1 hour ago, silvrsvt said:

It makes no sense to sell 100K of anything if you need to add a rebate of 10% or more to move it...which happened many times during both the Fusion and Focus lifetime. 

 

Again, I don't think Ford would have any problem selling attractive, COMPETITIVE sedan that comes in hybrid and plug in form. As of this moment, Ford needs more high mpg vehicles. Mach E is expensive and low volume, and Escape Hybrid supply is skimpy. Ditto for Maverick Hybrid. Good luck trying to get one. The key with the Fusion is that it came in hybrid and plug in form. And they were very reliable. 

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1 hour ago, akirby said:

Neither one of you seem to understand that Focus and Fusion made almost no profit (and may have actually lost money).  Sales and profit are not the same thing.  There is no significant difference between Fusion and Focus and all the competition. 

 

Focus and Fusion lost money in the U.S. market because there was a significant difference between those cars and their competitors. Other than ST, RS, hybrid, and Energi versions, no Focus or Fusion variant competed well with best of class entries in those segments. As a result, Ford had to offer huge sales incentives on those models, which not only made them unprofitable to market, but further damaged the reputation for both nameplates. Ford kept repeating this until the only viable course of action was to discontinue both models without a direct replacement.

Edited by rperez817
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10 minutes ago, rperez817 said:

 

Focus and Fusion lost money in the U.S. market because there was a significant difference between those cars and their competitors. Other than ST, RS, hybrid, and Energi versions, no Focus or Fusion variant competed well with best of class entries in those segments. As a result, Ford had to offer huge sales incentives on those models, which not only made them unprofitable to market, but further damaged the reputation for both nameplates. Ford kept repeating this until the only viable course of action was to discontinue both models without a direct replacement.

 

Funny, I don't remember the Fusion being a hugely uncompetive vehicle in its segment. All I remember is Ford doing a tepid refresh of the Fusion in 2018 or so. A couple chrome strips and rotary dial. When Honda messed up Civic, they did a proper refresh the following year. The Fusion. is still an eye popping sedan and just needed a non bean counter refresh. What we didn't need is the Ecosport for three years clogging up lots.

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We can go over this as much as we like, Ford has made the decision to stop pursuing sedan sales

and switch those plants to new products it feels will have more success, something that isn’t easy

 to gauge in the middle of a pandemic and global chip shortage.


Since the 2015/2016 MCEs, it’s clear that Ford had  stopped spending money on upgrading  its sedans

to keep those high series buyers returning to buy what was basically the same car they traded in. Once

those high series buyers abandoned Fiesta, Focus, Fusion and Taurus, it was only a matter of time until 

Ford switched its car plants to pickups and utilities and the plan to import Focus from China cancelled.

It was premeditated killing of products but understandable given the markets increasingly rapid move

away from cars to utilities……Ford is actually late to the party given that GM executed its own transition 

years ago and shut down four plants in the process.

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It seems the usual suspects have brought us back to this repetitive pissing match that will never end regardless of how many facts and common sense they’re presented with.  So let’s drop the whole discussion about why they killed cars.

 

The topic is the 2022 focus.

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On 10/15/2021 at 10:11 PM, akirby said:


And how many former non Ford sedan owners are buying Bronco Sports and Mavericks?  Quite a few most likely.

 

I'm one of them......

 

My wife prefers small cars - hates grocery-getter crossovers and wouldn't touch an F-150 or Explorer if you gave it to her.  She loved the Focus and we had 3 of them back-to-back-to-back then we got her a Jetta just because she wanted something different for a change.  She's now in the market again and decided to ditch the Jetta and get a Bronco Sport.    It's basically the same length/width as a Focus (~ a foot shorter than a Jetta) and she loves the looks/personality of it.    The icing on the cake for her was the all-rubber interior which is wonderful since we have 2 dogs and she does volunteer work for a dog rescue.   As soon as she saw that interior it was game over and we ordered one.  Now we patiently wait for it to arrive.  :)

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15 minutes ago, akirby said:

The topic is the 2022 focus.

Australia has announce that Focus Active is gone as are the lower trims, only Focus ST will be imported from Europe, earliest deliveries are at least four months.

Edited by jpd80
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43 minutes ago, akirby said:

It seems the usual suspects have brought us back to this repetitive pissing match that will never end regardless of how many facts and common sense they’re presented with.  So let’s drop the whole discussion about why they killed cars.

 

The topic is the 2022 focus.

 

Easy way for Ford to shut up us Fusion lovers.....press event introducing the new Fusion Active. That certainly would shut me up. You guys trust the Ford beancounters, I don't. Ford is already decontenting the Escape. 

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1 hour ago, jpd80 said:

Australia has announce that Focus Active is gone as are the lower trims, only Focus ST will be imported from Europe, earliest deliveries are at least four months.

Very interesting, thanks for sharing jpd80 sir. Indeed, the promo for new 2022 Focus on ford.com.au only shows the ST model.

 

What kind of reputation does the non-ST Focus have in Australia?

 

image.thumb.png.3b2d71965e012802327f74188676a735.png

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49 minutes ago, FordBuyer said:

 

You guys trust the Ford beancounters, I don't. Ford is already decontenting the Escape. 


This has nothing to do with beancounters.  It’s simple economics and market dynamics.

 

Now back to the 2022 focus facelift……

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3 hours ago, rperez817 said:

Very interesting, thanks for sharing jpd80 sir. Indeed, the promo for new 2022 Focus on ford.com.au only shows the ST model.

 

What kind of reputation does the non-ST Focus have in Australia?

 

image.thumb.png.3b2d71965e012802327f74188676a735.png

 

Ford is a non-factor is cars in Australia. The market is dominated by Toyota, Hyundai and Mazda - the Big 3 in Australia. 

 

Ford Australia is basically a 1-vehicle line brand - Ranger/Everest (mostly Ranger) accounts for up to 90% of the volume. A smattering of Mustang, Transit and Endura (Edge) rounds out the rest. Focus, Fiesta and Kuga are all afterthoughts. I believe Puma was just recently introduced so too early to say if that will be a success. 

Edited by bzcat
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