2022 Ford Focus Facelift Revealed

[akirby]

31 minutes ago, GearheadGrrrl said:

I see it as Ford management deciding to become a truck company, profits be damned. Why else would they bring a hybrid pickup to market at a $20k price point so it will never turn a profit? Or electrify a full size pickup that'll need twice the expensive battery capacity of a Bolt or Model 3 at a similar list price to fleets? Then compound that error by spending billions Ford doesn't have on new plant complexes? 

Because most won’t be $20k - most will be $25k-$30k with some reaching $35K with accessories.  
 

And you’re completely wrong - trucks are THE most profitable vehicles by far.

[twintornados]

On 10/21/2021 at 10:30 AM, GearheadGrrrl said:

I see it as Ford management deciding to become a truck company, profits be damned.

 

If that were true, please show me the line of class 8 over the road tractors and COE models Ford sells for the NA market.

[GearheadGrrrl]

Thanks for pointing out the other flank of Ford's failing market abandonment strategy. Kinda hard for Ford to be taken seriously as a truck maker when your biggest truck can't even handle an Interstate legal limit load, never mind the Michigan trains that Louisvilles easily handled. And from a practical point of view, it's pretty hard for dealers to bid on fleet orders for both single and tandem drive trucks when the biggest thing you've got is the F750!

 

[fuzzymoomoo]

On 10/21/2021 at 9:54 AM, akirby said:

Now I think the Ranger/Bronco decision came about two years later than it should have but I don’t know what else influenced that decision at the time.  Maybe there were good reasons, maybe it was just stubbornness.

Timing mostly. The life cycle of the Focus and the decision (at the time) to move production out of MAP being the biggest determining factors. 

[twintornados]

18 hours ago, GearheadGrrrl said:

Thanks for pointing out the other flank of Ford's failing market abandonment strategy. Kinda hard for Ford to be taken seriously as a truck maker when your biggest truck can't even handle an Interstate legal limit load, never mind the Michigan trains that Louisvilles easily handled. And from a practical point of view, it's pretty hard for dealers to bid on fleet orders for both single and tandem drive trucks when the biggest thing you've got is the F750!

 

 

While I agree that Ford should never have sold the Heavy Truck division since it was still making a profit (albeit a small one) Jac Nassers' dream of being a multi vehicle line company was a disaster in and of itself. Ford's current direction with their product lines is a prudent one that places profit per vehicle over sheer production numbers. The 'chip shortage" is a stumbling block for sure but in time, Ford's product offerings will be both profitable and sustainable as the market moves toward "greener" choices.

[AGR]

20 hours ago, fuzzymoomoo said:

Timing mostly. The life cycle of the Focus and the decision (at the time) to move production out of MAP being the biggest determining factors. 

 

It didn't help when Trump demagogued Ford into not completing the third Mexican plant. We wouldn't be having most of this conversation, it would just be a ho hum conversation about an MCE for a car available at our local dealers. (I did vote for the guy twice, but that irritated me to no end)

Edited October 23, 2021 by AGR

[Chrisgb]

"Why can't we have the Focus, Mondeo Wagon, Figo, Puma, Everest yadayada here??" The grass is always greener the other side of the world. I think that at least part of the reason is that we like to look at, and read about Everests, Mondeos, etc, but put up real cash? "Well, uh, The 4Runner is here already and the Sand Fe is about the same size as a Fusion Wagon would be, so..." etc. In spite of all the flag decals in the US,  EU & Asian citizens are much more loyal to their domestic brands than those that are foreign in their homeland. Foreign protectionist policies have much to do with that, especially in Asia, so the domestic brands thrive in their home markets. Purely anecdotal, but when I watched the Tour de France bicycle race the s summer, I could see the clear bias toward EU brands among the parking areas vs any drone cam shot of a parking lot here. If the sedan market shares between Ford and EU/Asia had been reverse in the US, we'd have most of the Unobtain-mobiles.

Only in an assembly plant parking lot do you see the brand loyalty an OEM dreams about.

[akirby]

4 hours ago, AGR said:

 

It didn't help when Trump demagogued Ford into not completing the third Mexican plant. We wouldn't be having most of this conversation, it would just be a ho hum conversation about an MCE for a car available at our local dealers. 

There are other resources to be considered,  Factory space is one of them.  But if I had to bet they would have kept Edge/Nautilus in Oakville before they kept Fusion/MKZ In Hermosillo.

[AGR]

What does the Fusion/MKZ/Hermosillo and Edge/Nautilus/Oakville have to with what I posted? Not a thing..

[FordBuyer]

Is Ford ending the Edge/Nautilus  nameplates altogether, or just the present body platforms. Lots of equity in the nameplates and great names. Why come up with all new names? 

[akirby]

5 hours ago, AGR said:

What does the Fusion/MKZ/Hermosillo and Edge/Nautilus/Oakville have to with what I posted? Not a thing..

Everything.  You said if they had built an extra plant we’d still have a car.  What I said was if they had an extra factory they would use it for edge and nautilus and not a car.

[akirby]

4 hours ago, FordBuyer said:

Is Ford ending the Edge/Nautilus  nameplates altogether, or just the present body platforms. Lots of equity in the nameplates and great names. Why come up with all new names? 

Nobody knows (outside Ford) but it seems likely they’d keep the names.

[AGR]

30 minutes ago, akirby said:

Everything.  You said if they had built an extra plant we’d still have a car.  What I said was if they had an extra factory they would use it for edge and nautilus and not a car.

 

The subject of this thread is the Euro Focus MCE. The new Focus was earmarked for that 3rd Mexican factory that ended up being only half built. It wasn't until after Ford backed out of that factory that Hackett announce a withdraw of cars from the market. At first they were going to import the Focus Active from China; Trump attacked that too, and that was it. Your statement is revisionism based on your own beliefs.

[akirby]

1 hour ago, AGR said:

 

The subject of this thread is the Euro Focus MCE. The new Focus was earmarked for that 3rd Mexican factory that ended up being only half built. It wasn't until after Ford backed out of that factory that Hackett announce a withdraw of cars from the market. At first they were going to import the Focus Active from China; Trump attacked that too, and that was it. Your statement is revisionism based on your own beliefs.

Not revisionist.  AFTER that decision they decided to build 5 new BEV utilities so the choice would have been to either replace Focus in Mexico or replace Edge/Nautilus in Oakville.   I don’t think they would have cancelled Edge and kept Focus.

[fuzzymoomoo]

1 hour ago, akirby said:

Not revisionist.  AFTER that decision they decided to build 5 new BEV utilities so the choice would have been to either replace Focus in Mexico or replace Edge/Nautilus in Oakville.   I don’t think they would have cancelled Edge and kept Focus.

Never in a million years. One has always been profitable and the other was only profitable for ~2 years when plant tooling was subsidized by the Department of Energy. Hint, the profitable one is still being built. 

[AGR]

1 hour ago, akirby said:

Not revisionist.  AFTER that decision they decided to build 5 new BEV utilities so the choice would have been to either replace Focus in Mexico or replace Edge/Nautilus in Oakville.   I don’t think they would have cancelled Edge and kept Focus.

 

Ford to build the Focus in China instead of Mexico (cnn.com)

[akirby]

24 minutes ago, AGR said:

 

Ford to build the Focus in China instead of Mexico (cnn.com)

Which never happened because it wasn’t financially feasible.  If that plant existed today it would be making BEVs not Focii.

[akirby]

3 hours ago, AGR said:

 

The subject of this thread is the Euro Focus MCE. The new Focus was earmarked for that 3rd Mexican factory that ended up being only half built. It wasn't until after Ford backed out of that factory that Hackett announce a withdraw of cars from the market. At first they were going to import the Focus Active from China; Trump attacked that too, and that was it. Your statement is revisionism based on your own beliefs.

If you’re saying Ford was planning to build Focus in Mexico and then import from Europe after the factory was cancelled and that both were related to Trump political pressure and/or policies, that’s correct.

 

Whay I’m saying is that Focus in Mexico would have quickly been replaced with BEVs after Ford decided to ramp up BEV production.

[jpd80]

23 hours ago, AGR said:

 

The subject of this thread is the Euro Focus MCE. The new Focus was earmarked for that 3rd Mexican factory that ended up being only half built. It wasn't until after Ford backed out of that factory that Hackett announce a withdraw of cars from the market. At first they were going to import the Focus Active from China; Trump attacked that too, and that was it. Your statement is revisionism based on your own beliefs.

Mark Fields announced cancellation of SLP in early 2017 before being fired, the decision to kill the new plant was made before Hackett became CEO,  Fields having to retract his own plan based on how sales of small cars were already beginning to fall. He also announced a $700 million increase for Flat Rock which I suspect was for the BEVs that in turn moved around before being assigned to Cuautitlan.

 

That kind of suggests that politics and car sales both played a part in decision making.

[bzcat]

22 hours ago, akirby said:

If you’re saying Ford was planning to build Focus in Mexico and then import from Europe after the factory was cancelled and that both were related to Trump political pressure and/or policies, that’s correct.

 

Whay I’m saying is that Focus in Mexico would have quickly been replaced with BEVs after Ford decided to ramp up BEV production.

 

I agree. With the rate compact car market has shrunk, it's likely that a marginal entry in the segment like Focus would not have made it to mid cycle update in the US market. Remember, GM introduced a new Cruze around the same time and it didn't even make it to mid cycle update. GM just ended it about 18 months after introduction. 

 

On 10/23/2021 at 12:57 PM, FordBuyer said:

Is Ford ending the Edge/Nautilus  nameplates altogether, or just the present body platforms. Lots of equity in the nameplates and great names. Why come up with all new names? 

 

Nautilus seems to be safe. Edge less so.

 

Ford doesn't need both Explorer and 7 seat Edge in China now that it also has Equator. The 5 seat Edge is not sold in China so it's a non-factor (and Evos and Equator Sport are taking those spots anyway). I would be surprised if the new mid size BEV go with the Edge name.

 

[FordBuyer]

12 hours ago, bzcat said:

 

I agree. With the rate compact car market has shrunk, it's likely that a marginal entry in the segment like Focus would not have made it to mid cycle update in the US market. Remember, GM introduced a new Cruze around the same time and it didn't even make it to mid cycle update. GM just ended it about 18 months after introduction. 

 

 

Nautilus seems to be safe. Edge less so.

 

Ford doesn't need both Explorer and 7 seat Edge in China now that it also has Equator. The 5 seat Edge is not sold in China so it's a non-factor (and Evos and Equator Sport are taking those spots anyway). I would be surprised if the new mid size BEV go with the Edge name.

 

 

I have to say I like the Evos name. If the Edge nameplate does get tossed, Evos name fits best with new technology evolution.