Zastava_101

http://www.worldcarfans.com/9070911....-for-frankfurt

rhumb

Geez, as if its any wonder why Ford N.A. is doing so badly!

Ford Europe gets this way-cool upgrade on an already way-cool Focus that rides and a way-better chassis.

We, on the other hand, get a stylistically turdified rehash of the last gen focus that's well past its sell by date. The redesign is so unrelievedly bad that you just gotta wonder what they're putting in their water coolers up there in Dearborn. Putting the two Focii side by side is really just embarrasing to Ford NA.

I'm sure the suits and beancounters have lots of well-numbered reasons for this snafu, none of which, I'm sure, includes the concept of producing superior and desirable product for the consumer.

Ford NA really has to shake that perrenial Detroit bigger-is-better mindset that small cars = econo cars = cheap penalty boxes no one really wants. Thus, they produce cheap, horrible small cars that, you guessed it, nobody wants in a plainly obvious self-fulfulling prophecy.

Ford NA showed glimpses of breaking out of this myopia with, say, the Focus SVT, but I think that reflected more Coletti's own enlightened thinking than Ford management in general and that inspiration went with him (along with the soul of SVT products). From the Mini, to the Audi A3 to even the Focus's corporate cousins, the Mazda 3 and Volvo S40/V50, consumers show that their eager to buy, and pay good money for, well designed, dynamic small cars. What we get, instead, is a gutted engine bay, a last-decade chassis and handling wrapped in an atrocious fusion of just about every cheesy styling cliche they could ladle onto the poor thing.

Ya gotta just shake your head in disbelief, disgust, dispair, whatever...

Strickland

Very slick....

Moosetang

If it weren't for their dire financial situation, I'd swear Ford tanked the NA design on purpose to stomp out the resistance to merging with the Euro Focus in the next model.

MrClean

+1 on the NA Focus...just drove a loaner from the stealership for 3 days...this car should be in the dictionary under: "UNDERSTEER".......

it did stop well, and got 31 mpg even though I drove it HARD all the time, but it just didn't like to turn....oh and it had a hum in the driveline at 80 mph

Hollywood_North GT

That's because it's a POS.

ShowGT

This is how we become to get the Contour and Mystique ladies and gentlemen. It began overseas and they could not build it here in the states.

Laser98

That's it!!! I'm moving to Europe so i can buy cool American cars