The Official Next-Gen 2012 Focus Thread w/Pics!
focaljet-1
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the focus was "all new" but that does not mean it had nothing to do with the escort. It was a major change in design, but i can see allot of details that were inspired from the escort. Look at the current vs the last gen Honda civic. It is a radical enough change in design it could have been a different name, but Honda choose to keep civic (the name is just too valuable to just drop)
As for everyone who is starting to complain about the colors, THAT is a prime example of why the US and EU NEVER get "identical" cars. You have to do SOME tweaking for the local markets, because Americans love the most boring and dreary colors imaginable on cars. If the interior and exterior are not in gray tone Americans complain the colors are too bright etc...
As for everyone who is starting to complain about the colors, THAT is a prime example of why the US and EU NEVER get "identical" cars. You have to do SOME tweaking for the local markets, because Americans love the most boring and dreary colors imaginable on cars. If the interior and exterior are not in gray tone Americans complain the colors are too bright etc...
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fixed... estate = wagon
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Why the hell don't they just come up with a new name for the wagon in the US? Just start marketing it as an estate somewhere and be draconian in requiring companies to refer to it as such. The word wagon at this point is a bad word in US English no matter how go a car it describes. 
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The Escort was a tweaked Mazda Protege as of 1991 on. That was the main reason I bought my 1991 Escort GT. The Focus was a new platform from the ground up. They may have 4 wheels and a steering wheel (and even some common design elements), but that doesn't make them related any more than a Focus is related to an Audi A1.
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and their are many cars that carry the same name as their predecessor that share NO parts. The focus could have been named a escort if ford decided to go a different route with marketing. They chose a fresh start with a major redesign. I mean hell what parts will the 2012 focus share with the current American 2010 focus? Its still the "same car" even though it really shares nothing. No part from the 2010 will fit on the 2012
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Wow. I didn't mean to drag the thread off topic. But...
Of course the Escort was the predecessor to the Focus... Yes, the Focus was a clean sheet design that shared zero mechanicals with its predecessor. That was such a good thing, they decided to market it that way by changing the name. But the Focus inherited the role that the Escort filled... on BOTH sides of the pond. Rockefela's logic is like saying the Cruze is NOT the successor to the Cobalt which was NOT the successor to the Cavalier. It's about marketing roles and model line-up, not mechanicals and technology. Hell, Escorts were not Escorts if you follow the mechanical logic. Look back into the European history of the Escort and find that the MkI and MkII Escorts were RWD 3-box sedans and 2-box Estates (just to relate this post back to the on-topic discussion). Yet, the role they played in Ford's line-up was succeeded by a modern FWD, 2-box (-ish) hatchback called... wait for it... The Escort!
C'mon Rockefela/MattHarrell, most people even consider the MkI VW Golf to be the successor to the Beetle, and they were sold side-by-side for many years.
As for the Wagon, it should come to the US. There are lots of loyal Jetta Sport Wagon drivers out there that should have a Blue Oval alternative. There are lots of Focus Wagon fans that are left out in the cold right now. THere are LOTS of mini-SUV//Crossover drivers who should really come to grips with their needs and drive a Focus Wagon.
I agree that "Estate" evokes the simulated woodgrain appliques of yore. Can you say Country Squire? Ack!! But Audi's Avant is just confusing...
Of course the Escort was the predecessor to the Focus... Yes, the Focus was a clean sheet design that shared zero mechanicals with its predecessor. That was such a good thing, they decided to market it that way by changing the name. But the Focus inherited the role that the Escort filled... on BOTH sides of the pond. Rockefela's logic is like saying the Cruze is NOT the successor to the Cobalt which was NOT the successor to the Cavalier. It's about marketing roles and model line-up, not mechanicals and technology. Hell, Escorts were not Escorts if you follow the mechanical logic. Look back into the European history of the Escort and find that the MkI and MkII Escorts were RWD 3-box sedans and 2-box Estates (just to relate this post back to the on-topic discussion). Yet, the role they played in Ford's line-up was succeeded by a modern FWD, 2-box (-ish) hatchback called... wait for it... The Escort!
C'mon Rockefela/MattHarrell, most people even consider the MkI VW Golf to be the successor to the Beetle, and they were sold side-by-side for many years.
As for the Wagon, it should come to the US. There are lots of loyal Jetta Sport Wagon drivers out there that should have a Blue Oval alternative. There are lots of Focus Wagon fans that are left out in the cold right now. THere are LOTS of mini-SUV//Crossover drivers who should really come to grips with their needs and drive a Focus Wagon.
I agree that "Estate" evokes the simulated woodgrain appliques of yore. Can you say Country Squire? Ack!! But Audi's Avant is just confusing...
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Yet, all of that has nothing to do with your original post which was trying to conceive lineage in the design which was the original argument.
Of course the Focus replaced the Escort, but as mentioned before it was a complete restart with NOTHING brought over from the Escort. So the point still stands that trying to show Escorts evolving into Foci is pretty much useless....
Of course the Focus replaced the Escort, but as mentioned before it was a complete restart with NOTHING brought over from the Escort. So the point still stands that trying to show Escorts evolving into Foci is pretty much useless....
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Yes, but......
The only thing that the Focus had to do with the Escort was that both occupied essentially the same place in the market. So why do you say......rpvitiello said:
Really? You can find details that are similar between these two?rpvitiello said:
ZOMG! The shifter and steering wheel are similar!
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@Rockefela: Fair enough, I suppose. I thought it was interesting to note how the US Focus design wandered overtime in the same way that the US Escort did, whereas the Euro Focus evolved more clearly just as their Escort did. Then again, that assumes a Euro-centric view of what those cars should have looked like. Sorry you didn't follow my logic. Can we agree that the new car looks smokin'?
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Nope, the green interior's in a hatchback. They are showing two cars in Geneva, a red wagon and a green hatchback. The hatchback is a complete car with interior, the wagon is just a shell.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/whichcar/sets/72157623539201444/
On this Escort vs. Focus topics we're missing an important detail. The 1999 Escort and 2000 Focus shared engines. Base Foci had the 2.0 SPI from the Escort Sedan and uplevel Foci had the Zetec from the Escort ZX2.
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Well... besides the SPI
I gotta say, as much as there is an allure I can't resist with all things Euro... I definitely dig the 'Wagon' moniker far more than 'Estate'.
If 'Avant' weren't so VAG feeling, I would happily slap that moniker on every wagon around however.
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Yep. It was intentionally meant to be a break from the Escort, which was a huge joke to most Americans.
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...but it WAS Motor Trend's Car of the Year once.
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OK those 2 interiors dont share any parts but EVERYTHING is in the EXACT same spot, the only difference is ford made some of the lines crisper. I have seen the interior "redesigned" on the SAME model during a refresh have more dramatic changed than those 2. If i knew nothing of the focus or escort and you told me the focus interior was simply a refresh of the interior in the first car i could believe you.Yes, but......
The only thing that the Focus had to do with the Escort was that both occupied essentially the same place in the market. So why do you say......
Really? You can find details that are similar between these two?
![Image]()
![Image]()
ZOMG! The shifter and steering wheel are similar!
Until you seen them in person, then the differences are night and day. (My little sister went from a 2000 Excort to a 2002 Focus ZTS.)
I do see the similarities between both cars in layout. But the same comparison would probably work with the Contour and the Focus.
I do see the similarities between both cars in layout. But the same comparison would probably work with the Contour and the Focus.
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the quality of materials and assembly look like night and day, but the basic design look very progressive and "evolutionary" and not revolutionary. They could have easily called the new focus an escort and had no one go "it's not a real escort!" Hell the current Civic had a far more dramatic change in design from the last gen civic, and yet they kept the same name.
I just don't think the decision to drop the escort name was done early on, it seams like it was done very late in the process before they started marketing the car.
I just don't think the decision to drop the escort name was done early on, it seams like it was done very late in the process before they started marketing the car.
Well remember that American manufactures are good at running away from name plates. I always assumed that it was because, they want to have a "clean sheet" after all of the idiotic decisions they have made in running the outgoing model into the ground. I suppose that worked but seeing the foreign MFG's stick with what they had for decades, it kind of makes the American MFG's look foolish, or like they were trying to pull a fast one.
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