Next-generation Ford Focus Due for April Reveal

Steph Willems
by Steph Willems

Given the recent introduction of a new Expedition, EcoSport, refreshed Edge, and reborn Ranger, it’s easy to forget Ford Motor Company still sells small cars. While the current-generation Fiesta subcompact took a pass on the American market, the Focus remains, and there’s a new generation waiting in the wings.

Would-be buyers can gaze beyond the camouflage at the next-gen Focus in April, according to Automotive News Europe, with the model forgoing an expected reveal at the March Geneva Motor Show. What can we expect out of the new Focus? Going by recent reports, a slightly larger vehicle, along with a lot less choice for consumers.

The American model, to be built in China following Ford’s about-face on Mexican assembly, won’t be as varied as it was before. In its short-term cost-cutting product plan, Ford wants only 10 to 20 orderable configurations of the Focus, Fusion, and EcoSport, down from the hundreds seen in recent years. As the Focus isn’t a high-margin vehicle, there’s no need for Ford to give consumers everything they want.

As for variants, there’s little known about that. European customers can expect a high-zoot Vignale version, along with an ST performance line, a wagon, and an upcoming Active soft-roader. American Focus lovers aren’t so lucky. A basic sedan and hatch seems the likely offerings, though with the ST badge coming to both the Edge and Explorer lines, a hotter Focus is surely in the cards. No word on an RS, sorry.

Last year, Ford’s head of global markets, Jim Farley, said the next model won’t have the same volume as it once did. Not surprising, given the Focus’ falling fortunes. Sales of the Focus in the United States reached a high point of 245,992 vehicles in 2012, falling to 158,395 in 2017.

Chinese production should be up and running by the middle of next year, meaning a mid-to-late 2019 arrival on North American shores. Europeans will see the model first, likely by the end of this year.

[Image: Ford Motor Company]

Steph Willems
Steph Willems

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  • Big Al from Oz Big Al from Oz on Feb 02, 2018

    I think the Chinese built Focus will be a better quality product than the US produced Focus. The US with its high production costs can't afford to pay attention to detail. The US will need to stick to it's mediocre quality large trucks. The US is trying to maintain the "consumer" market with high overheads. This is challenging.

    • See 1 previous
    • Asdf Asdf on Feb 02, 2018

      @rcapen88 The day you're involved in a car crash, you might just change your mind...

  • AljerHyss AljerHyss on Feb 09, 2018

    Communism is a form of human criminality. You will trust a communist at your peril. These two points were true all those decades ago at the beginning of the cold war, and they are just as true today.

  • MaintenanceCosts It's not a Benz or a Jag / it's a 5-0 with a rag /And I don't wanna brag / but I could never be stag
  • 3-On-The-Tree Son has a 2016 Mustang GT 5.0 and I have a 2009 C6 Corvette LS3 6spd. And on paper they are pretty close.
  • 3-On-The-Tree Same as the Land Cruiser, emissions. I have a 1985 FJ60 Land Cruiser and it’s a beast off-roading.
  • CanadaCraig I would like for this anniversary special to be a bare-bones Plain-Jane model offered in Dynasty Green and Vintage Burgundy.
  • ToolGuy Ford is good at drifting all right... 😉
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