Ford's forward Focus

By ALASTAIR SLOANE

The award-winning Focus, the car Ford runs in the World Rally Championship, will go on sale for the first time in New Zealand next year.

"We have yet to work through the model line-up, the choice of engines, and the level of specification, but we expect the Focus to go on sale here in the first quarter of 2003," said Ford public affairs manager Edward Finn.

The appearance of the best-selling Focus is Ford's birthday present to New Zealand - the carmaker celebrates its centenary next year.

"The Focus will be a welcome addition to the model line-up and we believe it will become a favourite among New Zealand motorists," says Ford New Zealand managing director, Nigel Harris.

"It boasts an impressive motorsport pedigree, thanks to the achievements of the likes of Colin McRae and Carlos Sainz in the World Rally Championship, but it also has superb levels of urban refinement above and beyond many of its competitors," he said.

Ford makes seven Focus models - sedans, station wagons and three- and five-door hatchbacks, mostly powered by 1.8- and 2-litre four-cylinder engines. There is also a "hot" hatch, the 120kW SVT.

Could it be that Ford will offer one or two of each, to directly challenge the Toyota Corolla line-up? Or will it settle on the five-door hatchback only, the model most identified with Focus?

Ford New Zealand will drip-feed information on Focus through its new website www.fordfocus.co.nz which goes online on Tuesday.

The New Zealand model is likely to be built at Ford of Spain's plant in Valencia, where the Ka comes from. It will come with a number of improvements over the current Focus, including new bumpers, headlights, grille, interior trim, exterior colours and revised fog lamps.

Ford New Zealand looked at importing the Focus in 1999-2000 but it worked out to be too expensive, at around $40,000. The euro and stronger New Zealand dollar must have changed things.

Since its launch in Britain in October 1998, the Focus has notched up more than 2.5 million sales worldwide. It has been the world's best-selling car since 2000 and has won widespread critical acclaim for its refinement, engineering and all-round performance.

It has also won more than 50 international awards, including European Car of the Year in 1999 and North American Car of the Year in 2000. It is the only car to have won both gongs.

The Focus launched Ford's "New Edge" philosophy, an in-house design standard accorded Millennium Product status from the British Design Council.

Earlier this year, Germany's quality control watchdog TUV named the Focus as the industry leader in reliability for cars between 1 and 3 years old.

The American-built Focus, however, has had niggling quality-control problems, which required mass recalls.

Focus is a success story for Ford of Europe. It has helped to return the division to profit and has given its American parent a template for recovery.

"Ford Europe is blazing the trail the rest of the company is trying to follow," said Ford Motor Co chief Bill Ford.

Ford Europe, which broke even last year and aims for a significantly higher profit this year, has in the past two years cut costs by about $NZ2 billion by slashing jobs and capacity.

Ford Europe chief David Thursfield said the company was on track with its plan to reach a 3-4 per cent return on sales in Europe in 2005-6 despite tough market conditions. He aims to increase Ford Europe's market share to 9.3 per cent this year from 8.7 per cent last year.