Can someone tell me the history of the Laser v Focus?

[turbodewd]

I dont know when they replaced the Laser with the Focus but I vaguely recall the Laser was a great seller and I think it was a terrible idea not to rename the Focus as the Laser for the Aussie market. Can anyone shed light on this? Horrific marketing decision.

[rag top]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Laser

Despite Laser having a good reputation with buyers in the marketplace, and many attempts from Ford to re-ignite interest in the model, it still failed to sell in reasonable numbers. In September 2002, Ford decided to discontinue the Laser in Australia, replacing it with the European-sourced Focus.

Escort (european sourced) replaced by Laser (asian sourced) replaced by Focus (european sourced) replaced by.......

sounds like a trend to me.

[galaxy xr8]

The Laser finished up in 2001/02 I think from memory, the last model was the KN.
There you go 2002 as stated above.

[Paxton]

Focus was developed in Europe as a replacement for the Escort.

Laser was an Australian built CKD Mazda 323 until 1994, when it was fully imported from Japan.

[Brazen]

Nissan is replacing Tiida with the name Pulsar, the only market on the planet to get its own name. Name recognition plays a big part in the Aussie market.

[DFB FGXR6]

Originally Posted by Brazen

. Name recognition plays a big part in the Aussie market.

I agree. I sometimes wonder how Ford would have gone if they called the Focus the Laser when it was introduced. The Laser name by 2002 had nearly 20 years of brand awarness by that stage. When you think about it, Ford have spent that last 10 years building up the Focus name with consumers, its only in the last few months with the new model has it shown its potential. And its not like the last two generations were bad cars.

[Chopped]

My missus had a 92 Laser and it was the one of the most reliable cars we have ever owned. Nothing went wrong with it.
Hail finally wrote it off (it was still fine mechanically).

I never liked the colour though, it was a funny bright blue.

I reckon the "Focus" name has been accepted though, so no need to change back.

[Majestic]

we have a 92 laser as a cheap runabout (i drive it to work too) - have had it now for 3 years and it has never once broke down. Super reliable!

Originally Posted by Chopped

My missus had a 92 Laser and it was the one of the most reliable cars we have ever owned. Nothing went wrong with it.
Hail finally wrote it off (it was still fine mechanically).

I never liked the colour though, it was a funny bright blue.

I reckon the "Focus" name has been accepted though, so no need to change back.

[Mechan1k]

My Mum had a 90 KF GHIA manual.
That thing was literally bulletproof.
Drove well for it's entire life.
I should have bought it off her in the end.
I learnt to drive in it.

Prior to that we had a KB Laser GL 5-speed manual as well.
That thing never caused one bit of trouble for my Dad .... as it was his daily to and from work as well (90km round trip a day) ... ran on the smell of an oily rag as well.

[galaxy xr8]

Originally Posted by Majestic

we have a 92 laser as a cheap runabout (i drive it to work too) - have had it now for 3 years and it has never once broke down. Super reliable!

Laser's are a fantastic little vehicle, I have had many, curently have a KJ III Liata GLXi, has never missed a beat, and neither has any of the ones before it, for a economical run about they are fantastic.

[Mechan1k]

If I wasn't needing my ute for my other job ... and needed a runabout to get to and get to and from work ... I've been looking at carsales of late.

And the non-turbo KF TX3's are going for around the $2-3K mark ... cheap really for what they were. I wouldn't mind having a small runabout again. Especially in traffic.

[galaxy xr8]

Originally Posted by Mechan1k

If I wasn't needing my ute for my other job ... and needed a runabout to get to and get to and from work ... I've been looking at carsales of late.

And the non-turbo KF TX3's are going for around the $2-3K mark ... cheap really for what they were. I wouldn't mind having a small runabout again. Especially in traffic.

I'm offloading mine soon, as we are purchasing a Territory, great run about.

[FG_Frodza]

I learnt to drive on a 93 Laser Ghia, what a great car.. Power everything, economical as.. I wrote it off :/ still miss it :(

[Vincenzo]

Last Laser model was a KQ 2002 - ultra reliable.

Used one as a driving school car for 8 years - replaced clutch once

[galaxy xr8]

Originally Posted by Vincenzo

Last Laser model was a KQ 2002 - ultra reliable.

Used one as a driving school car for 8 years - replaced clutch once

The last one.

[Pepscobra]

The Ford Lasers were great cars, had a couple in our family too growing up.
The Focus name however is well established now... and its linked to motorsport (well it was, not sure if its still in WRC?) which is powerful marketing.

[dave351cid]

Originally Posted by Mechan1k

And the non-turbo KF TX3's are going for around the $2-3K mark ... cheap really for what they were. I wouldn't mind having a small runabout again. Especially in traffic.

there was one beside the road in gladstone for sale the other day for $2500. looked like a pretty tidy car too. blue in colour. always wanted one of the turbo 4wd ones.

i think that towards the end of their run the styling had become a bit bland on the laser / 323, although as everyone says, they were super reliable. it was a shame to see ford drop the laser just before mazda started to get some style back in their designs.

[turbodewd]

Originally Posted by Pepscobra

The Ford Lasers were great cars, had a couple in our family too growing up.
The Focus name however is well established now... and its linked to motorsport (well it was, not sure if its still in WRC?) which is powerful marketing.

Sounds logical but the general public know bugger all about the WRC. Indeed I wager the typical Laser buyer of, say, 2000, wouldnt know diddly squat about the WRC.

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by dave351cid

there was one beside the road in gladstone for sale the other day for $2500. looked like a pretty tidy car too. blue in colour. always wanted one of the turbo 4wd ones.

i think that towards the end of their run the styling had become a bit bland on the laser / 323, although as everyone says, they were super reliable. it was a shame to see ford drop the laser just before mazda started to get some style back in their designs.

I thought the same era Mazda 323 looked better, we've got one, bullet proof car, got 302500km on the clock still on its original clutch and blew one of its original indicator globes a few months back.

[Mechan1k]

Our KF only did an ignition module ... one day it just didn't want to start.

That was the only issue with it ... we had it from new ... not one warranty issue on the car.

[janddbone]

The Focus was the correct car to get, considering the Mazda 3 (323) was also developed with it, however the name change was stupid...

[Zedjay]

Originally Posted by brett.r.johnstone

The Focus was the correct car to get, considering the Mazda 3 (323) was also developed with it, however the name change was stupid...

not as stupid as changing the name of the fairmont and ghia

[EB#]

Here's an interesting one from South Africa (I think ?)...
The Ford Bantum (A Laser ute based on the Laser/Mazda platform)

[BAFrod]

Let's not forget that the badge engineering exercise was part of government policy during the 90's, and was widespread across many Marques. I don't think that today's market would really accept it today. Even the Bt50 and Ranger have undergone extensive efforts to differentiate themselves.

[2011G6E]

Ahh, the wonderous days of badge engineering...they gave us all some bloody good laughs.
People with a Toyota Lexen who would go into, say, Autobarn for parts (a rear window louvre to pick a particular case witnessed), and get into nasty arguements when the assistant would bring out a louvre marked "to suit VN/VP Holden Commodore"...the owner would get all indignant and say things like "It's not a Holden, it's a Toyota Lexan!!!"
Same with people laughing at guys who bought a Nissan "Ute"...until they calmly told the scoffers that buying the Falcon ute from Ford gave you a 12 month 20,000km warrantee, but the same car with Nissan badges meant you got Nissans standard 2 year 40,000km warrantee... Oddly enough it was the other way around for the Ford Maverick/Nissan Patrol...buy it from Ford and you halved the warrantee you would have got if you'd have bought the exact same vehicle with different badges from the Nissan dealer down the street...

On the Laser, I even knew a couple of guys who owned them who were very proud of thier "Fords" and actually, honestly, unbelievably used to knock other guys driving "that Jap crap"...

Originally Posted by Zedjay

not as stupid as changing the name of the fairmont and ghia

Thank you...

[Sprint XR8]

Laser continued to be sold in asia up to 2005. The 02-05 update looked like a mini BA.
2005 Laser Lynx RS

[Shaggzy]

We bought a 1994 laser "liata" late last year that was blowing smoke off a guy for $200. A bottle of that ring lube stuff ran thru it, 2 days spent cutting and polishing it along with fixing a couple of very minor things we had it on the road for under $1800 including RWC, rego and 3rd party. Great little cars they are we currently have 4 in the family at the moment. Imo they should have stayed with the laser name as it was well known especially to older buyers who have known the name since the early 80's

[Ford_The_Win]

My mother had a Laser a few years back and it was the biggest piece of crap ever to hit the road. Went through two A/C compressors, oil leaks everywhere and blew two head gaskets. Just rolled over 200,000 and it was well and truly dead. She won't touch a Ford ever again, even though it was actually a rebadged Mazda.

[In Focus]

Originally Posted by Ford_The_Win

My mother had a Laser a few years back and it was the biggest piece of crap ever to hit the road. Went through two A/C compressors, oil leaks everywhere and blew two head gaskets. Just rolled over 200,000 and it was well and truly dead. She won't touch a Ford ever again, even though it was actually a rebadged Mazda.

Let me guess: she went and bought a Mazda after that.

[Gman_86_xr6]

I think the biggest problem Ford had with the Focus was the long delay in getting here in the first place. The original Focus came out in 1998, we didn't get it until 4 years later. When it came out in Britain and Europe, it was a revalition of sorts, it was like nothing else on the roads, it combined great handling with sharp aggressive looks and small car practicality and pricing. By the time we got it in Australia, that impact wasn't there. If we had got the Focus in 1999 when we should have, it could have easily withstood the namechange and gotten by on it's own merits.