Vale Ford Focus

kevino · 14-10-2021, 08:24 PM

Just read on carexpert.com.au
Ford Focus Active and ST line are withdrawn from sale in Australia.
High priced Focus ST continues.

Ford leave another segment.
Focus and it’s predecessors had a proud heritage.

A sad event.

Feedback / comments

Franco Cozzo · 14-10-2021, 08:29 PM

RIP Harambe

lincolnland · 14-10-2021, 08:31 PM

Loved the coupler turbo diesel focii i had. Those things had yons of torque for towing and incredibly quick off the line for a diesel

**DFB FGXR6** · 14-10-2021, 08:49 PM

I mentioned the Focus would be gone by the end of this year in another thread at the start of 2021, so I'm not at all surprised.

Ford get wrapped over the knuckles for their poor marketing all the time, it seemed like they did not even try with outgoing Focus.

Franco Cozzo · 14-10-2021, 09:05 PM

Football, Meat Pies, SUV's and Thailand Specials

au2000 · 14-10-2021, 10:54 PM

Not suprising.. to most.. the name focus leaves a bad taste in peoples mouth. a friend is looking for a small/ mid sized wagon atm to move into from her mazda 3.
As soon as i mentioned focus she shuddered and said transmission issues. No thanks...

Dr Smith · 15-10-2021, 07:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by au2000

Not suprising.. to most.. the name focus leaves a bad taste in peoples mouth. a friend is looking for a small/ mid sized wagon atm to move into from her mazda 3.
As soon as i mentioned focus she shuddered and said transmission issues. No thanks...

Which is a massive "own goal" by Ford Oz and a pity for your friend because my daughter's SA Focus Titanium (8 speed torque conv. auto) is fantastic.

**DJM83** · 15-10-2021, 07:52 AM

Have seen one new focus in town that being a new ST.
Wouldnt even know it exists now sadly.
Understand the transmission issues but I don't think they were bigger than the car itself.

**buggerlugs** · 15-10-2021, 07:54 AM

Sold our "S" Turbo Diesel a month ago. 138,000 trouble free km's. Was a brilliant little car.............

GTLEGEND · 15-10-2021, 09:03 AM

Bring back the Laser..

au2000 · 15-10-2021, 10:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DJM83

Have seen one new focus in town that being a new ST.
Wouldnt even know it exists now sadly.
Understand the transmission issues but I don't think they were bigger than the car itself.

Id say it was a combination of things tbh, powershift being one and fords subsequent customer service and increased price as well as the constant push for suv/city driven 4x4's..
Pretty much a perfect storm

GTLEGEND · 15-10-2021, 10:19 AM

How many Corolla's do Toyota sell?

kevino · 15-10-2021, 11:36 AM

Thousands of Rolla s sold to fleets and rental coy s
Oh what a feeling!

Franco Cozzo · 15-10-2021, 12:17 PM

It's a real shame because the SA Focus is actually a really nice car, it looks mint and the build quality is on point.

I had an ST Line as a rental and the thing that stuck out in my mind on how good the leather wrapped steering wheel felt in my hands

No manual option is a bit halal but we're bloody dinosaurs who like driving manual cars.

I'm a big fan of the manual gearbox, it's much cheaper to repair when it breaks due to my abuse

Edit: Autocommunist

csv8 · 15-10-2021, 12:53 PM

That leaves the ST and the STX . They are niche vehicles. How many would they sell compared to the normal Focus?? will the Puma survive ? I haven't seen many on the road.

Bossxr8 · 15-10-2021, 01:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by csv8

That leaves the ST and the STX . They are niche vehicles. How many would they sell compared to the normal Focus?? will the Puma survive ? I haven't seen many on the road.

40% of all Focus sales were ST. So it was probably the highest seller of the range, or close to it. Puma is doing ok. Getting up around 400 a month despite potential semi-conductor supply issues isn't too bad. More than double the number of Focus's.

I reckon the whole Focus globally is on borrowed time anyway, so it was inevitable. That is unless Ford decide to use the Focus name for the EV vehicle that will replace it. Probably mid decade I guess?

I think they will probably just ditch the name and call it something else. Same with Fiesta.

Adamz Ghia · 15-10-2021, 04:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DJM83

Have seen one new focus in town that being a new ST.
Wouldnt even know it exists now sadly.
Understand the transmission issues but I don't think they were bigger than the car itself.

It was the way Ford handled it. Rather than making customers happy with buying the cars back at a reasonable price and getting them into new cars they tried every way they could think of to get out of it, and thats before we get to how some dealerships acted.

Ford completely botched the launch way back in 2002 when they launched Focus alongside BA. Falcon stole all the attention and buyers didn’t even know Focus was available. By the time they did it was too late and they were stuck playing catch up ever since.

**DFB FGXR6** · 15-10-2021, 06:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Franco Cozzo

It's a real shame because the SA Focus is actually a really nice car, it looks mint and the build quality is on point.

I had an ST Line as a rental and the thing that stuck out in my mind on how good the leather wrapped steering wheel felt in my hands

Ha ha me too, was a lovely steering wheel. I didn't like the previous model Focus but the outgoing car was terrific. The turbo 3-pot was a nice angry little engine too.

My sister's first car was a LS Focus Zetec, it served her well. Zetec's had a firmer suspension tune, so the thing was a fantastic to drive. The only thing that let it down was the road noise.

simon varley · 15-10-2021, 08:33 PM

we have an ST line wagon at the moment and it's great, but you can't argue with the fact that the focus business model doesn't work. Small car buyers want cheap, and focus price point buyers want SUVs.

Franco Cozzo · 15-10-2021, 08:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DFB FGXR6

Ha ha me too, was a lovely steering wheel. I didn't like the previous model Focus but the outgoing car was terrific. The turbo 3-pot was a nice angry little engine too.

image

My sister's first car was a LS Focus Zetec, it served her well. Zetec's had a firmer suspension tune, so the thing was a fantastic to drive. The only thing that let it down was the road noise.

image

I quite like the earlier model Focus (Foci?), has a squarer profile at the back basically prior to the LW.

There's a resurgence of modified LV XR5 Turbo's happening nearby my work place, there's three people with these cars in the same street.

MITCHAY · 15-10-2021, 09:13 PM

I reckon the only reason my mum has a Cruze instead of a Focus is down to the gearbox dramas. If she noticed how **** it was then no surprise how it went

I've been talking up the Focus as much as I can and also the Puma and Escape for her next car.

Bossxr8 · 19-10-2021, 11:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MITCHAY

I reckon the only reason my mum has a Cruze instead of a Focus is down to the gearbox dramas. If she noticed how **** it was then no surprise how it went

I've been talking up the Focus as much as I can and also the Puma and Escape for her next car.

Pretty ironic considering the Cruze also had shocking gearboxes. Holden tried to cover it up by making the owners sign non disclosure agreements. I know a couple of people who had an auto Cruze crap itself pretty early. There was a manufacturing fault that killed a lot of them. Most of them before 40,000 km.

The difference was they drove fine before they blew up though. Where the Focus shuddered and carried on from new.

Franco Cozzo · 19-10-2021, 12:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bossxr8

Pretty ironic considering the Cruze also had shocking gearboxes. Holden tried to cover it up by making the owners sign non disclosure agreements. I know a couple of people who had an auto Cruze crap itself pretty early. There was a manufacturing fault that killed a lot of them. Most of them before 40,000 km.

The difference was they drove fine before they blew up though. Where the Focus shuddered and carried on from new.

When Holden went from sourcing cars from Opel to sourcing them from Daewoo that was the nail in their coffin.

The Captiva, Cruze and Epica are absolutely horrible cars, put together by North Korean slaves I suspect - absolute ****boxes, they just fall apart.

Ford just doesn't understand public relations management

Bossxr8 · 19-10-2021, 12:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Franco Cozzo

When Holden went from sourcing cars from Opel to sourcing them from Daewoo that was the nail in their coffin.

The Captiva, Cruze and Epica are absolutely horrible cars, put together by North Korean slaves I suspect - absolute ****boxes, they just fall apart.

Ford just doesn't understand public relations management

Different now. I think the Focus debacle was the massive kick up the **** the company needed. They have gone all out trying to improve customer service ever since they copped that huge fine. The last customer service rankings showed they were equal first with Mazda, so they have made big gains in this area. Should have happened years ago really.

BENT_8 · 19-10-2021, 01:49 PM

Lol, tell that to my employer, he bought a new Wildtrak X, had it 12 months, had it towed 4 times, first 2 for trans pump gear failure, 3rd time they replaced whole box, this time brake line exploded.
I walked into his office during a conversation with Ford, he said its not fit for purpose as its spent 3 months of the 12 he's owned it in the service dept under warranty and wants whole car replaced or money back.
2 weeks later, still no Ranger.

**DJM83** · 19-10-2021, 02:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Franco Cozzo

I quite like the earlier model Focus (Foci?), has a squarer profile at the back basically prior to the LW.

There's a resurgence of modified LV XR5 Turbo's happening nearby my work place, there's three people with these cars in the same street.

Not a resurgence, just p platers that buy them, ruin them and fit crackle maps sadly.
My XR5 was the best car I've owned.
Both my old XR5/ST were brilliant.
I can't speak for the lower models though.

fiestaz · 19-10-2021, 02:28 PM

The current Focus is a fantastic car, and truly is a contender in its class.

Ford may have dropped the cheapo base models, but they were just one of the first to do it, everyone else has gone that way now.

Ford just never pushed the product. A shame really. But i am glad they are retaining the ST's. I guess there is some care there for the enthusiast.

My poor XF · 19-10-2021, 03:17 PM

The current ST is a great car, glad I got mine before they cut the options list though.

Bossxr8 · 19-10-2021, 03:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fiestaz

The current Focus is a fantastic car, and truly is a contender in its class.

Ford may have dropped the cheapo base models, but they were just one of the first to do it, everyone else has gone that way now.

Ford just never pushed the product. A shame really. But i am glad they are retaining the ST's. I guess there is some care there for the enthusiast.

Could very well be the last update Focus will get before they go EV.

I'd love to know what Fords plan is for Europe. I'm assuming that Fiesta and Focus will be cancelled, and replaced with EV's. But whether they continue to call them Fiesta and Focus, who knows?

MITCHAY · 19-10-2021, 04:30 PM

I was just reading a Drive article and it makes sense why they are doing it assuming the stats are correct.

The small car segment is in a declining trend as a percentage of sales and the Focus is no where close to other manufacturers. I don't think the past issues have much relevance here.

https://www.drive.com.au/news/2022-f...ch-to-live-on/