
Ford cuts SUV production, confirms Euro Focus for U.S.
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The fuel-driven shift to smaller cars in the U.S. is ramping up as
Ford has announced today a reduction in the production of its SUV and pickup lineup for the remainder of the year, at the same time confirming production of the European Focus and
Fiesta for North America for 2010. Strong demand for the current-generation U.S. Focus has already caused the carmaker to
shift more resources toward its production.
The
next-generation global Focus is due in 2010, and this latest announcement just ensures Americans will get the car too - and not several years after its European debut as has been the case in the past. The current European variant of the Focus (pictured) has been generally perceived as a better interpretation of the nameplate than its American counterpart, with superior handling and design. The Fiesta small hatch will add even more depth to the low end of
Ford's North American-built lineup, and building the cars closer to home could mean more competitive pricing.
Int the meantime, Ford will also be boosting production of the current-generation Ford Focus sedan and the
Ford Escape and Mercury Mariner crossover SUVs to make the most of its current smaller offerings.
Cutting large SUV and truck production is the theme of the American car industry for 2008, and Ford's announcement that the F-150 redesign will be pushed back two months is equally unsurprising. Shift reductions and slower production line speeds will supplement the additional summer plant idling
announced earlier this week in meeting reduced production targets.
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By Gus Posted: 6/20/2008 1:19pm PDT
By brian Posted: 6/20/2008 4:32pm PDT
By Knight3058 Posted: 6/20/2008 5:01pm PDT
By NoNameDenton Posted: 6/20/2008 5:41pm PDT
By chris Posted: 6/20/2008 6:21pm PDT
By NoNameDenton Posted: 6/20/2008 9:17pm PDT
By bambam Posted: 6/20/2008 9:48pm PDT
By chris Posted: 6/21/2008 1:39am PDT
bam... exactly.. i love watching rally because its equally impressive as much as it makes me feel damned good to see a ford out there walloping all those japanese and euro brands. I love the sync.. and honestly.. I won't buy a car that doesnt have it. sounds stupid.. but when you finally got a car with power windows.. you said the same thing "its stupid.. but i dont want to lose my power windows"... same thing with my moon roof... i had one... then i got another car and i didnt have one.. its no good.. so on my current car i have it...
I'd love like hell to have the newer platform.. cause the s40 and the mazda 3 are very nice handling cars... but i can tell you honestly.. the "new" focus is the old focus doing a dmaned good impersonation of the C1 platform.
but thats not why i came here... I just wanted to say that I just saw the Flex... in person.. and its actually really really cool. as far as a mid sized crossover is concerned... I like it. honestly. it's funky... and a little flashy.. and a little styling too. i feel so horrible for saying it looks like a honda element or a scion... thats selling it way short. and the thing looks huge in pictures but its really not that large at all.
i think they'll be selling 100,000 of them... easily.
By NoNameDenton Posted: 6/21/2008 3:00am PDT
By chris Posted: 6/21/2008 4:01pm PDT
more people buy the focus now that it's "ugly", isn't available in hatch back, and has 10 year old mechanicals, as opposed to 10 years ago when it was the most brilliant small car on the market.
By NoNameDenton Posted: 6/21/2008 9:13pm PDT
By chris Posted: 6/23/2008 7:07am PDT
Point is, most people will complain today that ford doesn't have euro models over here... but these are the same people who wouldn't have bought the focus when it was a euro model... same people who never bought the contour (mondeo), probably haven't seen a fiesta since the 80's... well... you get the idea. lot's of people will complain that ford doesnt sell their euro models in the USA, and use that as the excuse that they won't buy ford, and then when it happens again, they still wont buy it.. cause it's made in the USA, or (gasp) mexico.
don't see too many people buying the saturn astra do you? It's going to be the same thing all over again. doesn't matter where the cars come from. It's welcomed by me, thats for sure, better cars for me and my loyal blood.. but the criticism will never stop.
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