09 Jun 04 15:41
Focus concept saloon in Beijing
Ford is unveiling its all-new Focus this week - at the Beijing Auto Show in China, signalling its intentions to grab a large share of the rapidly growing Chinese car market. The Ford Focus Concept, in four-door saloon form, "hints at what will become the most sophisticated Focus to date", and has front-end styling similar to the Focus C-MAX MPV. This concept/prototype has been designed with Far Eastern customers in mind, though it is not fundamentally too different from the model we'll see in Europe later this year. "The design progression is a confident and natural evolution of the Ford Focus brand," says Ford of Europe design director Chris Bird. "It brings into context the Focus C-MAX as the pioneering member of the forthcoming new Focus family."
Bird goes on to explain that "we are taking a holistic design approach. The four-door Focus Concept gives further clues to how we are maturing Focus in line with evolving customer tastes and expectations. It is recognisably a Ford, and unmistakably a Focus, yet it is far more sophisticated and refined - more coherent as a design statement." The Concept features LED headlamps and taillights, which give off a ring of white light at the front, and it is finished with 19-inch, seven-spoke alloys and Sapphire Ice silver-blue metallic paint. Hatchback-bodied, Europe-specific Focus concepts and prototypes will be unveiled later this year, with a formal presentation at September's Paris Motor Show.
Notice C-MAX-style headlamps
The new Focus range, which shares its basic platform with the Volvo S40/V50 and Mazda3 as well as the C-MAX, is expected to come with new 1.6- and 1.8-litre SCi direct injection petrol engines as well as revised versions of the 1.6 and 2.0 TDCi diesels. A new semi-auto gearbox will follow in higher-powered models, similar to the VW-Audi DSG transmission, and high-performance models are on the way - including that long-awaited Focus Cosworth, as well as RS- and ST-badged models.
