Spy Shots: 2008 Ford Focus
This is a pretty bad shot of a heavily camo'd 2008 Ford Focus taken with a camera phone. It's damn near impossible to see any changes, but we'd bet our last gallon of gas that there's a shiny three-bar chrome grille hiding under that covering. The 2008 MY Focus will likely see the last tweak before we (FINALLY) get a Focus based on the company's C1 platform around 2010. Until then Ford will graft the Fusion's three-bar grin onto the Focus and apparently refresh the rear, as well.Rumor on the Focaljet forum where this and more pics were posted is that the Focus three-door hatchback, five-door hatchback and possibly wagon will be deleted from the lineup next year. As far as we know that's just speculation, although it wouldn't surprise us if Ford trims down the number of Focus models being offered in the last couple of years before it's replaced. Perhaps if we're lucky part of Ford's accelerated Way Forward plan will be to sell the C1-based Focus here ahead of schedule.
Thanks focaljet-1 for the tip!
[Source: Focaljet]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Jason 11:03AM (7/21/2006)
No C1 = waste of time
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Tim UF 11:12AM (7/21/2006)
Did the ford engineer chase this guy all over town too? heh, a focus is a lot less menacing than a black smoke belching super duty.
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R Wiggler 11:13AM (7/21/2006)
A shiny three bar grill. Oh boy, that should keep the car competitive for three more years. Lets see, new fully updated Civic or a six plus year old design with a shiny three bar grill?
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focaljet-1 11:14AM (7/21/2006)
While the deletion of the 3/5-door hatch and wagon are almost a foregone conclusion, there will be a Coupe added to the mix.
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Ryan 11:16AM (7/21/2006)
Nobody (unless your a complete snobb :-) can say a Ford Focus is not fun to drive, I have driven a few, dated or not they are still fun to fling into corners!
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GOKARTN 11:17AM (7/21/2006)
If the above is true, it is further proof that Ford sucks! The three and five door hatchback was the only redeeming qualities of this stale ass car.
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Harry 11:20AM (7/21/2006)
VW brought back the "Rabbit". I guess it is time for Fords to bring back the pos "Escort". Way forward indeed.
On overall job performance, Jay Mays should be tried for some type of treason.
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William Crabtree 11:20AM (7/21/2006)
Get rid of the hatchbacks? Why? The hatchbacks are the only one that draw my attention. They look better than the sedan form. To me...the sedan is mundane...it blends in with every other econo-sedan. With the hatchback, at least it is a semi-sharp looking econo vehicle.
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Mark 11:36AM (7/21/2006)
Pretty surprising if they get rid of the hatcbacks. They account for a healthy 30% of Focus sales, while the wagon accounts for about 10%. The hatchback market in the states right now is bigger than ever.
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Tim UF 11:49AM (7/21/2006)
What is the holdup in bringing the full redesigned focus over? They are likely afraid it will steal sales from the volvo s40, mazda3, etc.
Anyone else have any clue why "the way forward plan" includes stagnating the product line (ranger is on a 20yr old platform, mustang is a modified lincoln LS, focus, crown vic, at least the F-series is all new)
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Doc Lucas 11:50AM (7/21/2006)
Ryan,
I guess I'm a snob. When my Civic was in the body shop, I was given a 2005 Focus 4-door for one weeks (ab)use. It was probably the least-fun-to-drive car I'd been behind the wheel of since my dad's 1982 Fairmont.
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Giggles of Doom 12:16PM (7/21/2006)
I had a Focus as a rental once as well. Quite fun to drive, zippy, handled well, but the interior was ugly as sin, and I've never been a fan of the outside either. Hopefully this refresh brings them both up a notch.
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JMa 12:23PM (7/21/2006)
Toyota has delayed the Corrola so that they could make further improvements to it to better compete against Honda.
What a waste. They should use the Ford solution. Keep the existing car and put a three bar grill on it instead.
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Yaroukh 12:28PM (7/21/2006)
If Ford of NA intends to keep the old Focus on the market till !?_2010_?! it deserves to extinct!
At the moment I saw the subject I thought to myself "well, '08 is quite late for bringing Focus II to US but still better than nothing"; and then I read that it still won't be the new/Euro one. I just can't believe that Focus 2008 is still Focus I.
Furthermore by using the Fusion-like grill on such an products Ford IMO simply ruins its potential (as something that could indicate some new approach at Ford).
I wonder how long it will take till we can finally see AT LEAST SOME CHANGES in way Ford 'moves'? So far we have this BoldMoves website. 8[
Yaroukh, disgusted Ford-fan
Europe
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Ryan 12:35PM (7/21/2006)
"mustang is a modified lincoln LS"
I thought the mustag sits on a modified version (setup for RWD) of the Mazda 3 C1 platform
Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_C1_platform
"It (the C1 platform) was even modified for rear wheel drive to create the Ford D2C platform for the next Ford Mustang."
"The C platform was designed in Cologne, Germany as the "C Technologies Program". 30 engineers each from Mazda, Ford, and Volvo worked to combine the small-car engineering from all three automakers."
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Ryan 12:45PM (7/21/2006)
Ok, I'm confused:
You can currently, in the United States obtain two (2) cars that utilize the C1 platform, from Ford partners:
1.) Mazda 3
2.) Volvo S40
But at the same time almost EVERYONE on autoblog says this about the Fusion: "it's just a freaking Mazda 6, blah blah, Mazda 6 is drag, blah blah, crappy looking Mazda 6"
How is Ford to belive EVERYONE on here won't do this with the Focus when it is C1? I can see it now "it's just a freaking Mazda 3 is drag, blah blah, the poor mans S40, blah blah."
If I was Ford Motors I would not know weather to piss or go blind with the conflicting comments.
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Bill 12:58PM (7/21/2006)
First of all, this all speculation at this point. None of these things being stated have been confirmed.
The Fusion is more than just a Mazda6 because they stretched the chassis to create more rear seat room. So it's actually a BETTER Mazda6 in some ways.
Also, using a rental car to compare vehicles isn't really a good way to determine the capabilities of a given vehicle. The rental versions are usually the lesser model in a lineup.
Finally, the current Focus chassis is still impressive against it's competitors and even more amazing considering it's age. I have read a few articles that actually claim that the C170(current US spec) still handles better than the C1. Discussing what you'd like to see is fine but making judgements based on internet rumors and camo'd spy shots is kind of silly.
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Brian 1:17PM (7/21/2006)
What lunatic at Ford signed off on the papers that is killing 40% of Focus's sells? If 30% of Focus's sales are hatches and 10% are wagons, isn't that kind of stupid to eliminate that much?
Additionally, the Mustang was developed on a new platform using technologies used to create the C1 platform.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_D2C_platform
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Steven 1:39PM (7/21/2006)
Ford is retarded for waiting this long and while I don't like what they are doing to the focus, I own an 05 and I personally like it better than the 04 that I previously owned. I've done the exact same mods on it and this one responded a LOT better.
And to the guy with the civic in the shop who rented a focus...wow, you are retarded. You drive a civic...and your concerned about boring cars? Ha! The Civic is about the ugliest, slowest, and most boring car that I know of other than the Scion xB.
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tr 2:00PM (7/21/2006)
regarding the three bar grill...a few months ago, i was part of a group that did a project with ford engineering. i was talking to one of the project engineers one day, we were talking about the three bar grill and how ford wanted to get that look across all its models, including the five hundred. he said something like "yeah, that's their BOLD look [mockingly]. the new focus has it...only the grill area on that fascia is too short, so they can only fit 2 bars of the three bar grill there...kinda stupid."
take this with a grain of salt, of course. it was a few months ago, and they could've changed that. but i thought it was pretty funny, and so did he.
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