![Bugatti Bird-gate Followup: Driver identity revealed <b>[*UPDATE:</b> Now with actual crash video!]](http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2009/11/bugatti-veyron-swim-1258147199_143x85.jpg)
Rendered Speculation: 2010 Ford Focus
For over three years, US car buyers have soldiered on with variations on the aged first-generation Ford Focus architecture while Europeans have moved on to enjoy the much better-looking and more refined gen-two model. Ford CEO Allan Mulally has officially confirmed that the upcoming 2010 Focus will be global, meaning that our interest in the Ford compact should grow considerably. The web scribes at FoMoCo News have popped up a possible sketch of the next Focus (source unknown, so take with a grain of salt), and the three-door rendering shares a lot of design elements with its smaller sibling, the Verve (shown at right). The taut, flowing headlamps and aggressive fender bulges are similar, as is the trapezoidal theme for the lower intake. The contour of the two vehicles is also a near perfect match, with the hatch and rear windows receiving very similar angles. The Focus sketch has more pronounced side panels with a flare that stretches from behind the front wheel well all the way to the hatch, giving the larger three-door a more athletic appearance. We're still a year or two from seeing the next Focus in the flesh, and although the FoMoCo News sketch is far from official, it's probably as reasonable a forecast as any, since we know the Verve's design language is on the way. You can check out more sketches of this possible next-gen Focus by clicking the "Read" link below. Thanks for the tip, Mbuku!
[Source: FoMoCo News]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Gregg 11:17AM (2/10/2008)
Yikes! Great design.
Whatever made the dunderheads at Ford greenlight the 2008 Focus styling when Ford is so capable of attractive, ahead-of-the-curve design? I still think it goes back to the Taurus, the original Taurus which saved Ford back in the 1980s. As it turned out they totally misunderstood why people bought it in droves, and so they issued the 1996 re-do that was ungainly, weird and underpowered.
People bought the orginal Taurus because it was bold and different and polarizing, not because it was weird and guppy-like (1996-99, with the wagon especially awful). So from then onward, we see conservative to crap styling like the 2000 Taurus, the 2002 Explorer, the 2005 Five Hundred, the 2008 Focus. Now, they finally get how they screwed up, but it will be 2010 before many of the results are in. Plenty of time to lose even more market share.
The story of Ford going from a company in the late 1990s going after GM's lead to a company now a fraction of its former self could be written like a bad novel with overpaid and undertalented characters wreaking havoc while the even less talented family heirs meddle like morons.
Reply
mike 2:18PM (2/10/2008)
Any Hybrid or Electric engine options?
Reply
Robert 2:45PM (2/10/2008)
You're close. Right now, it appears as if this is the 2011 Focus set to debut in early/mid-2010. There are indications that this platform will also sit under a new Escape debuting around that time as well.
Powertrain is expected to be an NA gasser or two and an EcoBoost or two. This Focus will likely have an application of Ford's new PowerShift dual-clutch transmission in some of its trim levels.
There are no definitive reports of diesel or hybrid powertrains - but the C2 is capable of supporting both and there are rumors of development of both for the C2 vehicles destined for the U.S.
Reply
Slavche Tanevski 1:02PM (2/12/2008)
HI all!
The render above is mine. I did it last May, before the Verve concept was shown.
I really was surprised seeing it on Autoblog. I don't know how FoMoCo News use my sketches, they have no rights!
You can see my Focus projects here: http://slavche.deviantart.com/art/Ford-Focus-Sketches-55976732
and here: http://slavche.deviantart.com/art/Ford-Focus-58252986
I'm an currently industrial design student at the Munich Design Faculty.
More workds here: http://slavche.deviantart.com/gallery/
Reply