Where's our Focus diesel?

The British publication AutoExpress has a first look at the new Ford Focus CC-3 TDCi. It's bad enough that Ford chose not to give the North American Market access to the latest Focus from Ford dealers. You can buy cars off the platform from Volvo or Mazda dealers but it's just not the same. Even worse is that we can't get a diesel in any of these incarnations. The Focus CC is the new retractable hardtop convertible version of the European Focus. The really interesting part of the title is the TDCi. This is a new 2.0L turbo-diesel that is rated at 134 hp, and 47.9 mpg. For comparison, the current US Focus has a 2.0L gas engine that is rated at 136 hp and only 26 city/35 hwy mpg. These numbers aren't directly comparable because they're measured differently and the Focus CC is heavier than either the standard hard-top Euro Focus or the North American model. They are in the ball park for power output, though, and the mileage is significantly better. This is just another example of potentially great product that should be available from Ford dealers in the US but are not. Ford needs to find a way to cost-effectively bring their most efficient cars to the only market in the world that can't get them right now.

[Source: AutoExpress]