The experience collected during the 1980s taught many automakers – most of them North Americans– that even though global cars could be highly profitable, it’s very hard for them to prosper enough as to be as profitable as they’re supposedly capable of. This is actually why Ford’s strategy turns so interesting to analyze. Given that Focus is sold in many countries around the world and participates of highly competitive categories in all of them, investing on several regional cars would be an easier solution. But the company decided to satisfy all those customers with a single vehicle family, relying on nothing but some tweaks, which manage to be as small as wisely-executed.
In Europe, since Focus works as a midsize car, this facelift invested on sophistication. The overall feeling is of a solid and elegant look, which makes a great team with the improvements on technology and efficiency. However, in North America this is a compact vehicle. Most of its public is still young, so Ford couldn’t be conservative. The response came as the SE Sport trim, which adds external accessories, rear spoiler, revised suspension, 17” gloss-black aluminum tires and paddle shifters, the latter when equipped with automatic gearbox. Not to mention it’s offered only for the sedan: while in Europe the station wagon was highlighted, across the ocean this job was given to the sedan because it’s sold mostly in America.
Starting with the outside, the North-American hatchback mimicks the European, except for minor details such as wheel styling. The sedan, in turn, combines the Kinetic-follower front fascia to a slightly redesigned rear, which features a much bigger portion in red just like what was done with the station wagon (which is still kept exclusive for Europe). When it comes to the cabin, the central console was reinvented to improve storage capacity and add adjustable cupholders, there are new seat trims and satin chrome inserts, several minor improvements on noise reduction, and an equipment list boosted with items like standard backup camera and MyKey system, 8” screen for MyFord Touch central and the typical electronic safety programs.
Going to the tech specs, the biggest news is about the smallest engine: now Focus can receive the three-cylinder 1.0L Ecoboost too, paired to a six-speed manual transmission and start/stop system. The driving dynamics was improved with retuned electric steering and a suspension tweak, but those two are standard for all 2015 Focus. The fully-electric version, on the other hand, combined the internal improvements with a carried-over exterior, given that it features an exclusive design and appeared later than the conventional Focus. There’s no information about these vehicles’ pricing yet, as well as their arrival time or fuel efficiency numbers.