Focus st

[habiv]

I know this is a little off topic, but remind me again why Ford doesn't send this to the US? I was looking at the Ford Europe site and there are a ton of great vehicles there. Ford wonders why they are in such a rut in America. They are sending all of the good cars (Minus the mustang )and quality to Europe!

YouTube - Top Gear - Ford Focus ST - Jeremy Clarkson - BBC

 

[aar0s]

why isnt this car aval. in the us? How hard would it be to import?
check out some of the cars that ford has in austrailia(Sp). if i remember right a few years ago they had one that looked like a contour but had a small v8 in it.

 

[lang williams]

From what I've read the domestic companys say the american car market views small cars as "entry level cars and affordable second cars". they won't pay a premium price for a small premium car. in europe and japan where cars are taxed by size, gas is more expensive an parking is hard to come by small cars sell in all classes. I had an 05 focus st 2.5 5 speed an ford stopped making it because they sold slowly due to the 5 speed only (guess its the lazy american in us).

 

[old_blue]

I thought 2005 was the only year they actually come out in america. and even then only a few select dealers had them. I think the biggest reason they got rid of them was of the competition it had with the svt. svt was more expensive and slower.

svt= american made
st= volvo engineered engine.


good cars though. I constantly think about getting a zx3 and either driving it into the ground and replacing it with a 302 or putting a turbo on it.

 

[lang williams]

the "st" i had came out after the focus svt was discontinued. It had a mazda 2.3 with 150 hp an a 5 speed, an 4 wheel disk brakes. it was fun to drive handled an braked well. it was about half a second slower 0 to 60 but had better torque.

 

[Shakerhood]

From what I've read the domestic companys say the american car market views small cars as "entry level cars and affordable second cars". they won't pay a premium price for a small premium car. in europe and japan where cars are taxed by size, gas is more expensive an parking is hard to come by small cars sell in all classes. I had an 05 focus st 2.5 5 speed an ford stopped making it because they sold slowly due to the 5 speed only (guess its the lazy american in us).

That is the exact reason, no one in their right mind is going to pay 30 Grand for a Focus!!!

 

[1990Coupe]

I would love for that focus to come here to the US. The Focus RS is even more bad ass.

 

[habiv]

That is the exact reason, no one in their right mind is going to pay 30 Grand for a Focus!!!

But this is where I don't understand why ford won't bring it to the US. If they downgraded a couple of the not neaded features, maybe get rid of the premium sounsystem that i'm sure it has and get rid of the race seats and put some regular seats in it the pricing would be in line with the 25K cobalt ss, mazdaspeed 3, WRX and SRT-4. Not that I have money to throw away, but I would buy the car for 25k.

 

[Shakerhood]

But this is where I don't understand why ford won't bring it to the US. If they downgraded a couple of the not neaded features, maybe get rid of the premium sounsystem that i'm sure it has and get rid of the race seats and put some regular seats in it the pricing would be in line with the 25K cobalt ss, mazdaspeed 3, WRX and SRT-4. Not that I have money to throw away, but I would buy the car for 25k.

Because then you are up into mid sized car pricing, why would someone buy a smaller Focus for more money than they could get a Fusion. You are kind of going to get your wish as the next Gen Focus is going to be a worldwide Focus, will be a major downgrade from the current Euro Focus and a mild upgrade over the current US Spec Focus with a jacked up price tag.

 

[Mustank]

I know this is a little off topic, but remind me again why Ford doesn't send this to the US? I was looking at the Ford Europe site and there are a ton of great vehicles there. Ford wonders why they are in such a rut in America. They are sending all of the good cars (Minus the mustang )and quality to Europe!

YouTube - Top Gear - Ford Focus ST - Jeremy Clarkson - BBC

1. They don't "send" the good cars to Europe. European Fords are built in Europe.

2. Europeans are willing to pay the price for a compact sports car, because it is still far cheaper than buying a mid-size sports car. Americans wouldn't spend $30k for a compact when they could buy a Mustang/Camaro/Challenger etc for the same price or less....at least not until gas prices rise drastically (even more than they were last summer)

European Fords, in general are much higher quality than American Fords for the same reason. They pay less for production/labor and are able to charge more.

3. They already tested the market with the SVT Focus, which didn't sell very well.

Bottom line is that it's not profitable.

 

[fiveohwblow]

How many SVT focus' sold?