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Blue Oval's All-New Compact Surprises With Maturity
Ironically named little car, the Ford Focus. While you could surely argue we're drawing too literal a line between the car and its moniker, we have to chuckle a little when we recall just how far afield Ford drifted with its compact offering over the last several years. Suffice it to say that Ford lost its way somewhere after the original Focus was introduced as a so-called 'world car' back in 1999. At the time, the spunky Focus shared the same C170 platform no matter where in the world it was sold.
Sadly, such platform sharing diverged in 2005 as the United States made do with the aging C170 chassis in a reduced number of bodystyles while the rest of the world received a new model based on the brand spankin' new C1 platform. That new architecture debuted to rave reviews from the international motoring press while the aging North American Focus doddered off to live among the also-rans. A few short years later, with the global economy in the doldrums and fuel mileage sitting atop many consumers' automotive wishlists, it wasn't long before the Blue Oval found itself standing flat-footed without a class-competitive compact in its home market. Many tears were shed in the form of lost dollar signs over the ensuing years, until Ford finally promised to make the Focus a truly global car for the 2012 model year.
And we're happy to report that the 2012 Ford Focus is several orders of magnitude superior to the model it replaces. How so? Keep reading to find out.
Gallery: 2012 Ford Focus Titanium: Review
Photos copyright (C)2011 Jeremy Korzeniewski / AOLContinue reading Review: 2012 Ford Focus Titanium
Review: 2012 Ford Focus Titanium originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 30 Mar 2011 11:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Blue Oval's All-New Compact Surprises With Maturity
2012 Ford Focus Titanium sedan - Click above for high-res image gallery
Ironically named little car, the Ford Focus. While you could surely argue we're drawing too literal a line between the car and its moniker, we have to chuckle a little when we recall just how far afield Ford drifted with its compact offering over the last several years. Suffice it to say that Ford lost its way somewhere after the original Focus was introduced as a so-called 'world car' back in 1999. At the time, the spunky Focus shared the same C170 platform no matter where in the world it was sold.
Sadly, such platform sharing diverged in 2005 as the United States made do with the aging C170 chassis in a reduced number of bodystyles while the rest of the world received a new model based on the brand spankin' new C1 platform. That new architecture debuted to rave reviews from the international motoring press while the aging North American Focus doddered off to live among the also-rans. A few short years later, with the global economy in the doldrums and fuel mileage sitting atop many consumers' automotive wishlists, it wasn't long before the Blue Oval found itself standing flat-footed without a class-competitive compact in its home market. Many tears were shed in the form of lost dollar signs over the ensuing years, until Ford finally promised to make the Focus a truly global car for the 2012 model year.
And we're happy to report that the 2012 Ford Focus is several orders of magnitude superior to the model it replaces. How so? Keep reading to find out.
Gallery: 2012 Ford Focus Titanium: Review
Photos copyright (C)2011 Jeremy Korzeniewski / AOLContinue reading Review: 2012 Ford Focus Titanium
Review: 2012 Ford Focus Titanium originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 30 Mar 2011 11:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | Comments
More...