Say scrapped, dismantle.
Hi everyone, I'm Elephant Elv.
In the last issue, the third-generation Focus ushered in a facelift, and this issue of Elephant ELV continues to share with you the follow-up story of the Focus.
At the 2014 Geneva Motor Show, the third-generation Focus was unveiled as a mid-cycle facelift, with the facelift inheriting the Kinetic-Design 20 design elements, the most obvious change is that the front grille is further enlarged, as if a large mouth is embedded in the front of the car. Judging from today's aesthetics, a grille like this is just right for a mid-sized car like the Mondeo, which is too exaggerated and difficult for everyone to accept for a while. There is also a slight increase in body size, and the interior is more spacious than the previous generation. As for the interior, while retaining Ford's usual practicality, the texture of the materials has been optimized, both in terms of look and feel, and it is even equipped with the SYNC human-computer interaction system jointly developed with Microsoft for the first time, which has become one of the few models in the same class with a little intelligence at that time. In terms of models, Ford has also made a significant downsizing, retaining only the five-door hatchback, the station wagon and the sedan three models, so it can be said that this generation of Focus has developed in the direction of the family.
More aggressive in power, in addition to retaining the 1Turbo engines are used in all other power combinations except the 6-liter naturally aspirated engine. Among them is the one that was listed in 2012 and has a bad reputation in China, equipped with 1The 0-litre three-cylinder turbocharged EcoBoost engine is also paired with a 6-speed automatic transmission and Power Shift dual-clutch transmission, instead of the previous manual transmission. In the eyes of the auto repair industry, this power combination is okay when taken apart alone, 1The 0T three-cylinder engine is well received in the world (except for China), fuel-efficient and powerless, and the dual-clutch gearbox shifts neatly, but the failure rate has soared into a catastrophic existence.
In terms of performance models, in 2012 Ford launched the third-generation Focus ST model, which was replaced with a 2The 0T Ecoboost engine has been available in a diesel version for the first time in two years. In 2015, the Focus welcomed the ultimate car ever in the lineup, the third-generation Focus RS. The power system of this RS model is the same as the Mustang 2With a 3T engine and a four-wheel drive system for the first time, the third-generation Focus RS and the Volkswagen Golf R and Audi S3 of the same period have also won and lost each other in the track results around the world. After the release of the last 50 Heritage Edition special edition models, Ford canceled the RS version of the **Focus model, and the small steel cannon model has since lost another fierce general.
There is a Focus cold knowledge sharing, as early as the second-generation Focus during the hot sale of electrification, after the 2008 financial crisis, in order to deal with a Japanese brand and beautiful national conditions, Focus did a "oil to electricity". At the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show, Ford USA led the launch of the second-generation Focus electric model, which was ready to be launched with a gasoline version. In 2011, it was officially launched into the beautiful market, but because the initial version of the battery was only 32 million, the actual battery life was only about 122 kilometers, and in terms of the battery life of today's new energy models, it was only stronger than the "old man music", and at the beginning of the market next door, the price was as high as 29,000 pounds, and two gasoline versions of the Focus could be bought, and all sales were naturally unsatisfactory.
Getting back to the point, the aforementioned episode didn't affect the Focus's overall sales, as it was still the best-selling model of 2012, and in the Chinese market, the Focus is also a household name. It has created a record of sales of more than 10,000 units for 35 consecutive months, and sold 390,000 bicycles in 2014, which is almost the best result that domestic hatchback models can do, but no one expected that it took less than 10 years to fall from this peak to the bottom of the Focus.
**Fox.
In 2018, the 20th year of the Focus series, the *** Focus with the code name C519 was released, and unlike the past, the world premiere of this generation of Focus did not choose to be held at any auto show, but held a separate press conference in Chongqing, the hometown of Changan Ford. At the same time, Ford also announced that it will no longer be a manufacturer of all types of models, and will focus on the research and development of new energy models. This also means that from now on, a large part of the Fox sold worldwide will be made in China labels.
As for the Focus model itself, no matter what the appearance looks at, it is the best generation of Focus ever, stylish, intelligent, textured, safe enough, there are several versions of the appearance to choose from, and the driving pleasure as always. But all of the above in the face of new energy vehicles and SUVs that domestic consumers prefer, have become dragon slaying, Focus's sales have been declining year after year, and even in April 2020, Ford announced that due to increasingly stringent emission regulations and higher development costs, it had to give up the Fox RS model.
To add insult to injury, at that time, because of the national conditions and the implementation of the new "double points" rule, many manufacturers such as Ford had to choose a three-cylinder engine in another way, and they replaced their models with three-cylinder engines5 liters naturally aspirated and 15T three-cylinder engine. Although the old Europa people did not have any aversion to the three-cylinder engine, and the driving performance was even better than the PSA and BMW's three-cylinder engine, but because of many factors such as the shortage of chips at that time, the economic decline and many other factors, the Europa people's demand for cars declined significantly, and the sales of the Focus in Europe were not ideal. The Focus's position in the compact car market has also been replaced by two SUV models, the PUMA and the KUGA.
In the domestic market, people who have seen Xiali and Otto almost all of the models equipped with three-cylinder engines have an attitude of preferring to kill by mistake rather than let go, even if the three-cylinder engine is paired with an 8AT automatic transmission, who buys it will be laughed at for several years. Therefore, after the launch of the Focus, consumers only watched the excitement and did not buy it, and Ford could not learn the price reduction method of Chevrolet and GM on the main artery, so the sales volume was halved every year, and the speed was far beyond imagination. Ford, of course, did not want to give up the domestic market, and the mid-term facelift was replaced with a technologically obsolete 1The 5-liter four-cylinder engine is paired with a 6-speed automatic transmission, but the market performance is mediocre. After entering 2023, the sales of the Focus continue to decline, from 4 digits to 15 units. This year's is just digesting the inventory, and what configuration is sold, and the originally empty market will be handed over to the same senior brother 15t Mondeo too.
As early as 2022, Ford directly announced that it would completely stop production by 2025 and fully switch to electrification, and the Saarlouis plant in Germany, which has been producing Focus, is also about to close.
This is the end of the Fox story, for most consumers, not blindly pursue driving pleasure, but in all fairness, driving pleasure is more precisely the driving pleasure that ordinary people can access, and it has become less and less concerned by manufacturers. Sofas, screens and refrigerators seem to have become the only development direction of car fun, in today's battery is getting bigger and bigger, accelerating faster and faster, like Focus, Golf and other people can buy, drive, raise a car has become a luxury?
Looking back at the second generation of Focus that the earliest domestic people came into contact with, after 20 years of past, it has been gradually eliminated by today's emission regulations and environmental protection policies, in the face of the upgrading of models, as the owner should eliminate the scrapped old cars in a timely manner, so that these old models can enter the circular economy system as soon as possible, which is the most correct approach today.