Focus has potential to outsell Corolla

[frapjap]

Its about time someone unseated the boring-box that is the Corolla.

Ford Focus on target to become best-selling car in the world, besting the Toyota Corolla

Ford announced that its Focus sedans and hatchbacks have sold more than the Corolla in the first half of the year, and the automaker expects strong sales worldwide to help it continue to outsell Toyota. Ford also celebrated the production of the 109-year-old company's 350 millionth vehicle.

In the first half of the year, Ford sold 489,616 Focus vehicles worldwide.

Ford Motor Co. says its Focus small car is on track to become the best-selling car in the world this year, trumping the Toyota Corolla.

Ford sold 489,616 Focus sedans and hatchbacks worldwide in the first half of 2012. That was almost 27,000 more than the perennial best-seller, the Toyota Corolla.

Ford made the announcement at its assembly plant in Rayong, which opened in May to build the Focus. The Thailand plant, which is one of Ford's most advanced, has the capacity to produce 150,000 cars per year for sale in Thailand, Vietnam, Australia and other countries in the region.

Ford's recently revamped Focus is sold in more than 100 countries worldwide. It's a strong seller in the U.S., where Focus sales were up 31 percent in the first half of the year compared with 2011. But the Corolla is still king in the U.S., where it outsold the Focus by nearly 27,500 in the first half of the year.

The Corolla could still top the Focus worldwide, too. Last year at this time the Focus was ahead of the Corolla, but the Corolla pulled through in the end, outselling the Focus by around 100,000 vehicles, according to IHS Global Insight, an industry consulting firm.

At the plant Friday, Ford executives were also celebrating the production of the 350 millionth vehicle Ford has made since its founding 109 years ago.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/autos/ford-f ... z2O66sGdzk

[Bubba1]

That's "uber reliable" boring box, buddy. That's pretty impressive that Ford is closing in on the Corolla's volume this year. Especially when you consider how problem prone the Focus was when it was first introduced in the US, breaking records for most recalls. Ford's done a good job turning the car around.

But I think Ford has a long way to go to match the Corolla's overall sales, which I believe is starting to close in on 40 million sold.

[frapjap]

That's "uber reliable" boring box, buddy. But I think Ford has a long way to go to match the Corolla's overall sales, which I believe is starting to close in on 40 million sold.

Haha, you'll find no argument from me on the reliability of a Corolla. That '91 still runs extremely well and aside from rust, has held up well over the years, too. Then again, so have most Foci.

And HOLY DAMN. Thats A LOT of cars...

[gwoods]

I rented a Focus in Vegas a couple months back went over 100 mph in it and put over 250 miles on it in a less then 24 hour period. It gave me over 42 mpg. Enough torque to light the tires in first with traction control off and enough torque to pass a truck uphill headed to California. I would own one in a second!

[MinisterofDOOM]

The Focus is pretty cutting-edge and well-designed.

Meanwhile, the Corolla hasn't changed significantly since 2000, and even then it was supremely average. I know there's a customer loyalty factor involved, but people would have to be NUTS to buy a Corolla over ANYTHING these days. It simply doesn't do ANYTHING better than anyone else.

[Bubba1]

The Focus is pretty cutting-edge and well-designed.

Meanwhile, the Corolla hasn't changed significantly since 2000, and even then it was supremely average. I know there's a customer loyalty factor involved, but people would have to be NUTS to buy a Corolla over ANYTHING these days. It simply doesn't do ANYTHING better than anyone else.

I guess I'm nuts. I bought an '08 Corolla for my (non-enthusiast) son. It was not particularly expensive to buy, gets 30+ mpg, is extremely reliable, has a strong heater and good a/c. Costs very little to maintain, repair and insure, handles predictably, is nimble, safe and simple. Oh yeah, it really sucks.

I agree with you that loyalty is a big factor with the Corolla's success, but not really in my case. I last bought a Corolla 30 yrs ago and it was not cutting edge even back then. Just a simple, cheap, reliable nimble car. You appear be thinking like an enthusiast instead of a parent. Nothing wrong with that, but for many parents, reliability and simplicity trumps "cutting edge". You clearly dislike the corolla, and that's expected, but it wasn't designed for enthusiasts like you.

[gwoods]

I am not a fan of the current body... but we had a 1999 and man was that car fun to drive... needed about 50hp but still fun to drive

[frapjap]

I last bought a Corolla 30 yrs ago and it was not cutting edge even back then. Just a simple, cheap, reliable nimble car. You appear be thinking like an enthusiast instead of a parent. Nothing wrong with that, but for many parents, reliability and simplicity trumps "cutting edge". You clearly dislike the corolla, and that's expected, but it wasn't designed for enthusiasts like you.

In that case, help me sell my Corolla:
http://southcoast.craigslist.org/cto/3693894058.html


Also- how the heck isn't your son an enthusiast? Hasn't he ridden with you before?!?!

[Bubba1]

I last bought a Corolla 30 yrs ago and it was not cutting edge even back then. Just a simple, cheap, reliable nimble car. You appear be thinking like an enthusiast instead of a parent. Nothing wrong with that, but for many parents, reliability and simplicity trumps "cutting edge". You clearly dislike the corolla, and that's expected, but it wasn't designed for enthusiasts like you.

In that case, help me sell my Corolla:
http://southcoast.craigslist.org/cto/3693894058.html


Also- how the heck isn't your son an enthusiast? Hasn't he ridden with you before?!?!

It surprised me at first, but he's into music more than cars. I'm okay with that. He's ridden with me thousands of times, but never at a race track.

For the record, I drive my son's Corolla regularly, and I like it. It's a nice car. My only gripe with it is that Toyota seemed to use barely enough paint to cover it. It scratches easily.

[MinisterofDOOM]

I guess I'm nuts. I bought an '08 Corolla for my (non-enthusiast) son. It was not particularly expensive to buy, gets 30+ mpg, is extremely reliable, has a strong heater and good a/c. Costs very little to maintain, repair and insure, handles predictably, is nimble, safe and simple. Oh yeah, it really sucks.

I meant a new Corolla, today. Not a used one, in the past. That's a different story. 2008 was a dark time for compact cars. But I can't imagine spending new-car money for one right now over a Focus, Forte, Elantra, or 3.

[Jesda]

The Focus is pretty cutting-edge and well-designed.

Meanwhile, the Corolla hasn't changed significantly since 2000, and even then it was supremely average. I know there's a customer loyalty factor involved, but people would have to be NUTS to buy a Corolla over ANYTHING these days. It simply doesn't do ANYTHING better than anyone else.

I guess I'm nuts. I bought an '08 Corolla for my (non-enthusiast) son. It was not particularly expensive to buy, gets 30+ mpg, is extremely reliable, has a strong heater and good a/c. Costs very little to maintain, repair and insure, handles predictably, is nimble, safe and simple. Oh yeah, it really sucks.

Sounds like an amazing car.


By 1974 standards.

[Bubba1]

Sounds like an amazing car.


By 1974 standards.

But in all fairness, they're really not that antiquated like the original air cooled VW beetle was toward the end of it's production run. Its virtues are tough to ignore despite not being cutting edge.

[breadbox]

I am currently driving a 2012 Ford Focus rental car.

First gear is not smooth at all, it shutters at first, which is odd to me that my 89 s13 shifts smoother.
Its quite small for how large it looks outside. I can barley put a record crate in the small short trunk, I have like 2" clearance and for a full record crate, its just a bit difficult to get it in there. The dash is hella clustered all over. Back seat almost to small for my daughters car seat.

Things I like, it gets good mpg and and the footwell lights and door handle lights. Plus it doesn't look horrible, still would never pay for one.

[MinisterofDOOM]

First gear is not smooth at all, it shutters at first, which is odd to me that my 89 s13 shifts smoother.

This is a common complaint. The focus has a dual clutch manual in place of an automatic. Unfortunately, Ford's tuning of the shift behavior is not grand. Fortunately, at least as I understand it, this is a simple software fix and not a mechanical problem.

[Jesda]

If GM wasn't so insistent on changing badges over and over it might build a consistent audience for its small cars. From Cavalier to Cobalt to Cruze and now there's the smaller Sonic, not to mention the mix of GM global brands through which these cars wear different model names -- they seem to lack... dare I say... a focus.

[Bubba1]

If GM wasn't so insistent on changing badges over and over it might build a consistent audience for its small cars. From Cavalier to Cobalt to Cruze and now there's the smaller Sonic, not to mention the mix of GM global brands through which these cars wear different model names -- they seem to lack... dare I say... a focus.

I can understand their moving away from the Cavalier name. Like the Vega/Chevette that preceeded it, it was a rather bad car. Best to try something new tp remove the bad taste.

[breadbox]

I kinda expected them to bring back the cavi name after the cobalt, but I guess they are just doing things that make sense only to people with really short attention spans.

[MinisterofDOOM]

I kinda expected them to bring back the cavi name after the cobalt

Why would they ever bring back the name of the single worst compact car in North America?!

[Looneybomber]

I like the Focus and would like to buy a used Focus ST sometime. I need a mid-life crisis mobile, but one that gets good enough MPG.

Why would they ever bring back the name of the single worst compact car in North America?!

Since when did the Tempo enter this conversation?

[Jesda]

I can understand their moving away from the Cavalier name. Like the Vega/Chevette that preceeded it, it was a rather bad car. Best to try something new tp remove the bad taste.

Almost every single time they've done that, the new badge failed to outsell its predecessor.

[Jesda]

Why would they ever bring back the name of the single worst compact car in North America?!

If you're going to follow that philosophy, change "Chevrolet" to something entirely different every 10 years.

The Civic and Accord [and many Datsuns... set your nostalgia aside because I remember how crude ours were] were nasty turds when they landed on US soil. Sticking with the badges and improving the cars with each generation resulted in long-term growth.

[Bubba1]

Almost every single time they've done that, the new badge failed to outsell its predecessor.

Yes, but is that the fault of the car or the name?

On the plus side, at least the Chevy division is still using actual names instead of silly trendy letters.

[Bubba1]

Why would they ever bring back the name of the single worst compact car in North America?!

If you're going to follow that philosophy, change "Chevrolet" to something entirely different every 10 years.

The thing is, not all Chevrolet models were horrendous cr@p, (well, exluding the mid-late 70's thru early 80's when all domestics were awful), just their small cars were bad. So it makes sense to change a few bad model names instead of the entire brand name they've been promoting for decades.

[Jesda]

Almost every single time they've done that, the new badge failed to outsell its predecessor.

Yes, but is that the fault of the car or the name?

On the plus side, at least the Chevy division is still using actual names instead of silly trendy letters.

With every bad model run you always have a small group of people (say 20-30%) who for whatever reason like the car they owned and are eager to buy another. For a top-selling badge, that adds up to quite a number of customers. Finding out their beloved model has ceased to exist is a perfect way of sending them to competing brands.

The same happened with the entire Oldsmobile division where the majority of buyers went with Honda and Toyota instead of choosing another GM division. Even if the level of loyalty is small, it pisses all of it away. It takes two to three generations of a new model to rebuild the lost audience, and that's assuming the new model is super competitive.

It's far more cost-efficient to improve a tarnished brand or model than it is to establish a new one, ALWAYS. The ENTIRE Cadillac division produced nothing but garbage for the entire period from 1981-1991, giving Lexus, Acura, and Infiniti strong reasons for existing while driving Lincoln's sales to new heights. Shutting Cadillac down and creating a new luxury division would have been a disaster. The exception is the CTS which was an entirely different size class from the Catera which itself was still new (one generation) and poorly established. Catera didn't have hundreds of thousands of buyers or decades of time to develop an identity.

Meanwhile, the morons at GM sit around wondering why their market share disappears. It isn't just the product -- it's the branding.

[MinisterofDOOM]

Why would they ever bring back the name of the single worst compact car in North America?!

Since when did the Tempo enter this conversation?

High five! But the Tempo was midsize, so its title is safe.

Why would they ever bring back the name of the single worst compact car in North America?!

If you're going to follow that philosophy, change "Chevrolet" to something entirely different every 10 years.

The Civic and Accord [and many Datsuns... set your nostalgia aside because I remember how crude ours were] were nasty turds when they landed on US soil. Sticking with the badges and improving the cars with each generation resulted in long-term growth.

I don't disagree. But if you change AWAY FROM a name, changing back to it is just as bad as changing to anything else. Cavalier and Cobalt are a great example. While the Cobalt might not have sold any better, it was undeniably a vastly superior car. So now what Chevy has done is isolate the Cavalier as the pile of crap, since the first car to not be terrible had a different name. Going back to it would be a double mistake. Not only would they be failing to escape from the Cavalier nameplate's stigma, but they'd also be failing to establish loyalty for the newer Cobalt nameplate.

It's like the FiveHundred/Taurus situation. I know there aren't a carbuyers left who remember that there was once a series of misspelled Galaxies driving around with 500/XL performance packages, but Ford still chose to move AWAY FROM the Taurus nameplate, and they did so with a product that was SIGNIFICANTLY BETTER than its predecessor. So the decision to go BACK to the Taurus name was extra bizarre. The name never had any cachet outside of rental agencies and your "small percentage". And building a better car with another name already severed that cord. Any damage from ditching the Taurus name was already done, yet the nonexistent-at-best reputation of the Taurus name remained. All the Taurus nameplate really does is tell people "It's a Ford." Which is good. But then they shouldn't have ditched it in the first place.

Same applies to the Cavalier. Either ditch it or stick with it. But pick one. Going back and forth helps nobody.

On the subject of early Civics and Accords:
I have a LOT of family who have very fond memories of early-'80s models of both cars. All hatchbacks. They all lasted FOREVER (In fact my uncle only got rid of his '83 Accord a few years ago, replacing it with a brand new Accord). Which kinda proves your point.

[Jesda]

Yeah the Taurus situation was a real mess as I've discovered trying to sell a Five Hundred that I've had since December. I've listed it as a Five Hundred, 500, and Taurus hoping to target the right customers but have had little interest. And this is despite being able to finance subprime borrowers with very generous lending programs that don't care about recent bankruptcies, judgements, or repos.

People are like "What's a 500? Is it a Taurus? A Sable? What?"

It's a total trainwreck.

[mmkeller]

The old Focus, wouldn't have one. The motor mounts shook the whole damn car. Maybe with the new one Ford has solved that problem, time will tell.

[Kompresshun]

Yeah the Taurus situation was a real mess as I've discovered trying to sell a Five Hundred that I've had since December. I've listed it as a Five Hundred, 500, and Taurus hoping to target the right customers but have had little interest. And this is despite being able to finance subprime borrowers with very generous lending programs that don't care about recent bankruptcies, judgements, or repos.

People are like "What's a 500? Is it a Taurus? A Sable? What?"

It's a total trainwreck.

I was working for Lincoln/Mercury at the time and we had a big meeting about it on day. I was like "You're kidding right? Why would they bring back that turd nameplate?".

I think that's why the Five Hundred/Montego are so cheap now. They're forgotten vehicles that got lost in the shuffle of stupidity, like the Saturn Aura. They were great vehicles that got overshadowed.

I'm very surprised you haven't sold it yet though. They seem to sell well here.

[nissangirl74]

I like the Focus hatch. I would drive it, but I wouldn't pay for it. I would not drive a Corolla though. Ever. Even from a rental company. If all they had was that and *insert any other car here*, I'd choose the other car.

[Bubba1]

I like the Focus hatch. I would drive it, but I wouldn't pay for it. I would not drive a Corolla though. Ever. Even from a rental company. If all they had was that and *insert any other car here*, I'd choose the other car.

I'm amazed how strong the dislike is for the Corolla among enthusiasts here. I totally get they're not exciting, though it might be fun to autocross one and beat a few sports cars with it. They're more nimble than folks think.