Days ago, Mr Alan Mullaly, the CEO of Ford Motor Company announced that Ford is targeting one third of it’s global sales from Asia Pacific and Africa by the year 2020, up from the current 15%.
The next big launch, which could arrive in the 2012 Indian Auto Expo is the coupeish Ford Focus Sedan, which Ford India will produce at it’s Chennai factory to take on the likes of the Toyota Corolla Altis, The Chevrolet Cruze and the Honda Civic. The Ford Focus Sedan, being another car developed on the global “One Ford” platform that ensures that the car can be produced for various markets across the world, will mark Ford India’s very first foray into the D-segment of the Indian car market. Also, the Focus being a global car will mean that Ford India can keep costs low, thus making for a more competitively priced car, as a value pricing is key for success in India.
Globally, the sporty looking and handling Ford Focus comes with a range of engine options from turbo petrols to turbo diesels. In India, expect the Ford Focus with a 1.6 Liter EcoBoost petrol engine producing 150 Bhp and 240 Nm of torque, making for some very blistering performance even as turbo charging and direct injection also ensures that fuel economy figures are class leading, which is the aim of every Ford product produced under the “One Ford” design principle. The diesel engine could be the 2 Liter Duratorq unit churning out about 140 Bhp of peak power and 270 Nm of peak torque.
Transmission options include both six speed manual as well as the brand new six speed dual clutch automatic tranny that Ford is very excited about due to the fuel economy gains that the tranny delivers due to the very wide range of ratios being able to mapped onto the dual clutch automatic, aiding both outright performance or outright fuel economy depending on the need. Along with the legendary Ford Driver’s DNA, we could very well have a true driver’s can in the D-Segment, which of late has been seeing cars getting too soft to be called an ideal driver’s car. Thus, the gap is very much there for the Focus Sedan to arrive and fill the void. Time then, to wait for early 2012 to experience the Ford Focus Sedan!
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