Chinese made Ford Focus being shown to dealers ahead of launch

Spy Shots | FrankF | January 3, 2012 at 1:25 pm

Ford are very conservative with regards to the Chinese car market, their expansion in the world’s biggest auto market has been at a snails pace when compared to their expansion of new technologies and designs in mature markets such as North America or Europe. Whilst European nations already have had their third generation of Focus since early 2011, Chinese consumers will have to wait until April 2012 to get their hands on the new Focus when it goes on sale after the Beijing Auto Show.

The Chinese Focus will for the first time come with a 1.6L engine, an engine that was most required during the ‘golden years’ of car buying from 2009 to 2010, however at that time only the Mazda 3 came with the 1.6L option, instead the Focus had a 1.8L and 2.0L engines. For 2012, the Focus will come with new direct injection 1.6L and 2.0L injections mated to either a 5speed manual or a 6 speed power shift dual clutch gearboxes rather than the ancient 4 speed and 5 speed manuals Ford had on offer before.

There is no sign of Ecoboost engines just yet for the Focus range, with the top model being the 2.0L Sports model although as the Ford Mondeo already carries 2.0T Ecoboost engines it wont be long before the Focus gets it own hot hatch model at long last.

FrankF

Frank entered the automotive industry via his father's instructions. He grew up with cars around him, especially as his father was a major auto restorer, Frank's childhood was spent passing beers, tools and coffee to his father whilst he explained the ins and outs of engines. Frank now works in the Chinese car industry at a specific manufacturer.