3-Minute log Car ｜ The History Review of Ford Focus
Produced by | Sohu Auto Original Video
Planning | Shi Jie
Appear | Shi Jie
Shooting | Liu Yiqi
Editing | Liu Yiqi
Editor Ma Liang
The fourth-generation Ford, which was redesigned in the mid-term, will be listed soon. Due to the three cylinders before the redesign, the sales of this generation have plummeted. The king who once sold 30,000 to 40,000 units a month now has only a few hundred units left. While focusing on the new car, let’s review the development history of Ford, which has been brilliant and depressed.
The first generation (1998-2003)
First generation fox
In the late 1990s, Ford decided to introduce a compact car to replace Escort, and the first generation was born. This is Ford’s first global compact car, designed by Ford’s European team. The first generation won the sales champion of the same class in the British market for 50 months in a row, and won 60 automobile awards. Once it was launched, it could compete with the gold-medal models of the same class as, 307, which made it instantly become the focus of the world automobile industry.
The second generation (2004-2010)
Second generation fox
In 2004, the second generation was released at the Paris Motor Show, which was also developed by the Ford European team. It adopted Ford’s latest C1 platform and shared the platform with other global models of Ford Group, such as, and so on. At the same time, this model is also the first one made in China: in 2005, Changan Ford introduced the European version into domestic production, and since the change in 2008, it has sold tens of thousands of cars almost every month.
The third generation (2010-2019)
Third generation fox
The third generation debuted at the Detroit Auto Show in 2010, and the best-selling five-door hatchback version became the main model. In March 2012, the third generation landed in the China market and continued to be put into production by Changan Ford. However, the localization of the third generation did not stop the second generation in the domestic market. The old model continued to struggle in the market in the name of classics, and the price further dropped.
The fourth generation (2018-present)
Fourth generation fox
In 2018, the fourth generation was released, which was produced and supplied to the global market by China and German. The sense of existence of this generation has been relatively low. In fact, since around 2015, the market in China has gradually declined. We can no longer see the record of selling 30,000 or 40,000 units in the past month, and the fourth generation has fallen into an unprecedented trough. Since switching to a full-range 3-cylinder machine, the sales volume has dropped more and more obviously, because China consumers may be the consumers who care about the "3-cylinder" most in the world.
The mid-term change of the fourth-generation Focus
The mid-term redesigned model to be launched soon has been upgraded in terms of appearance, interior, power and chassis, and the overall product strength has been greatly improved. Most importantly, the new car will be equipped with a 1.5T four-cylinder turbocharged engine with a maximum power of 130kW(177 HP) and a maximum torque of 243 Nm (super-supercharged mode can reach 270 Nm). The transmission system is matched with a 6-speed automatic gearbox, and the acceleration time of 0-100km/h is 7.9 seconds.
It has been more than 20 years since it debuted in Europe in 1998. For me, today’s recession can’t be concealed. Since we live in the present, we should adapt to the present. In the medium term, we made a choice to adapt to the market and changed the engine from three cylinders to four cylinders. Under the current general trend, Ford may indeed have no better choice than to use this old four cylinder.