Focus arrival in view

FORD’S complete LV Focus range is schedule for a March 2009 release in Australia.

This will be almost nine months after the LV Focus XR5 Turbo version arrived in Australia in the middle of this year.

A comprehensive reskin of the LT model, the LV was unveiled at the Frankfurt motor show in September 2007, before being rolled out in Europe in the first half of 2008.

However, the South African plant that assembles Australian-bound versions of the volume-selling Focus CL, LX, Zetec and Ghia models has only just commenced manufacture of the LV series.

The reason why the LV Focus XR5 Turbo is already available is because this car is sourced out of Ford’s Saarlouis plant in Germany.

The other European plants that produce the Focus – Setubal in Portugal and Valencia in Spain (which used to provide the previous-generation LR vehicles for Australia bar the Zetec and ST170 from 2002 to 2005) – have also been on stream with the LV Focus since the beginning of the year.

“The first cars are already on the boat for Australia,” stated Ford’s communication manager Sinead McAlary.

“We’re looking to do a launch in about March.”

As with the upcoming Volkswagen Golf VI, the LV Focus is a comprehensive facelift of the second-generation car launched in Australia as the LS Focus in mid-2005.

Only the roof panel is shared with the outgoing LT, with the restyled nose cone visually connecting with the Kinetic design elements of the more recent MA Mondeo and all-new WS Fiesta range.

Modifications have also been made to the rear window shape on the hatch, as well as the tail-lights and bumpers.

The overhaul of the interior includes a new centre console insert, revamped instrumentation and revised materials and trim.

Underneath, one of the biggest changes to the Focus will be the addition of an ‘automatic’ gearbox on the TDCi. Dubbed ‘Powershift’ and co-developed with Getrag, it is Ford’s six-speed dual-clutch automated gearbox to take on Volkswagen’s successful DSG unit.

Ford hopes the Powershift version of the TDCi turbo-diesel will help lift sales against the popular Golf TDI models.

The company’s new vice-president of sales and marketing, Beth Donovan, told GoAuto that having an “automatic” diesel in the range is desirable.

“We sell around 150 each month (of the manual), so it makes sense (to have an automatic),” she said.

Meanwhile, expect the Ghia name to die in the next Focus, as it already has in the FG Falcon and WS Fiesta, as Ford seeks a name that connects more positively with a younger audience.

According to Mrs Donovan, the name is ‘old-fashioned’ to many consumers, conjuring up the same olde-worlde themes as words such as ‘haberdashery.’“It was seen as old… in Europe as well… it’s not worth having it. Zetec (on the other hand) polled at the other end of the scale… ‘Zetec – it sounds like I got more’… and that’s exactly what resonated (compared with Ghia).”

With the BF Fairlane range dead as well, only the SY Territory will survive with the Ghia name for the time being.

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