It is a brand new Focus and it has a little sales history of its own.
Wayne Gerdes -
CleanMPG - Aug 31, 2012
2012 Ford Focus (loaded Titanium trim on the cliffs overlooking Malibu shown) - $14,200 to start with $2K currently on the hood and a 28/38 mpgUS rating with the 6-speed AT.
Why in the world would Ford release a PR at 01:30 AM CST? Because they can
According to Ford, its Focus is the best-selling car model in the world through the first half of 2012. A new Focus built in Thailand marks milestone as 350 millionth vehicle produced by the Ford Motor Company in its illustrious 109-year history.
Customers around the world are benefiting from One Ford plan, which is creating the industry's freshest lineup with a full family of vehicles offering leading quality, fuel efficiency, safety, smart design and value. Unfortunately the One Ford plan means we receive European based B and C-segment offerings that are quite literally a class-below their competitors in terms of size in some cases.
Case in point is the 2012/2013 Ford Focus with a 90 and 13 cu. ft. of passenger and cargo volume respectively. This compares favorably to the supposedly smaller B-Segment 2012/2013 Hyundai Accent also providing 90 and 14 cu. ft. of passenger and cargo volume respectively.
On the pricing front, a brand new loaded 2013 Ford Focus Titanium with all the bells and whistles not including the accessories can set you back $28,895 USD. You can buy a lot of D-Segment car including hybrids from just about anyone else for that kind of scratch.
350,000,000th vehicle
Ford announced that it is not only celebrating the company's 350 millionth vehicle was a Ford Focus, it is also saying the Focus is the world's best-selling car through the first half of 2012.
The Focus in question was manufactured at the company’s new manufacturing facility in Rayong, Thailand, a few hours ride southeast from Bangkok. Ford Thailand Manufacturing (FTM) plant opened in May to produce the new Focus, which also is built in four other countries. FTM represents the latest in Ford's global manufacturing capabilities, with new stamping presses, flexible body shops and robotic capabilities that enable it to produce up to six different vehicles simultaneously.
In addition to the manufacturing milestone, for the first six months of this year, Focus became the best-selling single car nameplate in the world, based on global data from IHS Automotive.
While the F-Series continues to take the monthly sales crown in North America with Canadian and US sales totaling approximately 450,000 for the year, it’s the Focus worldwide that is kicking @$$ and taking names. According to IHS Automotive, the Ford Focus sold 489,616 units in the first half of this year besting its nearest competitor, the aging Toyota Corolla (462,187 sold) by over 27,000 units!
As an update, 2012 Focus sales to date are not even close to the Corolla is it has experienced sales of over 722,000 vehicles worldwide through July trouncing the Focus and every other vehicle in the C-segment. Ford probably meant Europe by its lonesome but failed to disclose this little fact???
A Little Ford History
Since the company was founded in 1903, Ford has led the industry any number of times with innovations such as the mass produced Ford Model T which provided affordable mobility to the masses for the first time.
Another tidbit form the Ford archives, its 50 millionth vehicle was built in 1959, a Ford Galaxie.
In the five decades since, Ford has produced more than 300 million additional vehicles.
By next year, Ford will build more than 85 percent of vehicle volume off nine core platforms. Also, in the next four years, Ford plans to have the freshest global vehicle lineup – with the entire product portfolio expected to be upgraded at least one time.
Asia Pacific
The last bastion of growth left in the world is Asia Pacific and Ford's One Ford plan is ramping up to serve demand.
Ford is investing heavily and expanding aggressively to meet the needs of consumers there, who are expected to generate 60 percent of the industry's future growth through 2020. Ford's key investments and growth initiatives in Asia Pacific Africa include:
Launching nine new plants – six in China, two in India and one in Thailand – with the capacity to produce 2.9 million vehicles by mid-decade is just a start…
An American history is now a global one. And let us hope Ford can continue to innovate and bring class leading vehicles including the F-series, C-MAX and Fusion for the US while producing Focus’, Fiesta’s and B-MAXs in great quantities to meet overseas demand.
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