Ford of Canada wants to alter the Canadian market reality wherein people buy small cars with smallish pricetags because they have to, not because they want to.
The plan is to market the 2000 Ford Focus so it becomes an aspirational car, such as it is in Europe, where people like the 17-year-old who's second in line for the throne of England use a Focus 3-door to learn to drive. In Europe, Prince William and millions of other people understand that cars that are medium-sized here are for them big cars with significant pricetags and serious fuel costs.
Making this status transformation should require some effort, since the average buyer's age of the car Focus is most directly replacing (the Escort) is about 50. Ford has to do something to make the appeal of Focus as wide as possible, since it's actually replacing the Contour as well as the Escort in October, and it's a stretch from entry-level car to next-thing to a brand new Taurus.
Ford Motor Company's long-term North American plan for Focus is to "create a buzz" among Echo Boomers (the 80 million people between 12 and 18 years of age) so they want to buy this car as soon as they can afford it.
Ford of Canada's more immediate plan is to make Focus attractive to kids -- but particularly women -- now in college or university so they'll buy the car much sooner -- this fall, say.
To that end, Focus brand manager Pierre Corriveau has a whole bunch of plans in mind, most of which are meant to turn the 3-door version of the car into a must-have vehicle with young people. The teen members of the Monarchists' League are probably already on side.The Oakville-based firm recently bought Campus Caravan, which is a collection of corporate exhibits that goes to most of the post-secondary institutions across the country. The idea, Corriveau explains, is to expose students to products so they'll have some connection with the brand when they get real jobs.
Focus advertisements will turn up in the washrooms of trendy clubs and bars, either above the urinals or on the back of stall doors, and the small car will be the primary example in a magazine explaining cars to people who may not be that comfortable with them.Behind these various marketing efforts there will of course be an actual car, and a significantly improved one at that, when compared with the Escort in all ways and with Contour from a packaging perspective. But for the driving judgment you must was until after September 1.
In the struggle to sell 50,000-60,000 Foci a year, it probably helps that the Canadian branch of Ford is going with aggressive pricing; that is to say, the sticker prices will match or not greatly exceed those of Escort.
So the lowest manufacturer's suggested retail price is $14,895, which gets you a 4-door sedan in LX trim with a 2-litre, single-overhead camshaft 4-cylinder engine that delivers 107 horsepower at 5000 rpm and about 125 pound-feet of torque (the exact number for Canadian cars has not been announced) at 3750 rpm attached to a 5-speed manual transmission.
The equipment on the LX sedan is about what most people would consider the minimum for any car, so there are many options, but one of the most popular -- air conditioning -- is not available.
A 4-speed automatic transmission is an extra $1,100 on the LX or any other trim.The 3-door comes only as a ZX3 trim and stickers at $16,595, which includes a double-overhead cam, 16-valve version of the 2-litre engine (called the Zetec) attached to a slicker 5-speed manual. This means more power -- 130 horses and 130 pound-feet of torque at, respectively, 5500 and 4250 rpm.
For the extra money, there are also a few more goodies in the ZX3, including a hotter stereo, sport buckets, a leather-wrapped steering wheel, and a tachometer, for a better vroom-vroom effect.
The volume vehicles in Canada will be the SE models of the sedan and wagon, which are priced at $16,595 and $17,595, respectively. For this money, the cars come with the stuff from the LX trim (including the basic engine) but also get air conditioning, a remote keyfob for the power locks, and variable intermittent wipers.
Popular options on the SE trim will undoubtedly be the SE Comfort Group (the tilt/telescope wheel, cruise and more interior lights) and the SE Power Group (power windows and mirrors), both of which cost $600.
For people looking for more performance in the SE trim, there's a Sedan Sport Group for $1,500 and the Wagon Sport Group for $1,300. These packages both deliver the more powerful Zetec engine, 15-inch aluminum wheels, and the CD-capable stereo. The sedan package also includes a tach, sport badging, a rear spoiler and integrated foglamps.
The full-zoot model will be the ZTS sedan, which carries a sticker of $19,695 and includes what's on the lower-priced models as well as 15-spoke aluminum wheels, extra interior lights, a dark woodgrain accent strip on the centre console, power windows, cruise control, a better stereo with CD, a tilt/telescope leather-wrapped steering wheel, and the more powerful Zetec engine.
The plan is to market the 2000 Ford Focus so it becomes an aspirational car, such as it is in Europe, where people like the 17-year-old who's second in line for the throne of England use a Focus 3-door to learn to drive. In Europe, Prince William and millions of other people understand that cars that are medium-sized here are for them big cars with significant pricetags and serious fuel costs.
Making this status transformation should require some effort, since the average buyer's age of the car Focus is most directly replacing (the Escort) is about 50. Ford has to do something to make the appeal of Focus as wide as possible, since it's actually replacing the Contour as well as the Escort in October, and it's a stretch from entry-level car to next-thing to a brand new Taurus.
Ford Motor Company's long-term North American plan for Focus is to "create a buzz" among Echo Boomers (the 80 million people between 12 and 18 years of age) so they want to buy this car as soon as they can afford it.
Ford of Canada's more immediate plan is to make Focus attractive to kids -- but particularly women -- now in college or university so they'll buy the car much sooner -- this fall, say.
To that end, Focus brand manager Pierre Corriveau has a whole bunch of plans in mind, most of which are meant to turn the 3-door version of the car into a must-have vehicle with young people. The teen members of the Monarchists' League are probably already on side.The Oakville-based firm recently bought Campus Caravan, which is a collection of corporate exhibits that goes to most of the post-secondary institutions across the country. The idea, Corriveau explains, is to expose students to products so they'll have some connection with the brand when they get real jobs.
Focus advertisements will turn up in the washrooms of trendy clubs and bars, either above the urinals or on the back of stall doors, and the small car will be the primary example in a magazine explaining cars to people who may not be that comfortable with them.Behind these various marketing efforts there will of course be an actual car, and a significantly improved one at that, when compared with the Escort in all ways and with Contour from a packaging perspective. But for the driving judgment you must was until after September 1.
In the struggle to sell 50,000-60,000 Foci a year, it probably helps that the Canadian branch of Ford is going with aggressive pricing; that is to say, the sticker prices will match or not greatly exceed those of Escort.
So the lowest manufacturer's suggested retail price is $14,895, which gets you a 4-door sedan in LX trim with a 2-litre, single-overhead camshaft 4-cylinder engine that delivers 107 horsepower at 5000 rpm and about 125 pound-feet of torque (the exact number for Canadian cars has not been announced) at 3750 rpm attached to a 5-speed manual transmission.
The equipment on the LX sedan is about what most people would consider the minimum for any car, so there are many options, but one of the most popular -- air conditioning -- is not available.
A 4-speed automatic transmission is an extra $1,100 on the LX or any other trim.The 3-door comes only as a ZX3 trim and stickers at $16,595, which includes a double-overhead cam, 16-valve version of the 2-litre engine (called the Zetec) attached to a slicker 5-speed manual. This means more power -- 130 horses and 130 pound-feet of torque at, respectively, 5500 and 4250 rpm.
For the extra money, there are also a few more goodies in the ZX3, including a hotter stereo, sport buckets, a leather-wrapped steering wheel, and a tachometer, for a better vroom-vroom effect.
The volume vehicles in Canada will be the SE models of the sedan and wagon, which are priced at $16,595 and $17,595, respectively. For this money, the cars come with the stuff from the LX trim (including the basic engine) but also get air conditioning, a remote keyfob for the power locks, and variable intermittent wipers.
Popular options on the SE trim will undoubtedly be the SE Comfort Group (the tilt/telescope wheel, cruise and more interior lights) and the SE Power Group (power windows and mirrors), both of which cost $600.
For people looking for more performance in the SE trim, there's a Sedan Sport Group for $1,500 and the Wagon Sport Group for $1,300. These packages both deliver the more powerful Zetec engine, 15-inch aluminum wheels, and the CD-capable stereo. The sedan package also includes a tach, sport badging, a rear spoiler and integrated foglamps.
The full-zoot model will be the ZTS sedan, which carries a sticker of $19,695 and includes what's on the lower-priced models as well as 15-spoke aluminum wheels, extra interior lights, a dark woodgrain accent strip on the centre console, power windows, cruise control, a better stereo with CD, a tilt/telescope leather-wrapped steering wheel, and the more powerful Zetec engine.