The current, third-generation Ford Focus compact car is set to end production next year, and be replaced by an all-new model that’s expected to be longer, wider, and a bit more upscale. Already we’ve seen some exterior shots of the forthcoming small car on numerous occasions, corroborating that bit about the Focus growing in size for 2019.
And now, thanks to some spy shots acquired by website Motor1, we’ve gotten our first glimpse of the next Ford Focus’ future interior.
The new spy shots show a center console design quite similar to that of the new European-market Ford Fiesta – a car that shifted upmarket itself for 2017 when the Ka+ was introduced. The central air vents will go from vertical from horizontal, nestling beneath a new floating touchscreen for the SYNC 3 infotainment system. Certain items, like the HVAC control panel and steering wheel, look like they’ve been borrowed from the current compact car; we don’t know whether those are likely to change.
If you ask us, the two biggest must-haves for the 2019 Ford Focus are nicer interior materials and more rear legroom. The larger size ought to help provide the latter, while we’ll just have to wait and see on the former.
We suspect the all-new Ford Focus will be unveiled later this year or early in 2018. For the North American market, production will shift away from the Michigan Assembly Plant, and to Ford’s Hermosillo factory in Mexico.
For the spy shots, head to Motor1.com, and stay tuned here for more information on the all-new Ford Focus compact as it becomes available.
Comments
Honestly here is what ford should do. Drop the Fiesta, the Focus, fusion, the upcoming Ecosport, the Edge and the Escape along with all of their Ecoboost engines smaller than the 350hp 2.3L I-4. Drop the 2.7L Ecoboost from the whole entire lineup of vehicles that have that engine and do this.
1.) Take the mustang’s S550 chassis, stretch it a little and make a sedan. Call that Sedan the Ford Falcon, have the 350hp 2.3L Ecoboost as the base engine with an optional 450hp/510lb-ft torque 3.5L Ecoboost V6 as the top option for this car, AWD, torque vectoring, a 10-speed automatic transmission, Brembo brakes, 20″ wheels, magnetic ride performance suspension, pedestrian warning, lane departure warning, Sync w/ Navigation, a 16-speaker high end audio system w/ sub woofers, Recaro leather and alcantara seating, a leather and alcantara steering wheel, a unique 12″ LCD instrument cluster like the one on the new mustang but unique to the falcon, a performance pack option with a wing design similar to the one on the mustang, LED headlamps and tail lamps, Styling that is similar to the current fusion but more aggressive, a heat extractor hood design, etc. The car should also have six drive modes such as eco, normal, sport, track, rain & snow This way Ford can have a car that fills all the needs from fuel efficiency to performance and a bit of personal luxury as well.
2.) The new mustang needs to have at least 485hp and 470lb-ft of torque. There’s no reason why it can’t have those numbers especially with the improvements done to it and the 10-speed transmission behind it. Other than that, the car is nearly perfect IMO (2018 model) Except for the 2.3L mustang needs to have the 350hp/350tq variant under the hood to compete with the Camaro. There’s no reason this car should not have that option along with a dual mode exhaust system just like the RS Focus.
With those two cars on the lineup, Ford can then shift it’s focus to the SUV/Truck lineup
1.) Ranger/Bronco: Welcome back!!!!! Let’s not play here, the same 350hp/350tq 2.3L needs to be the base here and the 3.5L Ecoboost needs to be the top dog under these hoods. Even detuned to 400hp/485lb-ft of torque they need to be here. 10-speed automatics, FX4 & Wild track models need to be present as well, we can honestly skip the “Raptor” name on these vehicles because the Wild Track name fits these two better. Of course I would love to see an “Eddie Bauer” edition on these two, but that’s just me. However there does need to be a more upscale model for both vehicles that still has the ruggedness and comfort of a good pair of leather hunting boots and reminiscent of a hunting lodge or a backwoods cabin. All Terrain tires, good ground clearance, gritty, earthy and torquey like an ATV. This would be a great vehicle to have with an optional 3.0L Diesel engine but it’s got to be clean and sound good. To be perfectly honestly an inline 4-cylinder turbo diesel wouldn’t be bad here either because it would be light weight and have a lot of torque but that’s a lot of engineering that we don’t have time for.
2.) Ford Explorer; The SUV of the streets needs MORE POWER!!!!!! Sticking to the same theme with the base 2.3L 350hp/350tq engine would be a great start but this thing needs to be RWD based and not FWD based for crying out loud! Now right here would be a great spot for two performance variants, a 485hp/460lb-ft of torque 5.0L powered variant with the 10-speed auto, brembo brakes, torque vectoring, magnetic ride high performance suspension, a performance set of 22×9.5″ gloss black and machine finish wheels with wide tires, a dual mode exhaust with quad tips, black housing LED headlamps and tail lamps, a black mesh performance grille with a black explorer emblem in the center of the grille and not the ford oval, a scooped hood with heat extractors and the rear of the hood, aggressive body work that’s not gaudy, privacy glass, a rear spoiler and a solar tint non-glaring windshield like how the new eyeglasses are. The interior needs to have a unique 12″ digital instrument cluster, a 3-spoke leather and alcantara steering wheel, leather and alcantara heated and cooled seats, premium stereo, navigation and things like that. Then there is the 450hp/510tq street beast with all of the same options as the 5.0L Version but with a different hood for better heat extraction and air intake for the turbo setup. Lastly, the platinum edition should have the 2.3L & 3.5L engine variants (detuned to 400hp/485tq on the 3.5L) and obviously all premium and luxury options.
3.) Expedition: Bravo & well done on the new expedition first of all. that is the Best looking Ford vehicle I’ve seen in a long, long time!!! BRAVO! Being that Chevrolet is offering an RST variant on their Tahoe & Suburban I say ford needs to combat that with a street version of the Expedition as well. Like my ideas for the Explorer I would say do the same for the expedition, however, the 5.0L V8 is not needed for this assignment. The 450hp/510tq 3.5 Ecoboost should be enough to slay the Tahoe. A 10-speed automatic, Magnetic ride, torque vectoring, Brembo brakes, Raptor style exhaust system (obviously wont sound as good as a V8 but it will have a presence to it just the same) 22″ black and machined wheels (similar to the 19″ nickel luster split 5-spokes on the 2018 Mustang but obviously bigger and more robust and with a black and machined finish) lowered and tuned sport suspension (think GT350 Shelby in an expedition so to speak) Leather and alcantara interior, premium stereo system, privacy glass, sunroof, and that solar tinting windshield technology from the new eyeglasses. Other than that, like i said, Bravo on the new SUV!
4.)F-series pickup: Again congrats & well done on a nice truck! Again, not much that needs to be improved on here with any of the F-series trucks. They might not be as cool as a Ram truck but they work. Let’s face it Ram makes the coolest trucks on the market even if Ford makes the best trucks on the market. It’s just that simple. Ford does need to do a bit more with their 5.0L trucks to make them sound and perform better. Even if Ford offered a package for the 5.0 that included a factory tuned borla dual mode exhaust system, a cold air intake, big brakes, 22″ wheels 4×4, sport appearance, cool graphics, etc, that would be enough to bring some sort of cool to the F-series lineup. It doesn’t have to be anything major, just something. As for the Power stroke diesel. There are alot of us who want to see a performance package for the Powerstroke diesel as well. a throatier exhaust, bigger, badder wheel and tire options, sportier truck appearance, etc. Still want a rugged and luxurious interior as always but something that says “This truck is bada$$!!!!!!!!
With this new lineup (Mustang, Falcon, Bronco, Ranger, Explorer, Expedition & F-Series) it cuts out all the riff-Raff from the lineup, saving ford money and time wasted on those other vehicles and gives Ford a lineup that fits a wide range of customers. Now i did mention removing the Fusion from the ford lineup, but if i were ford, I’d still keep the chassis around for the Lincoln MKZ since it does have the 400hp 3.0L T option. from lincoln, I would drop the MKC, MKT and MKX and rename the MKZ the Zephyr, keep the Continental, add the Aviator, keep the Navigator and finally add a mustang based Lincoln Mark Ten coupe to the lineup. Honestly the FOMOCO would have a serious lineup that would rival if not beat the Mopar lineup, which is the best lineup of all the American vehicles, period
I completely forgot what i was going to put under the mustang’s list of stuff
1.) The GT 5.0 needs to have the 485hp/470tq ratings along with track pack options and things like that.
2.) The Mach 1 should step in just above the GT 5.0 and here is where life gets tricky. The Mach 1 entered in to the mustang world in 1969 with a standard 351ci V8 (5.8L for all you metric guys and gals out there) it was the hot street mustang which really contended with the Camaro SS-350 & 396 and was even optioned with the might 428CJ. Now i honestly don’t see ford reviving the 428 but there were rumors out there about a 7.0L V8 for the new GT500 so we’ll see where that goes (honestly-bad idea for a mustang since the mustang was really never designed to use a big block V8 in the first place and a 7.0L V8 will throw this car’s handling and ride way off). To be honest, I would rather see Ford build a 5.2L Street cobra jet engine with about 520hp/500lb-ft of torque as the new ultimate street mustang with a flat black hood, shaker hood, a hot head and cam package, cross plane crank, a Cobra jet intake setup based on the GT350 intake but designed to perform better, A set of mid-length Tri-y exhaust manifolds, a dual mode exhaust system with a transverse muffler in the rear like the old mustangs had specifically done for the Mach 1 to give it a signature sound, magnetic ride, brembo brakes, a similar suspension to the GT350 but not quite as extreme, the new 10-speed auto with a twin disc manual option, a Mach 1 specific interior, a mach 1 graphics package which includes the flat black hood, flat black roof, flat black trunk and trunk panel, a flat black version of the GT performance pack spoiler, a side graphics down the middle of the car and specific 20″ Mach 1 wheels.
Now we all know that Chevy is planning a new Z/28 (thank you God!!) and that the new new Camaro SS is being redone for 2019 with the 650hp ZL1 leading the pack. Here is a grand opportunity for Ford to do two things both nostalgic, cool and modern all at the same time. The Z/28 was always a track car build for the street and this new Z/28 will probably be no different. No one really knows what the new Z/28 will be packing but honestly instead of a Boss 302, honestly Ford should be focusing on another Boss mustang, the Boss 351 and bring us a 5.8L V8 capable of mid-500hp, a 7500rpm redline, Brembo brakes, an adjustable track/street suspension, 10-speed auto/twin disc manual transmission options, 19×10″ front 20×11″ rear wheels and things like that. Although the GT350 is a great car, it really has no point. If the Camaro SS 1LE can compete with it, then what is a Z/28 going to do? Destroy it! Honestly the Boss 351 would be a better choice. Lastly the top dog GT500 Mustang. Ford has done well with the previous GT500 mustangs when it comes to slaughtering Camaros and Challengers but what do we do with an 840hp Demon and a 650hp Zl1? Ford has, in it’s arsenal, a 1,000hp 5.0L Cobrajet V8. Why not detune that bad boy down to a cool 700hp and let it loose! give the car what it needs, wide tires, big brembo brakes, a capable suspension, a dedicated drive line, launch control, etc. Take a page from the Dodge Demon notebook but still make this car able to drive on the track and on the street. This is how you fight with the Demon & the Zl1.
Oh yes, I did forget about the little ecoboost mustang. This would be the perfect mustang to do three very special editions with. The classic, the sprint and the K-Code. The classic package should have a white exterior with a red interior, or a gold exterior with a black interior, a chrome coral framed mustang emblem in the grille, 18″ polished wheels, and running pony fender badges and things like that. The Sprint would be the same but white with blue stripes and a matching interior. The K-code would have have all of the GT350 parts on it but just with the 2.3L Ecoboost engine under the hood and minus the wide body package and GT350 front end. just the GT350 hood, spoiler, wheels, suspension, brakes, interior and exhaust system plus a cold air intake and factory tune to increase the output from 350hp to 375hp. that would be the best setup for the 2.3T mustang.