2010 Ford Focus: The Blue Oval's Poll Star
As I might have mentioned once or twice in the past, although auto polls may not be the perfect source for judging vehicle quality and the like, they can sure tell you a lot about customers. A case in point: Buyers' sudden love affair with the 2010 Ford Focus.
The original Focus was designed way back in the 20th century and debuted to some impressive success. The car was both the European Car of the Year in 1999 and the North American Car of the Year for 2000, reflecting the fact that both sides of the pond were driving essentially the same car. What was different, however, was the sales picture.
The car found a fair share of buyers in Europe, but sales of the American Focus began declining almost immediately from their 2000 peak, partially due to a combination of (relatively) low gas prices and a correspondingly high customer interest in new trucks.
As a result, when Ford introduced an all-new Focus in Europe in 2004, U.S. dealers soldiered on with the older model. And on and on. The U.S. Focus lineup got some significant changes in 2008, with new body styles and interiors, but the foundation of the car was still a 10-year-old platform.
Coincidentally, though, the country was going through one of its periodic gas panics right around then, and sales for the Focus spiked accordingly. But even that demand pales before the amazing numbers that Ford's compact has put up so far in 2010.
The 2010 Ford Focus' line for the first quarter shows 10,389 sales in January, then 13,708 in February, and a total of 19,500 sales last month.
Now, for the Ford division itself, those numbers actually aren't that impressive. Though Focus sales are up more than 45 percent through March, so are those of the Ford Fusion, Ford Taurus, Ford Mustang, Ford Escape and Ford Edge. The difference is that an argument can be made the Focus is relying almost entirely on Ford's improving reputation for its improving results.
The Ford Fusion received an award-winning facelift for 2010 and gets plenty of love for its hybrid model. The 2010 Ford Taurus is an all-new, vastly improved reincarnation of a much-loved nameplate, complete with its legendary SHO trim level. The Ford Mustang is, well, the Ford Mustang. And the loud buzz for the 2011 model, whether the car is rocking its 30 mpg/305 hp V6 or hi-po 5.0-liter V8, means a lot of noise for the Mustang on the sales charts.
The Escape and Edge have their unique sales "hooks," too: The Escape certainly gets some reflected shine off its hybrid version's halo, and the Edge owns a distinctive exterior that let's it really stand out compared to most of the other entries in its segment.
The biggest news about the Focus, on the other hand, is that Ford will replace it next year with an Americanized version of the international model, as part of the company's drive to integrate its global product lineup.
So, what's going on here? Well, let's go right to the American public. Or should I say right to the "Detroit Free Press." The paper recently reported on a poll conducted by the Associated Press in conjunction with the GfK market-research group, which turned up some notable results.
For example, when asked which country's automakers build higher-quality vehicles, 38 percent of those surveyed said U.S. companies and only 33 percent picked OEMs from Asia. The numbers in a similar poll in 2006 reported 46 percent of all respondents believed Asian automakers built better vehicles, as compared to the 29 percent who said it was the domestics.
And while the fallout from the Toyota recall-athon means those results should shock nobody, a peek at the survey's specific numbers is quite interesting. When looking at how automakers did in the two different polls, those choosing Toyota as the producer of the best quality cars fell from 25 percent to 10 percent.
Among all other makes, both foreign and domestic, the only other companies that saw their performance move by more than 1 percentage point were Honda and General Motors, both of which saw a 3 percent drop in the 2010 results as compared to those of 2006.
Oh, and Ford, which saw the number of people who think the Blue Oval produces the best quality cars double, from 9 percent to 18 percent. Which, I'm thinking, has something to do with all those Focus sales.