
The restyled North American second generation Ford Focus was sold by
Ford as either a two-door
coupe
A coupe or coupé (, ) is a passenger car with a sloping or truncated rear roofline and typically with two doors.
The term ''coupé'' was first applied to horse-drawn carriages for two passengers without rear-facing seats. It comes from the Fr ...
and 4-door
sedan — the
hatchbacks
A hatchback is a car body configuration with a rear door that swings upward to provide access to the main interior of the car as a cargo area rather than just to a separated trunk. Hatchbacks may feature fold-down second-row seating, where the ...
and
wagon
A wagon (or waggon) is a heavy four-wheeled vehicle pulled by Working animal#Draft animals, draft animals or on occasion by humans, used for transporting goods, commodities, agricultural materials, supplies and sometimes people.
Wagons are i ...
were discontinued.
The 2.3-liter Duratec engine was discontinued for the redesign, leaving only the 2.0-liter
Duratec 20 engine. Power was increased in the 2.0-liter engine, up to from , along with other changes to increase
fuel efficiency
Fuel efficiency (or fuel economy) is a form of thermal efficiency, meaning the ratio of effort to result of a process that converts chemical energy, chemical potential energy contained in a carrier (fuel) into kinetic energy or Mechanical work, w ...
. The chassis was lightened and stiffened and overall weight was decreased by from the previous model. Highway mileage was rated at using the new 2008
United States Environmental Protection Agency
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent agency of the United States government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it began operation on De ...
standards.
The interior was redesigned, including new seats, a new dashboard design with message center atop of the dashboard, ambient lighting, dashboard panels that simulate brushed aluminum, and Ford's voice-controlled
Sync audio/Bluetooth system. Optional ambient lighting in the Focus uses
LED
A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor device that emits light when current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy in the form of photons. The color of the light (corresp ...
s placed in the front and rear footwells and the cup holders. Standard equipment includes a
tire pressure monitoring system as mandated by the
TREAD Act. Also included in the redesign was a support beam behind the dashboard for extra structural rigidity.
The second generation Focus debuted at the
2007 North American International Auto Show. Production stopped in late 2010, with the switchover to that of the
third generation Focus taking until early spring 2011 due to the total refitting of the Michigan Assembly Plant, and to give dealers time for stock depletion. Despite this, some dealers ran a 50% sale on 2011 Focuses as of mid-2011, as they were forced to simultaneously offer both it and the 2012 model.
Safety
The
Insurance Institute for Highway Safety
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and Highway Loss Data Institute (IIHS-HLDI) is an American nonprofit organization. It was established in 1959, and it is noted for its safety reviews of vehicles in various simulated traffic situations, ...
(IIHS) has given the Focus a "Good" overall rating in the frontal offset crash test and an "Acceptable" rating in the side impact test. Front and rear side curtain airbags and front seat-mounted torso airbags are standard.
2009
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA ) is an agency of the U.S. federal government, part of the Department of Transportation, focused on automobile safety regulations.
NHTSA is charged with writing and enforcing Feder ...
(NHTSA) Crash Test Ratings (coupe):
*Frontal Driver:
*Frontal Passenger:
*Side Driver:
*Side Rear Passenger:
*Rollover:
2009 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Crash Test Ratings (sedan):
*Frontal Driver:
*Frontal Passenger:
*Side Driver:
*Side Rear Passenger:
*Rollover:
Sales and reception
Like many compact cars, demand for the Focus increased because of high gasoline prices in 2008. At that time, the Focus took 7.6 percent of the U.S. small car market. To meet this increasing demand, Ford increased output for 2008 by 30%.
Where second generation North American Focus models continue with the
C170 platform beginning with the 2008 model year in
sedan and
coupe
A coupe or coupé (, ) is a passenger car with a sloping or truncated rear roofline and typically with two doors.
The term ''coupé'' was first applied to horse-drawn carriages for two passengers without rear-facing seats. It comes from the Fr ...
configurations — the
international Focus introduced in 2005 employed the newer
C1 platform for
sedan,
hatchback
A hatchback is a car body style, car body configuration with a rear door that swings upward to provide access to the main interior of the car as a cargo area rather than just to a separated trunk. Hatchbacks may feature fold-down second-row sea ...
(3 and 5-door) and
wagon
A wagon (or waggon) is a heavy four-wheeled vehicle pulled by Working animal#Draft animals, draft animals or on occasion by humans, used for transporting goods, commodities, agricultural materials, supplies and sometimes people.
Wagons are i ...
configurations. The North American Focus was succeeded by the
Focus Mk III that was the same as the international version except for some minor differences in engines and some features.
Running changes
Being an interim facelift of an old model, changes were few and minor. For 2009, the SEL trim for sedans was added and the chrome-plastic fake grilles on the front fenders were deleted from all models. Also, Coupes equipped with a 5-speed manual transmission, but not a
Duratec 20E PZEV engine, received a horsepower increase to , compared to the found in the sedan. A standard rear seat dome light was added for the 2010 model year.
Changes for the short 2011 model run were limited. The coupe was discontinued in preparation for the new (2012 MY) 4-door hatchback or sedan, set to arrive in the spring of 2011. Production of the sedan ended in the beginning of December 2010.
Body styles and trims
Focus FCV
The "Focus FCV" was a
hydrogen powered version of the second generation North American model. Just before
Bill Ford (the great grandson of
Henry Ford
Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was an American Technological and industrial history of the United States, industrialist and business magnate. As the founder of the Ford Motor Company, he is credited as a pioneer in making automob ...
) stepped down as the CEO of Ford on September 5, 2006, he devoted much of his time and energy to researching this new technology of hydrogen cars. He was eager to make a Hydrogen powered car for Ford, which had already been successful with its hybrid cars, such as the
Ford Escape Hybrid. However, Bill felt it was time to make something newer, more fuel efficient, and more advanced.
The car was powered by a Ballard 902
fuel cell
A fuel cell is an electrochemical cell that converts the chemical energy of a fuel (often hydrogen fuel, hydrogen) and an oxidizing agent (often oxygen) into electricity through a pair of redox reactions. Fuel cells are different from most bat ...
. The fuel cell compresses hydrogen in its 5,000
PSI
Psi, PSI or Ψ may refer to:
Alphabetic letters
* Psi (Greek) (Ψ or ψ), the twenty-third letter of the Greek alphabet
* Psi (Cyrillic), letter of the early Cyrillic alphabet, adopted from Greek
Arts and entertainment
* "Psi" as an abbreviat ...
tank and creates electricity when the hydrogen was separated into
protons
A proton is a stable subatomic particle, symbol , H+, or 1H+ with a positive electric charge of +1 ''e'' ( elementary charge). Its mass is slightly less than the mass of a neutron and approximately times the mass of an electron (the pro ...
and
electrons
The electron (, or in nuclear reactions) is a subatomic particle with a negative one elementary charge, elementary electric charge. It is a fundamental particle that comprises the ordinary matter that makes up the universe, along with up qua ...
. The car itself was powered by two sources: one source was from the fuel cell itself and the second was from the car's battery pack. It was considered a
hybrid because it was powered by two different sources. The car's only byproduct is water which, is made when the hydrogen from the fuel cell contacts the oxygen from outside. It has a top speed of 80 MPH and a driving range of 150 to 200 miles. Ford delivered 18 cars to various cities within the United States with one car later relocated to
Iceland
Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...
.
It was a zero emissions vehicle.
References
External links
Official website(archived)
{{Modern North American Ford vehicles
Ford Focus
Compact cars
Front-wheel-drive vehicles
Cars introduced in 2007
Cars discontinued in 2010
2010s cars
Motor vehicles manufactured in the United States