Ford today revealed its new breed of small car - and said it is using a West Midlands stately home to launch one of them.
The Focus will be the first to get a facelift, with the UK launch taking place at Weston Park in February.
Then the Fiesta will receive an even more comprehensive update before being publicly premiered at the Geneva Motor Show the following month. Ford hopes the models will keep them at the top of the market for runaround cars. Spy shots of the Fiesta indicate it will feature the same angular, wedge look as the Mazda2.
Prices have still to be confirmed but are expected to range between £8,000 and £13,000.The Focus was a revelation at the launch in 1998 - but it has begun to look increasingly dowdy alongside models like the racy Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatch and Citro‘n’s futuristic C4.
So Ford’s designers have given it a more dramatic front end, featuring the same ‘kinetic’ styling that has made the new Mondeo such a hit. The rest of the design, however, is not too dissimilar from the old model.
UK boss Roland de Vaart said the current model had class-leading strengths but ‘lacked emotional pull’.
“You have to seduce buyers with a style that makes them say: ‘I want one’ and we believe the new Focus will do that.”
On road prices will start at £11,945 -£250 more than the equivalent outgoing model - but Ford reckons this is better value for money as the Focus comes with a higher level of equipment. For example, an electronic stability programme used to be a £250 option. Now it comes as standard.
In addition to ESP, every Focus is equipped with ABS, four airbags, electric front windows, CD player, central locking, height adjustable driver’s seat, 60/40 split folding rear seat, curtain airbags and Easyfuel capless refuelling system.
The flagship of the range will be the Focus Titanium, which starts at £15,445.
Three-door, five-door and estate body styles will arrive in showrooms first with the revised Coupe-Cabriolet and sporty ST following later.
By Motoring Editor Peter Carroll
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