The Ford Focus was unleashed on the car buying public in 1998. Designed as a small family car intended to replace the aging Ford Escort, the car became an immediate hit. In a short space of time it became the United Kingdom's bestselling car and by 2001, only three years after it's launch, it became the world's bestselling car. It held the title the following year also. The Mark 2 Focus was launched in January 2005 and the car was given a facelift in January 2008.
Ford Focus - Radical Design
The Ford Focus first appeared at the Geneva Car Show in 1991. Known to some contractors as the Ford Fusion initially, the Ford Focus had some of the safety elements seen in earlier prototypes, such as the raised rear light clusters. The interior of the Ford Focus was radically redesigned to make it more like American designs such as the Ford Mondeo. The driver cockpit was redesigned to be more user friendly, and included stronger curves and lines which brought instrumentation closer to the driver. High specification components were also used, including the sophisticated suspension system, which gave the car a much improved road handling ability. It was generally acknowledged to have the best ride and handling in its class. Ingenious redesign by Ford gave the Ford Focus a pressed metal suspension which reduced the cost of the system and made production costs much more profitable. The Ford Focus is now manufactured globally, in Europe, China, Russia and South America.
Ford Focus - Comfort and Handling
When the car was launched, it was universally praised for its standards of passenger comfort and handling. At the time, this was considered to be much better than anything in its class, which included favourites such as the Vauxhall Astra and Volkswagen Golf. Although the interior was not universally popular, the car scored over its rivals because of its accommodation and performance and especially the independent rear suspension. Many people compared the interior of the Ford Focus poorly with the Volkswagen Golf; however, the Golf was substantially more expensive than the Ford Focus. The Mark 1 Ford Focus received good reviews for its passenger safety, although only average scores for pedestrian safety
Cosmetic revisions were made to the car in 2001 and 2002 and a sportier RS version of the Ford Focus was launched in 2002. The Mark 2 Ford Focus was launched in 2004 and gained the highest ever award for safety in the Euro NCAP safety ratings. Ford is due to launch the next generation of Ford Focus in 2011.
Best Car Insurance for Ford Focus
Obtaining reasonably priced car insurance for your Ford Focus can often be time consuming and frustrating. CarInsuranceUK.com offer a comprehensive insurance service which will take some of the hard work of looking for insurance for your car. It gives you access to all the major insurers, but will also help you to choose cover which will insure you in all circumstances. There are people driving on the road with no licence and insurance, and if you have an accident involving one of these people, you can come across a whole range of difficulties when making a claim. With CarInsuranceUK.com, you will find updated news and insurance advice from some of the biggest names in car insurance.
Visit www.car-insuranceuk.com regularly for the latest and best car insurance news and links to the best car insurance providers. Please follow the links on this page to obtain your own personalised best car insurance quote and make your own comparison.
© May 2009
