Ford Focus

Ford Focus 

The Ford Focus is a small family car manufactured by Ford first in Europe starting July 1998, then worldwide starting February 2000 (with its own model for North America in production until late 2010). A second generation launched in Europe in January 2005, received styling and engineering updates in January 2008, and is marketed globally outside North and South America. The third generation model will be sold globally upon its launch, first in Europe (late 2010) then in the Americas (early 2011).In Europe, South America, North America and South Africa, the Focus replaced the Ford Escort. In Oceania and Asia, it replaced the Ford Laser.Altogether, over 9.2 million Ford Focus vehicles in two generations have been sold worldwide since its 1998 launch in Europe

Design and engineering

Codenamed CW170 during its development, and briefly known to some Ford contractors as the Ford Fusion the original Focus took its eventual name from a Ghia concept car which was shown at the Geneva Motor Show in 1991. Certain elements of the design had been seen even earlier in prototypes used by Ford to demonstrate forthcoming safety features, such as the eye-level rear lighting clusters. As a continuation of Ford's New Edge styling philosophy, first seen in the Ford Ka in 1996, and Ford Cougar in 1998, the Focus' styling had been often described as polarising. The styling had been overseen by Jack Telnackand executed by Claude Lobo and Australian designer, John Doughty.The decision to name the new car the Ford Focus was made in early 1998, as Ford's overheads had been planning to keep the Escort nameplate for its new generation of small family cars. A last minute problem arose in July 1998 when a Cologne court, responding to a case brought by the publishers Burda, ordered Ford to avoid the name "Focus" for the German market cars since the name was already taken by the publisher's Focus magazine. This eleventh hour dispute was overcome, however, and the car was launched without a different "German market" name.

Rear suspension

Engineers for the Focus, including Richard Parry-Jones, developed a class-leading, space-saving independent multi-link rear suspension, marketed as Control Blade suspension, combining the packaging of a trailing arm, with the geometry of a double wishbone suspension at considerably lower cost.Where many competitors in the compact class, or small family car (European) class, used the less expensive half-independent torsion beam suspension, Control Blade offered enhanced elasto-kinematic performance, i.e., strong body control, sharp and accurate steering regardless of the car's attitude, and an absorbent and quiet ride over bumps.Unlike conventional multi-link suspension, Control Blade features a wide, simple, uniform thickness, pressed steel trailing arm with hub carrier — taking the place of two longitudinal locating rods, eliminating an expensive cast knuckle, and offering the same level of body control — with a lower center of gravity, reduced road noise, and at lower production cost. The long rear lateral arm controls toe, a pair of shorter front lateral arms, vertically above each other, control the camber, and the Control Blade reacts to brake and traction loads.In testing the suspension in 2000, Motor Trend writer Jack Keebler noted "The Focus' average speed of 62.6 mph through our slalom makes it faster around the cones than a $62,000 Jaguar XJ8L and a $300,000 Bentley Continental. The impression is of having plenty of wheel travel for gobbling the larger stuff and big-car, full-frame isolation when encountering expansion joints and smaller road imperfections.Following the 1998 introduction of Control Blade suspension and popularization by the Focus, other manufacturers (e.g., Volkswagen with the Golf V) began offering multi-link design rear suspensions in the compact class, or small family car (European) class

Specification 

Ford Focus 2012 ST specifications

• Powertrain
• Powertrain Internal Combustion
• Engine
• Configuration I
• Cylinders 4
• Fuel Type Gasoline
• Displacement (cc) 2000.0
• Max. Power (bhp) 155
• Max. Torque (lbft) 145
• Transmission
• Transmission Type S-Manual
• Forward Gears 6
• Driveline
• Driven Wheels FWD
• Body
• Generic Type Car
• Vehicle Size Small
• Rear Roof Profile Trunk
• No Side Doors 4
• Exterior Dimensions
• Wheelbase (in) 104.3
• Height - Body (in) 58.1
• Width - Body (in) 71.9
• Length (in) 178.7
• Seating
• Rows of Seats 2