"I Have a Car" Original Innovative Car Report: The fourth generation of Ford Focus was sprayed with half a generation of three-cylinder engines finally to be replaced....
Since the second-generation Ford Focus was introduced into domestic production in 2005, the car has played a key role in the development of Changan Ford in the Chinese market, of which from 2007 to 2014, Fox even accounted for more than half of Changan Ford's total sales, and then the third-generation Fox in 2013 to 2014 during the peak of sales, this car can have more than 30,000 units of sales per month, whether it is product strength or word of mouth are extremely outstanding, It is no exaggeration to say that at that time, Fox played a certain role in promoting the development of the Chinese auto market.
However, when it comes to the fourth generation of models, Fox has also reached the mainstream level, and even the sales of some domestic compact cars are not comparable, and the reason is probably that the strategy of using three-cylinder engines in this generation of models has eventually led to a sharp decline in terminal sales.
May also be for the sake of sales and compromise, may also be finally aware of the shortcomings of the three-cylinder engine in the domestic market, recently, in the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's 353rd batch of "Road Motor Vehicle Manufacturers and Product Announcements" new product announcement, the mid-term modification of Forts exposed, the new model for the appearance of a slight adjustment, while the most surprising update is including hatchback version and sedan version of the Fox all replaced with 1.5T four-cylinder engine, so can the car return to the peak after the replacement of the four-cylinder engine?
▼ Strong on the three cylinders does head iron
In 2005, the second-generation Fox introduced domestically through Changan Ford was a joint venture car that many people could afford to consume that year, coupled with the Fox set sports and leather in one, which could meet the enthusiasm of young people and take into account the family, so many people would include Fox in the shopping cart list when changing cars.
Due to the excellent performance and reputation of the previous generations of models, the car was finally listed in China for 15 years, with cumulative sales of more than 2 million units, of which Fox reached 400,000+ sales in 2013, becoming the top seller in the market segment. However, after reaching 390,000+ sales in 2014, the sales volume of the car gradually declined, from 240,000+ sales in 2015 to 220,000+ in 2016 and 170,000+ in 2017. Then, after the replacement in 2018, Fox sales plummeted to more than 60,000 units, which can be called a cliff-like decline.
In fact, Fox from the end of 2018 can be seen as a watershed in its decline, in the 2018 Guangzhou Auto Show, as an important strategic model of Changan Ford, the fourth generation of Forts officially domestically listed, even in the size, interior and exterior configuration have a good competitiveness, but the strategy of the whole series of three-cylinder engines has since made Fox's sales slump.
Taking last year as an example, the fourth generation of Changan Ford Focus has accumulated sales of only 22,800 new cars throughout the year, and such annual sales performance is not even as good as the monthly sales results of Corolla, Xuanyi and other models, and the once market shoulder handle is now even less than a fraction, which can't help but make people feel sighing, and also expresses from the side that the three-cylinder engine is not currently accepted by the market.
Although the current three-cylinder engine is not a new thing, it is impossible to say that there are no worries. Buick Yinglang, which previously pushed the three-cylinder engine and caused sales to plummet, has suffered a lot, until it returned to the embrace of the four-cylinder, sales immediately picked up, and last year,000 new cars were sold more than 263,000 units, ranking at the top of the car list.
According to its sales data, the sales volume of the old X-Trail in the first half of this year was 18,600, 10,100, 14,400, 14,300, 12,900 and 11,600 vehicles, respectively. However, the fourth generation of X-Trail equipped with a three-cylinder engine has ushered in a sharp decline after its listing, from 4035 vehicles in the first full month of August to 4021, 4010, 4080 and 1670 vehicles in September and December, which are not difficult to see, and consumers do not buy new cars.
To be reasonable, we did not want to deliberately want to smear the three-cylinder engine this time, in fact, Ford's three-cylinder engine did reach the mainstream level on the market, and even more advanced in some technical characteristics, such as in order to meet the emission standards of the new era, the 1.5T three-cylinder engine also has closed cylinder technology, at low load, the computer will close the intake valve of the No. 1 cylinder, become a double cylinder operation, as far as possible to reduce fuel consumption, which makes the "predecessor" of the engine highly recognized by overseas judges, won the "Ward Top Ten" In addition, the engine also adopts an integrated design of cylinder head and camshaft, in which the camshaft is hollow structure, which can reduce the weight and running resistance of the engine, while increasing the strength between the structures.
However, because the three-cylinder machine has been verified in the market for a long time, it is still unable to get rid of the fact of innate physical characteristics, there is indeed jitter under certain working conditions, and the fuel consumption has not been reduced much, and the cost of car maintenance is almost no different from the four-cylinder, which is also the main reason why most users cannot accept the three-cylinder engine.
In addition, in the joint venture compact camp, old rivals such as Volkswagen Golf, Honda Accord and so on have been insisting on using 4-cylinder machines until now, and even like Geely at the same price, they have given Xingrui, which has volvo's same technology 2.0T engine, which has led to the situation of the current Fox is very embarrassing, even if the chassis of the car is adjusted well, potential users have too many reasons to reject it.
So with the "lessons of the past" of many brands, Changan Ford will also launch a four-cylinder version by taking advantage of the opportunity of the mid-term redesign of The Fox...
On the other hand, the marginalization of Fox is also inseparable from the word of mouth and brand image influence of Changan Ford in recent years, such as the classic sentence "A hundred years of Ford was destroyed in Chang'an", "Wing Tiger broken shaft door", etc., which made Ford's brand value fall rapidly.
▲ Is there still a play in the four-cylinder Fox?
The most important update of the mid-term revamp of the Changan Ford Focus is that the new car will be equipped with a 1.5T four-cylinder engine code-named CAF479WQ6, which has also appeared on Mondeo and Wing Tiger, with a maximum power of 177 horsepower (130kW), which is 2kW more power than the current model, but does not have the closed cylinder technology on the current 1.5T three-cylinder engine.
To be honest, this code name "CAF479" 1.5T engine has been used for many years, the technical level is not mentioned, the light of the older generation of engines themselves in the manufacturing process for this era is indeed relatively backward, in the theoretical sense, the medium-term modification of Fox may be in the power experience compared to the three-cylinder engine is not much different, but the fuel consumption may have a certain pull- up.
As for the appearance part, in addition to the hatchback version and the sedan version, the mid-term modification of the Fox model also provides two appearances for the two versions, the ordinary version and the S-Line version, respectively, of which the S-Line version or the standard 235/40 R18 specification Michelin PS4 sport tires, with 18-inch bright black or gun gray rims. In addition, the new model will also launch the "S EDITION" version, which can be seen from the declaration chart with a new body pull and a new tail logo.
The mid-term modification of Fox, we can indeed feel the degree of care of Changan Ford, although the engine uses the same Model of the Wing Tiger, but it can not stand in the Fox this car power is indeed enough, coupled with the Focus itself is good enough design and control feeling, if the new model wants to sell more than 10,000 units a month is not without hope, if the future can give sincerity in price, while the service experience and product quality have been improved, it is still expected to return to the glory of the past.
"I have a car" summary: The mid-term modification of Fox uses the latest design language of the family, and the most important change is to switch back to the four-cylinder power version, and I believe that this wave of operations can make Fox's sales pick up. In addition, according to the known news we have obtained, the new Fox will debut at the 2022 Beijing Auto Show as soon as possible, and it is expected to be officially listed in the third quarter as soon as possible, which is worth looking forward to! "I have a car" there are more original innovative car / price reduction market reports yo, come to get the first-hand purchase of cars, car information!