In the long history of the development of the mainland compact car field, there have been many particularly excellent products, but there are only a few that really flaunt sports and carry out the concept of sports to the end, and the more representative model is the Changan Ford Focus.
The original Fox
Since the first landing in the Chinese market in 2005, Fox has won the title of "sports benchmark of the same level", in that era when the domestic automobile industry has just started, Fox's main sports compact car has attracted countless fans for a time, and in the following ten years, it has been dominating the compact car segment, and the monthly sales in the heyday are close to 40,000. But later with the listing of the new Focus, the whole series was equipped with a three-cylinder engine, although the 1.5T engine on the current Focus was very good in terms of technical parameters and actual experience, but it was very helpless, and the three-cylinder was a taboo for Chinese auto consumers.
Fox, who has stepped on the taboo of domestic consumers, believes that everyone in the market is now there for all to see, and with it, manufacturers are also aware of the seriousness of the problem.
How can you sit still? Changan Ford manufacturers also according to the market's feedback, very interesting for the new Focus to replace the 1.5T four-cylinder engine, for this classic family car "continue to live".
Face value online, still walking in the forefront of the trend
Ford's design skills have always been quite deep, whether it is Mondeo or Fox, it has always been at the forefront of the trend of the same era. On the new Fox, this traditional art ability has also been preserved.
In fact, compared with the current model, the appearance of the new Focus has not changed much, but some adjustments have been made accordingly in some details. For example, the grille on the front face has become a polygonal honeycomb style, which will be more aggressive in visual perception than the current model. Coupled with the more slender headlight shape, the overall display of a good sense of sport.
According to the information declared by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the lower bracket of the new Focus also provides a variety of styles for consumers to choose, and the future version of the appearance suite will also have a regular version, S EDITION and ST-LINE version, which will be almost consistent with the current model.
Body side, because this is only the annual redesign model, so the overall change is almost negligible, but the overall size of the new Focus compared to the current model or some changes, the new Focus body size is 4612/1820/1448mm, the wheelbase is 2700mm, compared to the old wheelbase shortened by 5mm, but basically negligible.
The design of the rear of the car is more consistent with the current model, such as the blessing of the design of the one-sided double exhaust and spoiler, which creates the sports atmosphere of the whole vehicle very well.
The central control screen is enlarged, and the car machine system is re-evolved
As with the appearance, the interior of the new Focus has not changed much compared to the current model, and what is visible to the naked eye is that the central control screen has been further enlarged compared to the current model, and it is expected that the display of information will become more abundant.
In addition, according to Changan Ford's planning in recent years, the car-machine system on the new Focus may become more advanced, or it will add the voice control function on the new Mondeo, and integrate the latest in-vehicle intelligent interconnection system, support Apple Carplay and Android Auto mobile phone interconnection function, more suitable for the current intelligent human-machine experience.
After meeting the "cylinder needs", can you add wings?
Regarding the new Focus, I believe that everyone is most interested in its design or other aspects, after all, the biggest significance of this change is that the four-cylinder engine is back, so let's first look at the new Focus after changing back to the four-cylinder engine, how is the product force?
It is revealed that the new Focus will use the EcoBoost 1.5T four-cylinder turbocharged engine previously mounted on the Wing Tiger to replace the current 1.5T three-cylinder engine, and the maximum power of this 1.5T four-cylinder engine may reach 130kW, which will be slightly higher than the current model. In the drivetrain, the new Focus will continue to match the 6MT and 8AT gearboxes, which is quite thick in the same class of models, after all, its competitors are either German dual clutches or Japanese CVTs, and compared with these two, the advantages of 8AT are very prominent.
In fact, in good conscience, although the three-cylinder is the "original sin" in China, it is undeniable that the 1.5T three-cylinder engine mounted on the current Focus has too many core technologies, and even some core technologies have appeared for the first time in the industry, such as the mid-direct injection double injection system, the cylinder extinguishing technology, the crankshaft eccentric design, the decoupling balance shaft drive gear and so on. The effect of these designs on performance improvement, energy saving and emission reduction, and vibration suppression is obvious, of course, all of which are based on theory and subjective feelings.
In fact, there is nothing wrong with the three cylinders, and consumers do not recognize the three cylinders, which is all determined by the consumer mentality.
At last:
Although the four-cylinder engine on the new Focus is technically incomparable with the current three-cylinder engine, the acceptance of the four-cylinder for consumers must be higher, but will this move really bring Fox back to the peak of sales? Here I think there may be a big question mark to be placed. After all, after several years of dismal market performance, Ford's brand recognition now seems to be not so high, and according to the news at this stage, it seems that the new Focus only provides a 1.5T power version, and the assembly of the 1.5L naturally aspirated engine is completely canceled. In this automotive market, which is still driven by consumer demand, the test left for Ford is still severe.