"A Two-Trick Pony From Ford: 305 Horses, 31 M.P.G."
Ford is on a roll. We had an unplanned need to replace a car. We wound up with a 2010 Ford Focus, They were eager to deal and, well, we took advantage.
Now, the car itself isn't spectacular. It has a conventional automatic and a 2 liter engine with 140HP. Decent enough performance, and the gas mileage is great, close to 40 on the highway, around 30 in town. What makes it interesting is the philosophy behind it. The base model has taken the original Honda Accord model, which is make a lot of what had been options, standard. It has ABS, automatic traction control, air conditioning, perimeter alarm, passive antitheft(key has a chip in it and it won't start without the right coded key) and a whole slug of other features. Options include SYNC, an electrochromic mirror and other high end features. No longer does getting a small car means getting a stripped model. The 2011 Fiesta will expand on this, and the 2012 Focus with its European chassis should be a wonder.
So, Ford is breaking with the traditional Detroit model of cheap econo-boxes with few features, and differentiating their multiple models by restricting the available options. Changing this is something I have been advocating for decades. Nice to see a company actually doing it. |
