By Christopher A. Sawyer
The Virtual Driver

(April 14, 2018) When it goes on sale this July in the U.K., the 2019 Ford Focus will come in two body styles: a four-door hatch and a station wagon. These will be joined by a four-door sedan in the rest of Europe, a body style that will be front and center in China and the U.S. There are five available trim variations — Active, Ambiente, ST Line, Trend, and Titanium — and a number of powertrain options, including a six-speed manual and new eight-speed automatic.

Top line news is that the car is more spacious, better equipped, has more technology, and is built on a new platform that will underpin a number of coming Ford vehicles, both cars and crossovers. And while the new Focus goes on sale in Europe and China this year, it won’t be until some point in 2019 that the new Focus will launch in the U.S. as a 2020 model and sourced from China.

A new platform (known internally as C2) is used, and Ford took the opportunity to move the cabin slightly rearward, extend the hood, flatten the rear floor, and move the A-pillars back to make the windshield a bit more upright. In addition the roof is longer for more headroom, and the side windows are larger to reduce the claustrophobia felt by rear seat passengers who were surrounded by sheetmetal in the previous generation car.



Interestingly, this is similar to what Mazda did with its Mazda3, and helps explain the styling similarity. On the plus side, Ford says rear seat shoulder room is 2.4 in. greater, knee room increased by 2.0 in., and leg room is 2.8 in. larger.

Torsional rigidity is up 20%, but Ford claims it increased the rigidity of the suspension attachment points by 50% to reduce flex and improve handling. In addition, the 2019 Focus borrows a trick from the outgoing Focus RS: extruded foam inserted into the rear underbody cavity during assembly. This foam dries then expands in the paint oven, increasing local lateral rigidity by 10%.

Together with an increase in the use of high-strength steel and some aluminum in the front crash structure, the structure is nearly 73 pounds lighter, while some versions are as much as 194 pounds lighter than a similarly equipped version of the current car.

The current car’s MacPherson strut front and Control Blade short long arm (SLA) rear suspension makes an appearance in modified form, with the SLA rear suspension mounted on a subframe with multi-directional bushings that vary their stiffness characteristics based on the direction in which they are being stressed. Wagon models reposition the dampers to both increase cargo room (by allowing a wider load floor) and maintain handling responsiveness when moving from empty to fully loaded.

What is most unusual, however, is that Ford also offers a lightweight twist-beam rear suspension with so-called “force vectoring” springs similar to that found on the latest Fiesta ST. Used on the lighter 1.0-liter EcoBoost gasoline and 1.5-liter diesel models, this design is an unusual addition to a car that, Ford boasts, has seen the number of build able configurations reduced by 92%. Unless, of course, it is using the lighter weight of the torsion beam design to help lower the car’s fuel mileage/emissions footprint.

Ford’s Continuously Controlled Damping (CCD) is offered for the first time on the Focus, and it monitors steering, suspension and braking inputs every two milliseconds. CCD also supports the multiple driving modes — Normal, Sport, Eco — the driver can call up, which also alters the electric power steering, throttle and automatic transmission response, and adaptive cruise control characteristics to suit.

Ford’s Co-Pilot360 suite of technologies will include a number of standard driver-assist technologies including Automatic Emergency Braking with Pedestrian Detection, Blind Spot Information System with Cross Traffic Alert, Lane Keeping, Auto High Beam, and Reverse Camera. Ford’s European announcement also included mention of the following technologies: Adaptive Cruise Control with Stop & Go, Speed Sign Recognition and lane Centering; Adaptive Front Lighting with Predictive Curve Light and Sign-based Light; Active Park Assist 2 for fully automated parallel and perpendicular parking; Park-out Assist to exit parallel spots hands-free; Pre-Collision Assist with Pedestrian and Cyclist Detection; Evasive Steering Assist; Post-Collision Braking; Wrong Way Alert; and a Head-up Display. This last item probably will be standard on all models worldwide, while most of the non-Co-Pilot360-specific technologies will be available as an option.

And, since infotainment technology is so important these days, the new Focus will offer a WiFi hotspot with the ability to connect up to 10 devices in the form of FordPass Connect, SYNC3, and Apple CarPlay and Android Auto compatibility.

The available navigation system has LiveTraffic update capability, the eCall function automatically dials for emergency services after a serious accident, automatic-equipped cars can use the remote start feature, and more. There’s even an available B&O Play audio system with 10 speakers, 675 watts of power, a mid-range speaker in the center of the instrument panel, and a 5.5-in. subwoofer in the cargo area.

And while that’s all well and good, it does nothing to move the Focus down the road. For that (depending on the region in which you live), you can choose from a pair of three-cylinder gasoline engines: a 1.0-liter EcoBoost motor available with 84, 99 or 124 hp and a 1.5-liter EcoBoost triple with either 148 or 179 hp. If you want four cylinders, and live in a region where it is offered, you have to order one of the EcoBlue diesels. Available in 1.5- or 2.0-liter form, like the gasoline engines, they come standard with a six-speed manual gearbox.

If you want an automatic, however, you will have to order the highest output gasoline engine, the highest output 1.5-liter diesel, or the 2.0-liter diesel.

It will be interesting to see how Ford specs the U.S. Focus. The sedan and hatchback are a given, as is the fact that Ford won’t sell the handsome new wagon here. Neither will the higher riding, body clad crossover wannabe Active trim level, Trend or Ambiente be sold in the U.S. It’s more than likely that Ford will offer S, SE, and SEL trim levels, and bypass the top line Titanium completely, unless demand for well-equipped (and expensive) compact cars suddenly picks up.

Rather, Ford will spend its efforts on the other vehicles to be built off this platform, like the next-generation Escape and the small off-roader it plans to slot in beneath the Bronco. Those vehicles, unlike the car that will launch the C2 platform, will not be sourced from China.

The Virtual Driver