Ford's Focus on Recipe; Take Flat Rock Chassis, Add ..

In a year that has been full of surprises, body blows and shocks to the system that would have had a lesser automaker screaming for a government bailout (the General did), Ford went its own way and while it is mortgaged to the chimney, it has stayed independent of government bailout money.

It's a good thing, too, because Ford really didn't need any. Slowly, over the last half-dozen years the automaker has been tweaking this, adding that, leaving successful lines alone and the result is a number two automaker that's still on its own, not needing government overseers to tell it what to make and how much it still owed.

The products it has come up with will blow you away. They've developed the:

Flex
Fusion
Edge
Escape

And, they have refined the:

Focus
Expedition
Explorer
Escape
Ford Truck Family

This is quite a prodigious trick in a down market, but, it shows Ford's commitment to the long-haul.

Let's look at just one vehicle that was introduced only nine years ago and that looked as if, for a time, it was headed nowhere at high speed. Folks, welcome to the Ford Focus pavilion of this auto show. When it was introduced in 2000, it was state of the art.

It offered unit body construction, rugged Durotec 2-liter class four that was mated to a smooth-shifting five-speed overdrive automatic transaxle. Sleek, but routed, the early Focus swept from nicely fared headlights through a sloping hood and windshield to a rounded roofline and then on out through a properly angled backlight and short rear deck. The variety available and the features available were enough to drive a sales manager to the local pub at closing time, but that wasn't the point. The point was that Ford had developed a vehicle, in conjunction with Mazda, that could be many things to many people. There was a coupe that sat five with a stick, the ZX4. This vehicle was offered as a real hatchback for those who didn't want the wagon version, and, yes, there was a wagon available,too.

The bread-and-butter was the four-door sedan that honestly sat five in comfort; handled like a charm (it's light power-to-weight and the work of the Ford/Mazda development team at Flat Rock, MI, where the Focus and Mazda lines were built). They still are built there.

Between 2000 and 2007, it looked as if Ford was going to do its usual corporate thing of developing a great little car, doing a few tweaks, but essentially leave it alone and when sales tailed off because, sadly marketeers would say, people weren't interested anymore and the model would go off to wherever it is that cars go to die (some think it's the same place as elephants, no one really knows).

But, as if to prove there was actually a marketeer with vision, someone in authority decided two things:

• Ford needed the Focus

• Ford's focus needed a makeover

This is just what happened in the 2007 model year. Oh, the basic lines of the Focus remained the same (they would have to so that Ford could build them as inexpensively as possible), but the front end and headlights received a dramatic restyling that made the Focus a nicely nimble subcompact. It also received "concert-hall" seating where the rear seat is slightly higher than the front so that everyone has a sight line out of the vehicle. This was done consciously so the development and tooling change costs could be covered by enough vehicles.

Well, it look as if it has worked because Ford has recalled workers to help restock the supply lines that were dragged down to practically zero by the "Cash for Clunkers" program.

Folks got behind the wheel of the Focus felt how responsive it was; how much I could hold with its variety of models and the rest, as they say, quickly became history. Folks loved the Focus, whether it was the base S, upper live SE, or two top models the SEL and SES. The great deals were also a lot less than $14,000 for a brand-new top-end vehicle. To many buyers, this was a sweet deal.

Not only were they getting great deals, but they were also getting great little cars (Mazda3's if you want an "import") that could hold five - really - in comfort.

Like all of the Focus models that went before (Foci??), the 2009 and now 2010 are very nice vehicle that are available with a wide range of features.

The engine fires up and runs smoothly and when you put it into gear and ht the gas the Focus just handles like a nimble dream. You can throw this vehicle through turns and corners and it will remain stable. The 33 mpg average mileage (what we saw during road tests) was a ca-ching for the beleaguered buyer who was trading out of a vehicle that usually only got half that mileage.

The front-drive Focus was solid and provided more than enough support for any driver. There was also a variety of seating upholstery and heated seats, if you wanted them. It even offered satellite radio; the Ford Sync (Bluetooth) system and the SEL offered a tighter, European-inspired suspension while the top -of-the-line SES offered a performance-tuned suspension.

Whatever way you looked at it, you couldn't go wrong and so Ford, which had relieved on an aging design until 2007 suddenly couldn't make enough of them to suppl the demand.

It's little wonder with the great handling characteristics,supportive seats and variety of 15 to 17-inch wheels (including this neat honeycomb design painted aluminum wheel and tire).

So, if you are in the market for a small, efficient subcompact that can get you to work on better than 30 mpg, the Focus is worth a long look. The chances are good that once you've looked, you'll buy.