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jmueller065

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Ford will not update the Focus Electric for 2014

Ford Motor Co. will not make any upgrades to its Focus Electric compact car for the 2014 model year, yet another sign the automaker’s lone all-electric vehicle is struggling to maintain relevance.

Boo hiss, wait and yet Ford is building them in Germany?? I'm getting mixed signals here!

Edmunds.com, which tracks vehicles that customers would consider buying, said in November 2012, just 0.55 percent of website visitors said they would consider a Focus EV.

That number dropped to 0.19 percent in May, the same percentage of potential buyers as Nissan Motor Co.’s all-electric Leaf.
And yet the Leaf is selling like crazy...something isn't right here. (Yeah they mention the price difference later on in the article--I'm sure that is a big part of the Leaf's popularity.)

“We’re not going to chase down to the lowest price possible — that doesn’t make sense to erode the brand image or the true value of the product,” Gioia said.

“We’re going to continue to evolve that product — make it better and better ... We don’t see the need to push it like crazy and erode the image of it.”
Then why no changes? "evolve" implies change...
 
That's a good article, particularly because it contains direct quotes from Ford's "director of Global Electrification" that are surprisingly honest. I would summarize the quotes representing Ford's perspective as follows:
1. BEVs are a niche product and prioritized behind hybrids and PHEVs
2. BEVs are not economically viable for Ford

I think this is similar to Fiat's line of thinking. Quoting from Autoweek's recent article regarding Fiat's view of BEVs:
Although the per-unit loss is high, the automaker's total financial hit should be minimal because Fiat-Chrysler, without being more specific, said it would produce a low volume of the electric 500.

The company said that the primary reason for launching the EV was to enhance the company's electric mobility expertise, which it hopes will lead to advancements in its future gasoline-electric hybrid models.
 
It is interesting to note then, that in the FFE, Ford has managed, apparently without even trying "all that hard", to produce one of their very best cars.

Indeed, range issues aside, the FFE perhaps offers one of the best "pure" driving experiences available of any car in its price range.
 
Thanks for posting the articles, jmueller. Very interesting reads. And very enlightening, at least for me...

Prior to reading these articles, I was like many (if not most) folks... thoroughly enjoying my FFE, and wondering why Ford doesn't promote it with ad campaigns like Chevy does with the Volt and Nissan does with the Leaf, to increase sales.

Then I read this article, and thought about what was said by Ford:

"...it is a niche product..."
"...a hoot to drive... "
"...doesn't make sense to erode the brand image or the true value of the product..."
“We don’t see the need to push it like crazy and erode the image of it.”

Niche product? A hoot to drive? Brand image? Got me thinking of my brother's Boss 302 and SVT Cobra (he's a Ford guy), the F-150 Lightning, and of course, the Ford GT. All fun-to-drive niche products that are all about brand image. All remained pretty much unchanged for the limited production run. So now is it such a surprise that the FFE is unchanged going into 2014? Maybe not. Seems to follow the pattern of current and previous niche products from Ford.

It also makes sense to me now why Ford is happy with the FFE sales numbers - FFE sales seems typical, albeit on the low side, when compared to other Ford niche products, which typically sold at about 3000-5000 units/year; the outlier is the Ford GT, which sold at about 2000/yr. And from what I remember, none of these niche vehicles were advertised heavily; maybe an occasional ad in a car magazine, but that's about it. The FFE seems to follow suit; the only time I see an FFE ad is when I'm looking at something online that's clearly related to EVs.

One last note on these niche products... all are halo cars, designed to project a favorable image and/or perception over a product line, or sometimes, over the entire company (i.e. the Ford GT). The FFE is no different, as it has been referred to by the press as a "flagship" for Ford's electrified vehicles. I think it may even have a halo effect over the entire company...

So I'll stop whining about the low FFE sales numbers when they come out every month, and instead relish the thought that I'm driving a low-volume niche vehicle designed to exceed performance expectations, not sales forecasts.
 
The SVT Lightning had many changes over its run. Those changes were typically tied to the changes of the base vehicle: as the F-150s body style evolved the Lightning would change along with it.

Since Ford sold over a million Focuses worldwide last year there really isn't any need at the moment to update the base Focus. Thus I'm not expecting any changes to the ICE Focus for 2014 either--especially considering the fact that the Focus ST was new this year.
 
The Lightning had two separate production runs, 1993-1995, and then 1999-2004. Within each run, there weren't any major changes, from what I could tell, but then I'm not an avid Ford truck guy. My point is that within each run that was based on the then-current garden variety F-150, it remained virtually unchanged, and so I would expect that the FFE remain virtually unchanged until the Focus for the masses is redone.
 
I think it's a two part problem. I like the Focus a lot, and would seriously consider for my next EV. However, in order to be any competition to the Leaf:

1. Purchase price needs to be close. Leaf base price is 10k cheaper than Focus. I know the base Focus has more features, but still, the "starting at 29k" gets a lot of attention.

2. Nissan has Leafs on the lot. This may not be the case in all regions, but the nearest Focus is 91 miles away, and that is only 1. The next closest is 175 miles away. All Nissan dealers in my area have at least 1 Leaf on the lot. Add to that the Ford dealers out number Nissan dealers 3 to 1 in my area.
 
According to Ford, there is no problem. They are producing and "marketing" the FFE as a niche product and are happy with the current sales numbers. They don't seem to be concerned with "competing" with the Leaf when it comes to sales numbers.

As far as availability... What's the availability in your area of other current Ford niche products, i.e. the GT500 or Focus ST? I'm guessing that the availability of these two products are probably as scarce as the FFE, when compared to how many garden-variety Mustangs and Focuses are sitting on dealer lots.
 
charlestonleafer said:
Leaf base price is 10k cheaper than Focus. I know the base Focus has more features....

I disagree. There is no need for a bare bones Focus Electric. Ford isn't in the EV business to sell cheap basic transportation like GM's Chevy Spark or a bare bones Leaf.

If you compare the top of the line Leaf to the leather Focus Electric, you are looking at more like $5K difference, and the lease price difference is flipped; the Focus Electric is MUCH lower. The top-of-the-line Leaf leases a 39 month for $590 per month. That is compared to something less than $300 a month for 36 months for the Focus Electric.

So, no, the Focus Electric doesn't need to compete with a Leaf on price. I drove the Leaf; it drives like an appliance. The difference between the cars is shocking. Heh, heh.
 
They announced a couple of days ago that pricing will be $5K less for the 14's, so I guess you could say there was a change.
 
Here are the changes I'm seeing:
$4k less (although there has been a $4k Ford discount for months)
The Focus Electric's 6.6 kW, 240-volt charging time has been reduced from 4 hours to 3.6 hours
The torque is going from 184 pound-feet to 181 (less than 2% drop)
Mats are no longer an option (are the embroidered mats now standard?)
In June, just a month ago, Ford’s director of Global Electrification said they were going to evolve the product, make it better and better, and not drop the price, the rest of the company apparently didn't read her memo.
 
paulj said:
The Focus Electric's 6.6 kW, 240-volt charging time has been reduced from 4 hours to 3.6 hours
Not really a change. This has always been the charge time at 6.6kw. They are just now advertising it as 3.6 instead of saying "3 to 4 hours".
 
Is this true i thought many if car companies are making a develop electric cars ,cause in Finland some of company does it cause i also seen some sähköauton lataus or electric car charging which mean there are many electric cars right now are on the street and what more in next year.
 
charlestonleafer said:
A dealer near me finally got one! Stopped by today, sticker was $42k and the add on dealer sticker added another 2k for "limited availability". 44k!? You gotta be kidding me!?
If you're a member of Costco request one through Costco's program.
 
Funny enough I am a Lightning guy and there was very minimal changes through both runs of the truck. Ending with the sole option for the 03/04 Lightning being the trailer hitch. Everything else came standard.

That said while poking around at the SVT (as I am a massive SVT, guy I've had 8) I nearly shat when the "market adjustment" for a 2012 Gt500 in the show room was $14k. Had they pulled that crap with a Focus I'da been out of there in a second. My sticker was $42,700 + tax for a 2013. The 2014 they had (with the -$4k) was $40k. They "added" dealer installed options like, door ding stickers which are pealing off mine, and paint protection.

It's interesting how no dealer can just take the Ford lease deal and say "ok" and call it a day. They came back with me at $2k down $435 a month and claimed it was "taxes". What? I wasn't born yesterday... But I wanted the black one they had (2013 SSN possible issues and all, hey, it's not ice blue..) for the 14's deal. I got within $15 a month and called it a weekend, mainly due to the fact I already knew there were no changes. Stealer attempted to claim this one "fully loaded" and the 2014 didn't have the features. I pulled the window sticker and said "show me the options the 14 has over this".

There are 5 FFE's in PHX. 2 are 2014's. I had to drive 12 miles to get mine. I wouldn't have if it was 30+.
That said I was at Nissan last month and drove the base and Premium Leafs. They had 8 on 1 lot alone. The lease deal I hit with my FFE is $2k down and $30 less than the Premium Leaf.
 
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