On Monday, January 11 at 8:45 am EST, Ford will take the wraps off its brand-new 2011 Focus at the Detroit auto show, while on Tuesday morning, the company will reveal the less significant, 2011 Lincoln MKX midsize crossover. The Fiesta’s new big brother -both in terms of size and styling- is quite possibly one of the most important Fords of the past few decades as it will be a truly global car.
Unlike the current Fiesta which had to be redesigned for North America to address safety, emissions and powertrain issues thus sharing only 60 per cent of parts with its European counterpart, the 2011 Focus has been engineered for all international markets right from the beginning.
According to Ford, around 80 percent of the2011 Focus parts by value will be common between the North American and European versions.
Depending on the market, the new Focus will be offered in various body styles including three- and five-door hatchbacks, four-door sedan and a hardtop convertible (CC).
Ford has already unveiled the MPV variant of the new Focus in the form of the new five-seat C-MAX and its longer, seven-seater sibling, the Grand C-MAX at last year’s Frankfurt Motor Show – pictured below. The Grand C-MAX has been confirmed for the U.S. with sales set to start in late 2011.
In Europe, the new Focus and the C-MAX models will be offered with several diesel and petrol engines including Ford’s new 1.6-liter EcoBoost turbocharged petrol with outputs ranging between 150 and 180 horsepower while in North America, there’s talk about a new 2.0-liter four-cylinder gasoline unit with direct injection.
Both of these petrol units will be offered with Ford’s dual clutch transmission.
We’ll have the full story on the new Focus on Monday.
