Yes, It's Really the Chinese that the Ford Focus Wants to Win Over

Don't take this personal if you're a Filipino; but in case you buy a Ford Focus somewhere in the very near future, then you'd most likely find it as designed to suit Chinese tastes.

Case in point: its wider doors that open at a bigger angle. It might be a small deal for you, but for the Chinese it's important. So what Ford did with Focus was to get rid of its original third side window or 'six-light window' (situated into the C-pillar) to accommodate wider doors.

Jordan Demkiw, Ford Europe's Exterior Design Manager, explained that a wider rear-door aperture was very important to help 'ingress and egress.' Just by modifying them along can significantly affect a car's success in the Chinese market.

"At the start we had a six-light proposal, and it went back and forth. With China being such a focus on Focus we went with the extra-wide door instead. We had to use common doors between sedan and hatch models," he said.

The result, which is unprecedented in the Ford Focus' history, is to unite all three body styles--sedan, hatch, and wagon--with similar door styles. This brings a uniform design to all its variants, which is in line with Ford's "Three Car Strategy" for the vehicle. This goal aims to meet the various needs of many Chinese customers who are partial to midsize cars.

More spacious cabin for the Chinese

Michael Blischeke, chief engineer of the Focus's C2 architecture, also added that cabin space was very important for the next-generation Focus.

"So we took a human-centric design initiative and bench-marked numbers, particularly rear seat knee and shoulder space, and thus placed components around that," said Blischeke. "We basically positioned mannequins in the rear seat to ascertain the maximum legroom and knee room we needed to be best-in-class, and then we put the components, the seats and wrapped around the sheet metal."

Why so much emphasis in China?

The Focus is one of Ford's bestsellers in China, with around 2.6 million units sold to-date.

What's more, the midsize car segment is one of the most critical and most important segments in the country, with over 7.3 million Chinese buying midsize passenger vehicles last year alone. And with the biggest population in the world--around 1.4 billion to be exact--getting a huge portion of this market is highly lucrative for the car company.

"Three-Car Strategy"

Since China is such a big population, Ford knows that diversity is crucial in targeting more Chinese buyers to purchase its vehicles. This is the reason why it is offering three highly-competitive styles for the Ford Focus--hatchback, sedan, and wagon.

What's more, it's also doing this same strategy for its other midsize vehicle--the all-new Ford Escort. Both these models has been modified and improved to meet the specific needs and taste of the Chinese consumer.

Forging ahead

Ford promises the all-new Focus as the "the most innovative and dynamic Focus ever." It will "excite and delight Chinese consumers with its striking design, excellent interior space and groundbreaking new technologies."

Ford also boasts that its new lineup will be the first-ever vehicle in the country to be equipped with Ford Co-Pilot360, a "segment-leading suite of advanced driver-assist technologies, to help customers drive more safely, freely and confidently".

There will also be more features added it, such as the SYNC 3 Connectivity System that's "designed to keep customers connected and in control".