Ford Focus

History of Ford Focus in Russia

1999: A decision was made on the production of cars in Russia

The decision that Ford would produce Focus in Russia was made by the corporation in 1999. By that time, the company already had negative experience in assembling Transit minibuses in Belarus in the CIS - the joint venture had to be closed due to low demand after the 1998 crisis.

The Ford management decided to build the plant in Vsevolozhsk, Leningrad Region, closer to the ports and the western border, from where it was planned to import all components at the first stage.

2002: Completion of the construction of the plant in Vsevolzhsk

In July 2002 the plant with a capacity of 25 thousand cars per year was ready. It cost the corporation $150 million. A week before the commercial launch of the conveyor, Ford brought together journalists, and the then sales director in Russia, Sergei Bogdanov, announced the long-awaited figure: the Focus price on the Russian market in the basic configuration will begin at $ 10 thousand 900 (about 345 thousand rubles). It was 2-3 thousand dollars less than the price of the closest competitors - Skoda Octavia, Renault Megane and Toyota Corolla^[1].

The basic Focus package included a 1.6 L engine and power steering. The rest was proposed to be ordered for additional money.

Only the sales plan caused surprise in the market. Ford promised to bring the plant to its design capacity in two to three years, although in 2001, according to its own data, the company sold 2 thousand 335 cars of all models in Russia. The psychological border of the price was then considered 10 thousand dollars, after which demand rapidly fell, recalls the head of one of the Ford dealers who has been selling cars of this brand since the 1990s.

At that time, it was the best offer - the local assembly plus an aggressive pricing policy instantly made Focus a market favorite, recalls Mikhail Podorozhansky, editor-in-chief of the Autoreview newspaper. A massive advertising campaign that emphasized the adaptation of the car to the Russian market, along with preferential loans for its purchase under the Ford Credit program, did their job - dealers were inundated with orders, for the first time in history, a shortage of a car with a foreign nameplate on the hood appeared on the market.

2003: Demand exceeds capacity by 4 times

Recording on Focus was carried out at least six months in advance, recalls one of the dealers. Less than six months after the plant was launched, Henrik Nensen, who then served as Ford's president for Russia, said that the number of applications for cars was four times higher than expectations and production capabilities. Spring 2003 the company's management decided to introduce a second shift at the plant, although according to the plan it was not going to do this until the beginning of 2004.

2005: Base model price reduction, production ramp-up

By mid- 2005, when it was time to update the Focus generation, the plant was already supplying the Russian market with scarce machines 24/7, says a manager who then worked for the company. The company prepared another surprise for the second generation of the car to enter the market: the base model is $2000 cheaper than in the previous generation. True, the volume of the most affordable engine decreased from 1.6 to 1.4 liters, and the price of the basic configuration of the first Focus by that time increased to 14 thousand dollars. That is, at the then exchange rate, the price of second-generation cars began with 370-400 thousand rubles.

Ford could play with the price, because the cost of the car at the exit from the plant was about 6 thousand dollars, the company's leaders called this indicator at meetings with officials of the Leningrad Region, one of them recalls. The cost was indeed near this figure, confirms a former Ford employee. In the same 2005, Ford decided to increase the plant's capacity to 40 thousand cars per year, and from January 2006 - to 60 thousand.

2006: Import of machines from Germany and Spain

Already at the beginning of 2006, not having time for the growth of the market, Ford brought about 10 thousand. Focus from Germany and Spain, since it could not cover the entire demand for its cars in Russia on its own - the queue stretched for more than six months.

The situation was favorable, Ford was removing cream from the growing frantic pace of the market, says Podorozhansky from Autoreview. Demand gave rise to a shortage of the cheapest Focus trim levels with 1.4 and 1.6 liter engines, and buyers were invited to purchase cars with 1.8-2 liter engines at a price of 15-20 thousand dollars (400-540 thousand rubles at the exchange rate for July 2006). Cheaper equipment had to be expected for months, their share in production did not exceed several percent, he says.

2008: Second Generation Launch, Finest Hour

The finest hour for the company was 2008. By that time, the plant had expanded to 125 thousand cars a year, in February it began to assemble an updated model of the second generation, and the second model, Mondeo, stood on the conveyor. Focus sold well after the 2008 crisis: in February 2009. its sales increased by 3% compared to the same month in 2008. - up to 6 thousand 124 machines, according to archival statistics of the Association of European Businesses.

2011: Third Generation Launch

The third generation Focus appeared on the market in 2011. in another competitive environment, it became more difficult to sell the car, although the model's reputation continued to promote it, says a top manager of another dealer. By Ford this time, Renault had intercepted the idea of ​ ​ a "people's" foreign car, releasing at its Moscow plant "a Autophramos very inexpensive (below $10 thousand) Logan model, and rushing General Motors after Ford on its budget Aveo and Lacetti assemblies of Kaliningrad."Avtotor

To rebuild in the market from "budget" competitors, Ford management decided to raise the price bar and announce that the car is in the "high middle price segment," says one of the company's former employees. The third generation Focus was already different from the first two in both design and filling, he says.

In the basic configuration, more options appeared, and the starting price increased by about $500 compared to the previous generation, but there were almost no cars in the basic configuration on the market: mostly versions worth $16-18 thousand were offered, said the former Ford manager. This decision was made by the Russian division based on a sales plan that was launched from Detroit, he explains.

This technique - transferring goods to a higher price niche to separate from competitors - is often used in the consumer market, says Samvel Avetisyan, head of the marketing and branding department at Moscow Financial and Industrial University. As a rule, this is a winning strategy, it is much more promising than lowering the price bar, the expert says.

However, in the case of Focus, this did not work. The price of the third generation car turned out to be slightly higher than what buyers expected. They saw that they could get a car of a different brand in a comparable configuration, but a hundred thousand rubles cheaper, Podorozhansky notes. Back in 2010-2012 Focus held on to its established reputation, say top managers of two brand dealers, but in 2013. sales went down.

2014: Sales collapse

The most critical for the model was 2014. In May, sales of one of the first "folk" foreign cars - Ford Focus - collapsed by 68% compared to May 2013. This month, dealers sold only 1 thousand 904 cars of this brand. This is less than in the difficult May 2009 for the industry, when the car market collapsed by almost 60% (then sold 3 thousand 418 new Focus).

The price/quality ratio suffered due to the devaluation of the ruble - the company still supplies most of the components for Focus from abroad. On average, since the beginning of the year, Focus has risen in price by 10%, both dealers estimate - for the "people's" segment it is too much, at the price the car began to catch up with traditionally expensive Japanese cars.

The price of cars now starts at 615 thousand rubles. and ends at 893 thousand rubles. according to the official price list. Imported Russia Toyota into Corolla is more expensive by 50 thousand rubles, Volkswagen Golf - in some trim levels "leaves" Focus by only a few tens of thousands. rubles

Focus has trashed the image of a "popular family car" and a traditional buyer, agrees a representative of the Ford-Sollers joint venture (since October 2011. plant in the Leningrad region is included in the joint venture), and the devaluation of the ruble was not the last reason for this.

The company is taking measures to restore sales of the brand, he says. In particular, under a special proposal, prices for the car were reduced to 599-823 thousand rubles. A new advertising campaign is planned to regain interest in the model, says a Ford-Sollers spokesman. It will not be easy to do this: in 2002. Focus had several competitors in the market, and in 2014 these were dozens of actively promoted models.

Ford Focus safety

2020: ABS deactivation and instrument panel error output: Ford Focus hack

In mid-April 2020, the British magazine Which? accused manufacturers of two of Europe's most popular cars - Volkswagen and Ford - of being careless about cybersecurity.

According to a journalistic investigation, the Ford Focus Titanium Automatic 1.0L and Volkswagen Polo SEL TSI Manual 1.0L models have many vulnerabilities. Working in collaboration with Context Information Security information security specialists, the researchers were able to hack into Volkswagen's infotainment system and learned the owners' personal data, including phone numbers, saved addresses and navigation history. Moreover, the vulnerability was also discovered in the car system that turns on and off the ABS system, which performs an important function to ensure safety on slippery roads.

British magazine Which? accused manufacturers of two of the most popular cars in Europe - Volkswagen and Ford - of being careless about cybersecurity

Volkswagen claims that the car's infotainment system is separate from other important systems and cannot influence them, but promised to consider the results of a study conducted by journalists.

As for the Ford car, the researchers were able to hack the vehicle's tire pressure control (TPM) system, allowing them to intercept and spoof messages from sensors. If hackers tell the car's on-board computer that everything is in order with the deflated tires, this may well endanger passengers. Also, non-existent errors in the operation of automotive systems can be displayed on the dashboard. In addition, after the hack, the researchers were able to track all the movements of the car. They managed to hack the security system with the help of a "cheap laptop and a gadget worth £25" from Amazon.

Ford responded that the TPMS had a very short transmission range. In other words, the hacker would have to not only be next to the car during the hack, but also stay close throughout the fraud with the sensors. The technology isn't unique to Ford, and it doesn't have "known industry quality and safety issues," according to the automaker.

The researchers recommend removing personal data from infotainment systems when sold, as well as canceling access to the app to prevent the car and phone from sharing data that is easy to intercept.^[2]

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