Originally Posted by tonyk
Originally Posted by Rick
collierm
The point is, the Focus is miles better than anything subura or mitsi offer in the same class. As is the fiesta. VW have never produced a homoligation special of any note, let alone several - they don't need to - and neither do ford anymore.
Granted, it certainly helps image - but is a massive financial investment, that probably doesn't pay. Ford have a significant rally presence without the need to make a road car - an accountants wet dream.
The reason is purely financial, how many of Fords target audience have £26-30000 to spend on a new 4x4 Focus Cosworth. Not enough to justify the production costs. I also think that all this true performance car is a load of bollocks. The Focus RS & ST(turbo) get ridiculed by a lot on here, when in reality comparing Std FRS & FST against any standard cosworth and they will murder the Cosworth. round a track.
People keep comparing stage 3 cossies to the FRS, ST. Ford produced you a Scooby beating/rivaling car for £19995 in the Focus RS and it is half a second slower lapping the top gear track than an e46 M3 both cars with 60 and 130bhp more than the RS.[/quote]
That last bit is spot on...
Ford made a £3 billion, thats BILLION loss in the last quarter IIRC from reading the paper the other day. They just haven't got the cash to develop anything new, hence all the current platform sharing, same in all the big companies VW/Audi/Seat/Skoda and GM/Merc/Chrysler etc etc isn't BMW one of the only stand alone companies left?
Shit situation I agree, but thats the reality, we may not have a Ford at all for much longer.
