[darkpuppet]

I think we're just going to have to accept the fact that the focus in NA is forever going to be the budget vehicle. Ford will do what they can to compete on terms of offering a car to the lowest common denominator.

It doesn't really matter how brilliant the chasis is, or wonderful the new motors are over previous generations, I honestly believe that ford will do the bare minimum it needs to do in order to maintain it's sales figures in that market segment.

And considering the popular perception of the focus ("but it's just a focus"), I'd have to say there's not much ford can do to raise that image. It's sad really.