Focus Sales Surge 58% in Dec, 40% for 2012

[unclebrud]

Originally Posted by dan50

Impressive results. Seems to be a battle between the car's indifferent reputation (see MFT, DCT) and the really large cash incentives available.

Let's see: 22,604 sales * $ 2,000 or so per car=$ 45,000,000 just in December. Could do a lot of MFT and DCT reengineering for that and get a car that would sell based on its inherent goodness and critical acclaim rather than its low price.

Impressive, but how much of that total is due to fleet/rental sales?

I agree that they are just throwing money at buyers now. When the Mk3 first came out, I thought that the Focus might be able to shake the commodity car rep, but that was proven wrong, I guess. Probably some of that has to do with the MFT/DCT issues.

Now, if they'd just throw some cash on the hood of the ST...

[suss6052]

Originally Posted by PratoN

People seem to be averaging more like 40mpg and there's word that Ford's testing is going to get checked by the EPA...

However, the people that would buy a C-Max are probably loading it with several kids and probably have a lot of traffic in their commute, otherwise they wouldn't shell out the extra money for a hybrid. But still, the mileage claims are 47/47. So the 40mpg still seems kind of low to me. EDIT: Especially with the Prius getting 49mpg and Prius V getting 42mpg. It really upsets me how far behind the US still is when it comes to gas mileage. The Prius C is getting over 50mpg!

http://www.fuelly.com/car/ford/c-max/2013

http://www.usatoday.com/story/driveo...ports/1756237/

Have you seen the way most people tend to drive? At least around here they are usually leadfooting it all the time or puttering around in heavy traffic, most of the time going well over the speed limit and getting upset when they can't meet the mpg on a dynomometer test in the real world when their driving is poles apart.

There are fewer people who seem to be able to consistently beat the epa ratng no matter what. Considering the test was created by the EPA and if the test was run accurately those are the figures, it doesn't mean its easily achieveable in the real world with hills, freezing temperatures, and other impediments to high miles/gallon.

[tdo]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iW2_hquB2Sw

With where we drive, it just wouldn't be that much better than the focus. Certainly not worth the extra cost. But, it is a cool vehicle that we initially wanted. I might have gone for a focus hatch, if it had the no hands auto hatch that we saw on the C-Max.

[FFHatch2013]

Originally Posted by tdo

Bought mine a couple weeks ago only because of the incentives. Got over 20% off from MSRP with the help of them (don't get any Ford worker incentives). Otherwise would have waited till spring. It's sitting now under a car cover, in the snow, till spring, while we use the 2002 one last winter.

Over 20%? That is a lot. I got about 17.5% discount and I thought it was a heck of a deal. I wonder how much other people got theirs for.

[PratoN]

Originally Posted by suss6052

Have you seen the way most people tend to drive? At least around here they are usually leadfooting it all the time or puttering around in heavy traffic, most of the time going well over the speed limit and getting upset when they can't meet the mpg on a dynomometer test in the real world when their driving is poles apart.

There are fewer people who seem to be able to consistently beat the epa ratng no matter what. Considering the test was created by the EPA and if the test was run accurately those are the figures, it doesn't mean its easily achieveable in the real world with hills, freezing temperatures, and other impediments to high miles/gallon.

True - but I was just stating that the Prius EPA estimates are pretty much spot-on with the Fuelly numbers. One thing that could be hindering that C-Max's were just released so the first numbers coming up on fuelly are in the winter when people tend to start their cars to let them heat up - not to mention God knows how much ethanol in the gasoline that I don't believe is in the gas when EPA tests are done. Perhaps the ethanol effects the engine differently than it does in the Prius. Who knows?

[PratoN]

Originally Posted by FFHatch2013

Over 20%? That is a lot. I got about 17.5% discount and I thought it was a heck of a deal. I wonder how much other people got theirs for.

I got like... 8%. >_>

[kam327]

Originally Posted by FFHatch2013

Over 20%? That is a lot. I got about 17.5% discount and I thought it was a heck of a deal. I wonder how much other people got theirs for.

I was lucky enough to get 21% off sticker. There's a recent poster on another Focus forum who claims to have recently gotten an SFE that stickered for just over $20 for $13,995, or over 30% off!

Originally Posted by PratoN

True - but I was just stating that the Prius EPA estimates are pretty much spot-on with the Fuelly numbers. One thing that could be hindering that C-Max's were just released so the first numbers coming up on fuelly are in the winter when people tend to start their cars to let them heat up - not to mention God knows how much ethanol in the gasoline that I don't believe is in the gas when EPA tests are done. Perhaps the ethanol effects the engine differently than it does in the Prius. Who knows?

Could also be that the C-Maxes haven't been out as long as the Prius so the initial 2-3 tank break in could be skewing the overall MPG numbers down "artificially." Let's see where all the averages are in say 6 months.

[dan50]

Originally Posted by FF4

incentives on the Focus were the same as last December, the increase in sales is due to added production. A 3rd shift was added in the summer in response to strong demand.

What's most impressive is that even with much better than expected sales of the C-Max, Focus sales still surged 58%. The C-Max doesn't seem to stealing sales from the Focus.

Bought mine in December 2011. $ 500 cash inventive then, $2,500 now.

[PratoN]

Originally Posted by kam327

Could also be that the C-Maxes haven't been out as long as the Prius so the initial 2-3 tank break in could be skewing the overall MPG numbers down "artificially." Let's see where all the averages are in say 6 months.

True!

[GhiaFan]

The real sales story for the Focus is the 12 month period, up 40% compared to 2011.
Almost 250,000 units in 2012, that is impressive.
Fords USA Fleet sales for 2012 are at 28%, 11% rental, 14% commercial and 3% government.(figures include all vehicles)