By John LeBlanc
PARIS –
Ford is making a big stink here at the show. And it’s not their Euro-only diesel models. Paris is the first official event where the new family of
Focus compact vehicles have been seen together in one place. That includes a four-door sedan, five-door hatch, station wagon, and sporty ST.
Pretty impressive. And the car looks like a huge improvement over the current North American Focus, which is one generation behind the rest of the world, dating back to a chassis from the last millennium. But similar to
VW’s North American strategy, when the new Focus arrives in Canada early next year, don’t expect the wagon version (above) to show up. The same goes for the sweet-looking new
Volvo V60 (left) , which also debuted here this morning.
The lack of a Focus won in Canada is a bit of a mystery. The last edition sold like toques in a blizzard here. When it was announced that the
old Focus wagon was going to be canned for the 2008 model year, with Ford going forward with a four-door sedan-only lineup, Canadian dealers bought every Focus wagon they could from the factory in anticipation of demand from customers.
The case for the V60 is less compelling. That is if you listen to Volvo. At the
recent launch of the new S60, the sedan version of the V60, Volvo recited stats that saw a dramatic drop in luxury wagon sales as a reason why not only its V70 was being let go for 2011, but also why the new V60 had a snowball's chance in Tahiti in making it to North America.
Sure. I get that. Because we love driving crossovers so much. But maybe if it didn’t offer the
XC60 crossover, or
SUV-wannabe XC70, maybe customers would remember the qualities of a Volvo wagon? Right?
I guess those silly, European wagon buyers know something we don’t…
Comments
By John LeBlanc
PARIS – Ford is making a big stink here at the show. And it’s not their Euro-only diesel models. Paris is the first official event where the new family of Focus compact vehicles have been seen together in one place. That includes a four-door sedan, five-door hatch, station wagon, and sporty ST.
Pretty impressive. And the car looks like a huge improvement over the current North American Focus, which is one generation behind the rest of the world, dating back to a chassis from the last millennium. But similar to VW’s North American strategy, when the new Focus arrives in Canada early next year, don’t expect the wagon version (above) to show up. The same goes for the sweet-looking new Volvo V60 (left) , which also debuted here this morning.
The lack of a Focus won in Canada is a bit of a mystery. The last edition sold like toques in a blizzard here. When it was announced that the old Focus wagon was going to be canned for the 2008 model year, with Ford going forward with a four-door sedan-only lineup, Canadian dealers bought every Focus wagon they could from the factory in anticipation of demand from customers.
The case for the V60 is less compelling. That is if you listen to Volvo. At the recent launch of the new S60, the sedan version of the V60, Volvo recited stats that saw a dramatic drop in luxury wagon sales as a reason why not only its V70 was being let go for 2011, but also why the new V60 had a snowball's chance in Tahiti in making it to North America.
Sure. I get that. Because we love driving crossovers so much. But maybe if it didn’t offer the XC60 crossover, or SUV-wannabe XC70, maybe customers would remember the qualities of a Volvo wagon? Right?
I guess those silly, European wagon buyers know something we don’t…