CNNMoney.com
Companies Economy International Corrections Pre-market Trading After-hours Trading Winners/Losers/Actives Bonds Currencies Commodities World Markets Money Magazine Real Estate Mutual Funds Taxes Ask the Expert Money 101 Autos Loan Center Best Places to Live Ask the Expert Millionaires in the Making Ultimate Guide to Retirement Retirement Calculators Best Funds Ask the Mole Best Places to Retire Personal Tech Big Tech Blog Techland Blog Sectors and Stocks Fortune 500 Techs Tech Talk 100 Best Places to Launch Ultimate Resource Guide Small Biz Makeovers FSB 100 Ask & Answer Fortune 500 Technology Investing Management Rankings Main Create Portfolio Edit Portfolio Create Alerts Edit Alerts
2 of 6
BACK NEXT
Ford Focus
Ford Focus
When both the European and U.S. versions of the Focus were being redesigned, there was hope that Americans would finally get the same sharp-looking, fun-to-drive compact car as our friends across the Atlantic.

No such luck - at least not yet.

Instead of taking the U.S. version and giving it a proper redesign, says James Bell, publisher of the automotive ratings site Intellichoice.com, "We got a polished 8-year-old car here." Bell was once a consultant to Ford of Europe.

The fact that the current American Focus is a good - but not great - car hasn't stopped it from being one of Ford's most popular models here. But if you can improve it, why not go for it?

Next time around, we'll get what they get overseas, Ford promises. For the North American market, the carmaker will build the Focus from the wheels up over here, but it will be the same car that Europeans can buy (pictured at the right). Expect to see the new Focus in 2010.

NEXT: Ford Transit Connect

Last updated July 24 2008: 10:56 AM ET
More Galleries
CES: The year of the tiny projector Pico projectors pack big imaging power into tiny devices. Want to carry around your own personal movie theatre? Check out these 6 pico gadgets, previewed at CES. More
Take this job - or shove it With three job seekers for every opening, the unemployed are taking any position they can find. Even if it means a huge pay cut. Here's how people are coping. More
Detroit Auto Show: What's new An industry in crisis rolls out its latest weapons as some of the industry's biggest names fight for survival. More

Special Offer
© 2009 Cable News Network. A Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved. Terms under which this service is provided to you. Privacy Policy
Copyright © 2009 BigCharts.com Inc. All rights reserved. Please see our Terms of Use.
MarketWatch, the MarketWatch logo, and BigCharts are registered trademarks of MarketWatch, Inc.
Intraday data provided by Interactive Data Real-Time Services and subject to the Terms of Use.
Intraday data is at least 20-minutes delayed. All times are ET.
Historical, current end-of-day data, and splits data provided by Interactive Data Pricing and Reference Data.
Fundamental data provided by Morningstar, Inc..
SEC Filings data provided by Edgar Online Inc..
Earnings data provided by FactSet CallStreet, LLC.