Ford Focus: To Russia with Love

"Benjamin Robinson" wrote

We have a low opinion of the Lada here in North America, but I think some of that was cold war bias. From what I gather the Lada company has come a long way since the fall of Communism, and is quite competitive in the world market.

Believe me, the low opinion is justifiable. About the only thing that you can say in Lada's favour is that their cars are like cockroaches; you can't kill them. But with such low tech, that's not surprising. I have a soft spot for the old Lada's as I liked the Fiat 124 they are based on. Too bad they didn't take over the Fiat twin-cam motor as well, instead they plopped in their lump made out of melted down cooking pots. The Lada Niva is a surprisingly competent off-roader, but don't have any pretenses about build quality, comfort, or safety. The "newest" Ladas are still early 90's in terms of tech and design. The design cycle for a typical Lada is about 8 years, more than double the industry standard, so as a car maker they are still hopeless. Lada has made zero penetration into the European market here, despite half-hearted efforts over the last 15 years since the wall fell.

we have them (Lada) here in Turkey. They are the cheapest cars on the market...going for around $9K. the next cheapest car is the Dacia Logan $11K and bare bone Fiat Palio ($13K). But both Lada and Dacia get very very low market share..they sell very few. The cheapest Focus (1.4 liter) is around $19K and it sells like hot cakes!

Ahmet

Turkey

'01 Focus Wagon 1.6 liter

On the other hand, Soviet aesthetics seem to be exerting some influence on the Daimler-Chrysler designers.

Yes, the Focus is the best-selling nor-Russian car in Russia. It's quite popular because Ford built a factory there to assemble Focuses so they are not too expensive.