Bill Pierre Ford

WHAT: Ford delivers first Ford Escape Plug-In Hybrid to Southern
California Edison at Electric Vehicle Symposium (EVS 23), a key
milestone in a unique partnership between the automaker and the
utility. Join us for demonstration drives and executive
interview opportunities.

WHEN: Monday, Dec. 3, 2:45 p.m. PST
– 2:45 p.m. – Photo Opportunity: First Ford Escape Plug-In
Hybrid delivered to Southern California Edison
– 3:00 p.m. – Interview opportunities (Sue Cischke, senior vice
president, Sustainability, Environment and Safety
Engineering, Ford Motor Company, Nancy Gioia, director,
Sustainable Mobility, Ford Motor Company, and Ed Kjaer,
director, Electric Transportation, Southern California Edison
– Short drives available

WHERE: EVS 23 – Anaheim Convention Center (Convention Way, Anaheim,
Calif.) Entrance to convention hall
Directions:
http://www.anaheimconventioncenter.com/article.cfm?id=33

SUMMARY: Ford’s experience with hybrid technology in the groundbreaking
Escape Hybrid is combined with new advancements in high voltage
Lithium Ion batteries to create the new Ford Escape Plug-In
Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV). As part of a unique partnership
between the automotive and utility industries, Southern
California Edison will take possession of the first Ford PHEV
for its research and demonstration fleet. Ford and Southern
California Edison are combining their expertise to develop
technology, business models, understanding of consumer usage
patterns and the relationship between the vehicle and the
electric grid to advance the commercialization of plug-in
technology. Executives will be on hand for interviews. Short
drives will be available for photo opportunities.

The SCE-Ford collaboration, the nation’s first partnership of
this kind, will examine the future of PHEVs as part of a
complete system that incorporates the vehicle, the home and the
electricity grid. SCE’s exhibit at EVS23 will illustrate how the
PHEV will interface with the home, the new smart meters and the
electricity grid.

Just as Ford in the U.S. facelifts the Focus, the Euro Focus gets a comprehensive redo, too. But at a time when the U.S. edition is losing the enthusiast models from its lineup, the Euro version is a full platform generation ahead of the U.S. version and packed with juicy tech and real driver appeal.

How about a version with Volvo’s five-cylinder 225-horsepower engine? Or a six-speed double-clutch transmission to rival VW’s DSG system? They get ‘em over there.

A history lesson is in order. The late-1990s Euro-Focus was originally the same as the U.S. edition. But for 2005, it diverged, getting an all-new body and the platform developed for the Mazda3 and Volvo C30/S40/V50. Now it’s just received another comprehensive visual makeover designed to give it a shared identity with the rest of Ford Europe’s big sellers, including the Fusion-size Mondeo. They call the look “Kinetic Design” by the way.

And while the U.S. lineup is trimmed to four-door and two-door only, in Europe there are three-and five-door hatchbacks, a four-door sedan, a wagon, and even a folding-hardtop. Not to mention a closely related five-seat minivan called C-Max.

But a wide range isn’t what makes the Euro-Focus special. It’s the superb dynamics. And we mean superb. Engines are well up to standard. Handling makes even more expensive gear like an Audi A3 feel lead-footed. Europe’s Honda Civic is an altogether sportier proposition than the one sold in the U.S., but the Euro-Focus has that beaten, too.

This Focus feels exceptionally well-oiled, a machine that’s been finessed at the design and manufacturing stages. It’s the sort of deep-rooted sense of quality that U.S. products, especially in the compact sector, so sorely lack — like a good German car. Its controls are more weighty than a Japanese equivalent’s, but that’s no bad thing in a car aimed just as much at the enthusiast as at the grandmother. It’s amazing how it has the effect of making an enthusiast out of the uninterested. Even out of Grandma.

The PowerShift tranny doesn’t ship until February, nor does the facelifted five-cylinder ST (though the ST is unchanged dynamically from the pre-facelift version, and this is one of the greatest hot-hatches out there). So the test car was a 2.0 diesel in five-door body style with a manual. Sound like vanilla transport? It isn’t.