[focusse]

As much as I adore the new Fiesta I am concerned about what Ford will do if it does not sell very well here in the U.S. Do they eventually pull the plug on it and close the Cuautitlan plant down in a few years? They have to sell x number of these cars to make money on them. I know Ford is investing a ton of money to remake and retool the Cuautitlan plant in Mexico specifically to make the Fiesta. I get the feeling sometimes that Ford management is just holding their breath about gas prices. The thinking might be if gas prices are high the car will sell well and if they drop as they seem to always do in the autumn/winter then sales will wane. Americans always seem to get complacent and go back to their old ways of buying gas guzzlers when gas goes to $2 a gallon and then start buying fuel efficient cars when gas gets to $3 a gallon or more. Excellent case in point: Honda sold a record 53,299 Civic's in May 2008 when gas got really expensive and every automaker was nearly selling out of their small, fuel efficient cars. Ford, Honda, Toyota, etc all cranked up production of their subcompact and compact cars. Honda even opened a new plant in Indiana dedicated strictly to Civic production. Then crude oil and subsequently gas prices plunged in the fall of 2008 and now Honda has a massive surplus of Civic's. This is a really tough way to run your auto company when gas prices yo-yo so drastically from one extreme to another.

As impressive as the new Fiesta is I can't wait to see what they are doing with the all new 2011 Focus. Auto Express UK posted some pics last month of what they believe the all new Focus 5 door hatchback will look like and it looks really stunning! Wonder what major auto show the new Focus will debut at? If I was a betting man I'd say NAIAS in Detroit in January 2010.