PRETORIA, South Africa— Automotive journalists from all over South Africa had the opportunity to get behind the wheel of the much-anticipated All-New Ford Focus, whose launch took place earlier this month.
Three groups of journalists flew out to Knysna and started straight off the bat with an economy drive from George airport to the up-scale Turbine boutique hotel. They then attended a business session with Jeff Nemeth, president and CEO, Ford Motor Company Southern Africa (FMCSA), and were also given more information about Ford's marketing strategy by both Dean Stoneley, vice president of Marketing, Sales and Service, and Ben Pillay, Ford marketing manager.
Tracey Delate, brand manager, presented an in-depth interactive deep dive of the car. Journalists then proceeded to take part in some activities that demonstrated the four brand pillars of Quality, Green, Safe and Smart, a Wii game to showcase Torque Vectoring Control, and a photo competition to see who could find and photograph a 'Smart' technology feature in the car. Journalists won prizes based on their scoring during these activities, as did the most fuel-efficient driver from earlier in the day.
The next day journalists got to experience everything the new Focus has to offer on a longer drive to Oudtshoorn.
"The gear changes are seamless, almost imperceptible, and there's no lag when you pull away from a stop street or traffic light! And the power under my right foot made it very hard to stick to the speed limit," wrote Angel, who blogs at www.angelsmind.co.za
"It's been an awesome launch as usual, as all Ford launches are. The car's been a lot of fun to drive, especially today – we did an economy drive yesterday, got some good economy figures, but today we've been hauling it and it's good – I like the chassis, it's very attractive – I'm impressed. So far the diesel is my engine of choice. It's fun to drive," said Thomas Falkiner of The Times.
The new version of the popular model will be available in two body styles, three low-CO2 powertrains, three specification levels, two transmission options, and with its new sleek and sporty design, dynamic technologies and features.
"The Focus has garnered solid support over the years, but in designing the new generation version, engineers sought to take the already outstanding elements of the existing package and elevate them to even greater heights. The result is a model that boasts expressive design, affordable innovation, superior quality, responsive performance and exceptional fuel economy," said Pillay.
Dubbed 'The Game Changer', the count down to the launch came with a comic strip, on Ford South Africa’s facebook page about an All-New Focus fan's race to get to it. A framed copy of the comic strip will be presented to the very first customer of the All-New Focus.
To see 'The Game Changer' comic, please visit:
http://www.facebook.com/?sk=lf#!/media/set/?set=a.226726184017408.55760.139052112784816
Three groups of journalists flew out to Knysna and started straight off the bat with an economy drive from George airport to the up-scale Turbine boutique hotel. They then attended a business session with Jeff Nemeth, president and CEO, Ford Motor Company Southern Africa (FMCSA), and were also given more information about Ford's marketing strategy by both Dean Stoneley, vice president of Marketing, Sales and Service, and Ben Pillay, Ford marketing manager.
Tracey Delate, brand manager, presented an in-depth interactive deep dive of the car. Journalists then proceeded to take part in some activities that demonstrated the four brand pillars of Quality, Green, Safe and Smart, a Wii game to showcase Torque Vectoring Control, and a photo competition to see who could find and photograph a 'Smart' technology feature in the car. Journalists won prizes based on their scoring during these activities, as did the most fuel-efficient driver from earlier in the day.
The next day journalists got to experience everything the new Focus has to offer on a longer drive to Oudtshoorn.
"The gear changes are seamless, almost imperceptible, and there's no lag when you pull away from a stop street or traffic light! And the power under my right foot made it very hard to stick to the speed limit," wrote Angel, who blogs at www.angelsmind.co.za
"It's been an awesome launch as usual, as all Ford launches are. The car's been a lot of fun to drive, especially today – we did an economy drive yesterday, got some good economy figures, but today we've been hauling it and it's good – I like the chassis, it's very attractive – I'm impressed. So far the diesel is my engine of choice. It's fun to drive," said Thomas Falkiner of The Times.
"The Focus has garnered solid support over the years, but in designing the new generation version, engineers sought to take the already outstanding elements of the existing package and elevate them to even greater heights. The result is a model that boasts expressive design, affordable innovation, superior quality, responsive performance and exceptional fuel economy," said Pillay.
Dubbed 'The Game Changer', the count down to the launch came with a comic strip, on Ford South Africa’s facebook page about an All-New Focus fan's race to get to it. A framed copy of the comic strip will be presented to the very first customer of the All-New Focus.
To see 'The Game Changer' comic, please visit:
http://www.facebook.com/?sk=lf#!/media/set/?set=a.226726184017408.55760.139052112784816
