The next-generation Ford Focus small car will prove that Ford Motor Co. has finally figured out how to do a global car.

The North American and European versions of the Focus will share 90 percent of their parts, up from approximately 20 percent for the current editions, Mark Fields, Ford’s president of The Americas, said on Wednesday.

In addition, the North American car and other small car derivatives built off a new global platform will deliver a double-digit percentage profit improvement compared with the company’s current North American Focus, he said. He declined to specify the current car’s profitability.

Ford will introduce the new Fiesta small car in North America in early 2010. The re-engineered Ford Focus will follow later in 2010.

The improved productivity will come from engineering and sourcing cars globally, Fields said.




By reducing build combinations, Ford gains engineering efficiencies, cuts prototype expenses and further drives quality improvements, he said. Dealers will benefit from reduced inventory age, lowered floor plan costs, simplified vehicle orders and quicker days to turn.

“We’ve reduced the number of orderable combinations in North America--including series, packages and options--by 90 percent for the Ford brand alone in the 2008-2009 model years,” Fields said. The Focus will offer “approximately 150 combinations by the 2010 model year,” he said, “more than a 95 percent reduction” from the 2008 model.

Ford’s previous attempts at global cars largely foundered. The Escort in the 1980s, followed by the Ford Contour, Mercury Mystique and European-market Ford Mondeo cars ended up quite distinct from the European cars they were supposed to share parts with.

Today, though, North American and European consumer tastes and requirements “are converging and that’s helping us tremendously,” Fields said.

In addition, he said, “We now have a truly global product development organization. That really forces, in a positive way, the product development, manufacturing, marketing and sales, and financial community to work together in a global way.