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As you might know from our FaceBook Page (FordSTNation) we are conducting a phone interview with the Marketing Manager of the Focus ST.
Google Document with Current Questions I will ask:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vvBDB50YghSfyu1VgC5nwr47Ampr_Cq2a9GSwtGF7GU/edit
Please post some questions.
Thanks!
P.S. This thread will serve as the official interview thread.
___________________________________
Lisa: In terms of students who join the forum what’s the, how is it going?
Chad: It’s going alright, I just started in November, so this is my 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] month and I am starting to see some traffic pick up of U.S. Facebook and I do have a few common people who visit the site right now and it’s like anything in the beginning and it just takes time basically.
Lisa: Yeah, which I feel like times and place and how you want to kind of get more, you know get the word out, what’s happening organically.
Chad: I have been doing some different, yeah of course you are a marketing major. I have been doing different things with social media and then of course I am trying to get the organic search going and content, I mean content is king, so the site doesn’t have unique and good content it’s not going to be useful to anybody.
Lisa: Right exactly.
Chad: But...
Lisa: Are you familiar at all with Focaljet?
Chad: I am familiar with Focaljet, yes.
Lisa: Okay because I think their fan base, they have a pretty established group I would say and Ron Myers over there at Focaljet is really a great guy. And I think that you guys might be able to kind of you know to jump forward well to a certain extent because the common ground of interest and just a thought you know.
Chad: Yeah absolutely I am actually a member over there and I do participate in the discussion about the Focus ST.
Lisa: Oh very good.
Chad: Yeah I have been trying real hard and it’s certainly and hopefully and couple of months from now we are having 100 people a day versus 10 people a day.
Lisa: Right, absolutely and yeah like you said I mean, you know more content is out there and it’s really it could be a great place, even in the future as you know owners you know the vehicle is in market, people can actually you know come together to talk about you know what they are doing with the cars kind of at Focaljet has evolved.
Chad: Right that’s the kind of, I am actually a fan of his business model. And I like what he has done with Fiesta Faction as well. So it’s kind of something I want to create if I can so.
Lisa: Great. I am happy to answer your questions, I just want to let you know that some information we are not releasing yet or either which were not complete with some of our plans or so don’t think I am trying to be difficult but there is something that we are not ready to talk about it yet, so I am happy to answer that.
Chad: I totally understand, yeah. I don’t think there is probably anything that’s new that you are going to be able to tell me but I am going to try. First off, official release date for the North American market and European market is it more than just summer or fall is there a month –?
Lisa: Yeah we haven’t really got the exact timing yet and then it really comes down to the fact that we are orchestrating this global launch and we are a little sensitive to the fact that you know North America is finally getting the cars, you know the U.S. consumer has been trying for a long time.
Chad: Yes they are.
Lisa: Finally coming we don’t want you know we don’t want a situation to happen when you know Europe has it 6 months before the U.S. has for example so we are trying to kind of to do 2 launches concurrently and it gets tricky right because you have a limited number of resources. So that’s why we haven’t said anything other than later this year. We have set it for 2013 model year. So we are trying our best and yeah a distinct date, we haven’t really done anything yet.
Chad: Right, because obviously you will be manufacturing what in the Germany plant in Europe and then –?
Lisa: Right it’s been built in Saarlouis in Germany and then assembly in Wayne, Michigan.
Chad: Yeah so that’s a very crucial part is lining all that up and I understand in a global world market its difficult things out there to put together.
Lisa: Right, I mean everything is going along as planned there is no delays or anything like that, because I have read a lot, you know people have been, a feeling that the product has been delayed and it hasn’t been delayed. We have always said it was going to be released in 2012 calendar year, we have never had any kind of specifics around that and now we are starting to now in you know on seasons but yeah it’s coming along as planned and all these things are worth the delay right.
Chad: I cannot wait to get my hands on one of these. In fact I own a Fiesta a 2001 Fiesta and I am trying to pay off my financial obligations a little bit faster so I can have this car.
Lisa: Yeah.
Chad: Second thing is, is there a area timeframe where customers will be able to make a deposit on the car to the dealers?
Lisa: I think at this point we are trying to sort through, we do think we will be able to open order by somewhere in the Spring and it would be exactly as you are assuming, to your dealer, place your order and the support obviously on the site on our website you will be able to set kind of a building price, you can put it all together and decide which ST you want to purchase and then go to your dealer to place the order.
Chad: And I think that’s a lot of people are waiting for that to see the fuel mileage, the price the and so many people are just so frustrated on reading the same things you are reading and obviously you know people think it’s delayed and so now that you say it’s not been delayed it’s all been planned that makes me feel better. Yeah certainly would like to see ST in this country because it’s never been here except for SVT I believe years back?
Lisa: That’s right.
Chad: Alright so the next really good question is why not a Focus wagon ST wagon in this country in the United States market?
Lisa: Yeah I think I mean it’s fundamentally goes back to what the U.S. market, it would be really difficult since there is not a base Focus Wagon, to put a Focus ST wagon into the U.S. market and then investments are quite high.
Chad: Right the numbers –.
Lisa: Like the whole different body style, oh you are talking about like an ST it’s a pretty small volume by comparison so it’s pretty difficult to make a business to expect work and so because our whole point of we want ST to be I mean it’s an exhilarating car to drive everyday we expect the people are just going to be people, you know the everyday daily driver car so we would like it to be affordable and still deliver that great performance to keep it affordable so wagons in the U.S. it just doesn’t make a lot of sense, it’s what we have seen day to life, that’s basic something which could happen down the line we would like to get that feedback from consumers and we listen to it and try to see can we make something work and those are the types of input that I can bring to the product development team and say I am hearing this a lot, let’s you know maybe we should take another look at it like if it’s wagon or if it’s anything you know any kind of product and in fact we get some –.
Chad: Now in saying that and doesn’t mean in the future you couldn’t have a wagon in this country, are you aware of the poll that’s going on, on Focaljet about the wagon Focus ST wagon?
Lisa: I do see that, it’s good to see interest is out there and we will keep it in mind.
Chad: It’s good to hear that you personally look at these sites with the customer feedback because it’s very important for sure.
Lisa: Absolutely yeah and in fact I know, I guess that I know Ron Myers and he has been a great kind of partner on the consumer side. And it’s helpful to have a direct link.
Chad: Absolutely okay the million dollar question, price, probably can’t talk about it but is there a range that maybe you could say?
Lisa: Well basically we have been speaking it out clearly because we want to make sure that when we go to market we understand what is going on, on the competitive ground as well, because like I said we want to make sure it’s an affordable car but we want to make sure it’s also competitive. So we haven’t set a final pricing yet, but what we have done is obviously we keep an eye on what our competitors are doing so we will take a look at what GTI are selling, Mazdaspeed3 and Subaru WRX and we recognize that we will be in that neighborhood.
Chad: Okay and that means that it’s a 25000 to 30000 range then, because –?
Lisa: It will be competitive with those cars.
Chad: I understand I got you, I understand. Alright, let’s move on to some technical aspects of the car, some consumers had posted for me to ask you.
Lisa: Okay.
Chad: Why the 2.0 liter EcoBoost engine and not a bigger engine like in the Mazda3 speed that’s one question?
Lisa: Well I think if you look holistically at Ford’s EcoBoost strategy we have a pretty great portfolio of engines coming on board and quite honestly if you look at the evolution of the previous generation ST that was in Europe that was an inline-5 mobile turbo 5 but that was about 225 horsepower. And so the 2 liter EcoBoost is ready to be installed in the Focus ST and it’s expected to achieve about 250 horsepower. So it seems like a good thing and there is really, I mean reason to build bigger necessarily in regards it was a suitable engines for the type of performance that we want to get out of the ST.
Chad: And it doesn’t mean say like a Focus RS and in the future that a bigger engine could go in that car if there is a Focus RS.
Lisa: Well we don’t have any plans for Focus RS right now. We recognize again I mean people are asking about it but honestly from my point of view as the ST line manager we need to launch ST before we can look at launching any other future products.
Chad: I think a lot of people would agree with you on that. Alright estimated fuel mileage, I know that the Explorer has a 2.0 liter EcoBoost, the Edge has it and they are I mean honestly speaking from a consumer standpoint those mileage numbers look excellent, is that something we can see on the ST as well.
Lisa: Well obviously the EcoBoost has both performance as well as efficiency so comparing to those other vehicles it’s kind of apples and oranges because especially when you look at it just from a mass standpoint those vehicles are a lot larger so we do expect to be quite competitive, if not leaders in terms of fuel economy when it comes to market.
Chad: Yeah the ST is about a 1000 pounds lighter than the Edge so?
Lisa: Yeah that’s you know it sips a little less fuel.
Chad: Yeah I would think so. And another person asked why not a all wheel drive and I think I know the answer.
Lisa: Well I mean fundamentally the vehicle didn’t require it, you know STs has not done all wheel drive in the past and when we look at the team that’s behind the ST within the global performance vehicle’s crew so we had team RS from Europe who were a mastermind behind STs of the past and then you have the special vehicles team here in the U.S. So these are engineers that essentially all they do are performance vehicle here. So I tip my hat to them and recognize that they know what needs to be done to make a performance vehicle and if they thought that an all wheel drive was required to be ST performance requirements they could have gone that way. However we recognize also that all wheel drive becomes well you know you get the traction benefit out of it; you also take a hit on your weight, the fuel economy. So from an overall vehicle perspective if it wasn’t required we opted to use smarter technology features like our enhanced Torque Vectoring and torque steer compensation and things like that to take care of the most aerostat that might come from a front wheel drive high performance vehicle and then you get your great fuel economy.
Chad: Absolutely I agree, I don’t believe the car needs all wheel drive, I mean it would be kind of a cool thing to have but it just doesn’t need it for sure. Another question, moving on, some viewers were coming on images of the Focus ST as far as Boost and one person says and one person says and these are the dash icons mind you the 3 dash gauges, one says 1.2 bar and the other one says 1.8 bar and they were thinking there might be a difference in boost between the EU version and the NA version.
Lisa: No I can tell you with 100% certainty there is nothing different that Europe is getting in terms of performance that as far as the U.S.. It’s the same engine, the calibration is being worked on as a single calibration, vehicle dynamics, and performance is exactly the same. Honestly it probably just comes down to editing on an image but you know rest assured the boost will be exactly the same around the globe.
Chad: Okay I think that person would be happy with that response. What fuel octane what type of fuel will the Focus ST require?
Lisa: Well all the EcoBoost engine can run on regular fuel but we do recommend premium to get the most performance very similar to other turbo boost engines. And it can run it on regular but if you want to get Focus run it you are going to want to put premium in it.
Chad: Okay so it’s going to, it’s going to be recommended on the fuel door that you put 91 or 92 in it.
Lisa: But it won’t be required.
Chad: Okay.
Lisa: It’s [Indiscernible] [0:14:53].
Chad: Very important question from the 2 consumers because of the cost associated with the higher octane fuel.
Lisa: Absolutely.
Chad: That’s very good, I am glad you guys are allowing a lower octane fuel for that. We are worried about the engine knock, but the lower octane is –.
Lisa: Right, you won’t have to worry about that.
Chad: Excellent. Another viewer asked me, how complete was the sound, in the sound composer YouTube video?
Lisa: How complete was it?
Chad: Is that the sound that we are going to get out of the Focus ST or is it a different sound from the video?
Lisa: I think that was point in time, in the development I know that the engineers, I mean they are, night and day trying to fine tune this vehicle. So I would say that for the time that that video was shot which was, you know last what like summer, August something like that. It was a point in time, and now you know it is getting further refined, but in terms of what the sound composer will provide, it’s going to have a signature sound to it. So when you hear you know that vehicle you will be able to start to recognize it as an ST.
Chad: Excellent, good to know. Another question was will Ford Racing parts be available for the Focus ST?
Lisa: We have every expectation that we will work with Ford Racing to put together the Performance Part Catalog. They have certainly expressed their interest and kind of coming onboard and certainly with the Focus ST-R, development and competition is starting this next week actually. You know there will be a lot of learning that can come out of that that we might be able to then put together some performance parts.
Chad: Excellent, good to know. Can you clarify exterior color choices I believe it’s been mentioned in a press release, but can you clarify those colors for me?
Lisa: Sure, we have six colors in total. Tangerine Scream is the ST signature color so no other vehicles will contain the Tangerine Scream except the Focus ST. Then we have a really great metallic blue called Performance Blue, it kind of is similar to the Sonic Blue that used to be on the Focus SVT, it’s kind of an upgraded a little richer color given to today’s technologies. And then we have a solid Race Red as well as another Solid Oxford White. And then in terms of metallic we have Tuxedo Black, which is the black that on the new Focus as well as other Ford products and then Ingot Silver.
Chad: Excellent. Are you able to comment on the specifics of the trim levels more specifically on the HID lights, will the car have high intensity lights or –?
Lisa: They will have HID’s available, the multi-standard concept, but they will be available and we noticed when we kind of drew our competitive research, it’s a similar strategy that our competitors use as well.
Chad: So it will be there on option, and it will HID’s not a halogen bulb, it will be bi-xenon, excellent that’s definitely the one I want. One viewer asks multicolor ambient lightings will be available on ST, will they?
Lisa: Yeah.
Chad: I thought so. Another viewer asks will Recaro seats be a standard or an option?
Lisa: Well, right now, we are trying to sort that out, they are certainly going to be available, so – we will have Recaro be available, both in a partial level execution which you probably some of the images that have feature colors or in tangerine scream, performance blue or neutral smoke storm, kind of charcoal color and we also have a full leather Recaro in black.
Chad: I wish I would have wait one more year from my Fiesta because they started doing those inserts with the colors of the car and it’s a small thing but you know it goes along way as far as looks of the car.
Lisa: Yeah.
Chad: Definitely. Another viewer asks will MyFord Touch be standard on the Focus ST?
Lisa: Again, it’s down to what we are going to finalize in our content but it will be available.
Chad: Okay. Another viewer asks will SYNC/DAB plus radio be available in the Germany release?
Lisa: I am not sure, I understand.
Chad: Sync, I guess, it will be the same thing as Ford MyTouch but they want to know if it’s going to be available in Germany at release?
Lisa: Oh, in Germany, you know I would have to check, I am not sure.
Chad: Okay. Another person asks, we have seen documentation from Frankfurt back in 2011 that there is a Focus ST1 and ST2 and ST3, would a similar execution be taken place in United States?
Lisa: Likely, we will have similar packaging, it maybe some differences just based upon markets, ST1, ST2 are nomenclature that Europe has used in the past for their packaging strategies and like I said, we are just at our final packaging strategy pricing all of that, but as soon as we have all that updates we will provide that release.
Chad: Excellent, this is really good information. Let’s see I have a couple of more questions I have posted on the form but I didn’t have on my document. The one person asks rear lights, they say in the first PDFs of the ST they were told that we are going to get black rear lights, do you know what I am talking about the smoke lights instead of the clear lens, I guess?
Lisa: Well the smoke lights that appeared where on the Concept that was shown in Frankfurt, we did it on concept at that point in time, so we don’t have smoke, we have clear lamps.
Chad: I see.
Lisa: Being a little bit fantastic on the concept vehicle.
Chad: Of course, it all comes down to cost I mean or final decisions obviously. Let’s see one, he also asked in some images they see carbon design like carbon parts, some of the plastics and such, is that something is going to be available on the production version?
Lisa: Well right now we do have some images at www.ford.com so the Focus ST was displayed, so you can kind of get a look inside the interior, obviously right now we are putting together our mainstream packaging, but as we get into productions we have our partners in the vehicle personalization group and they are always looking for ideas for things just like that, how can people personalize their car and kind of put together a package. So if there is items like, that I think it would be great to encourage your group to provide those kinds of ideas and then we can feed that information into products, vehicle personalization team.
Chad: Definitely. Another question someone had was, he has seen some aluminum the silver on the steering wheel and on the gear handle, he is wondering if that’s going to be a plastic painted or an aluminum part?
Lisa: I would have to check to be certain, I thought it was aluminum.
Chad: Okay that’s good, so it’s a little bit more quality for sure.
Lisa: Well all of the details of the car we have gone a little bit with the fine [Indiscernible] [0:23:12] make sure that you know its high quality materials and other things that you touch. We want to make sure it gives an ST feel. So for example the steering wheel is a unique steering wheel for ST, it has a little stickers rim to it, it’s a little bit more substantial to hold on to because we recognize, people touch that 100% of the time. So when they are driving and you want to make sure that it gets across with the image brand.
Chad: Absolutely, I totally agree people need to perceive the value and the product for sure. One last question, I guess then we can wrap this up. They are asking about the sound system, will a Sony sound system, 10.1 or 9.1 be available globally?
Lisa: Again I have to look because of, you know if it’s a regular pricing some content may exist globally things like that, but like I would have to look into what is available, globally. So certainly in the U.S. but then you will have the Sony audio system available as we do in other products.
Chad: Is that a standard feature or as an option?
Lisa: It’s again something we are sorting out.
Chad: Okay. I understand. Okay, I think that’s all I have for you as far as what people wanted me to ask you. And I will certainly distribute this out to my Facebook page, my website Focaljet I will let everyone know, everything you have told me in the interview and hopefully they will have more of a peace of a mind.
Lisa: Okay, very good. I just want to ask you, because you are in Florida.
Chad: I am in Florida, yes.
Lisa: Because there you would be able to get to Daytona, next Friday is the STR debut in the Grand AM series and I probably get you a ticket.
Chad: That would be so awesome. The problem is I am going to be flying out of Michigan that day.
Lisa: Oh god.
Chad: I am going to be in Michigan, Monday, I mean Sunday night.
Lisa: Okay.
Chad: Up in Midland, Michigan.
Lisa: Okay. Well maybe we will try to see what other [Indiscernible] [0:25:33].
Chad: Sure, anything you can think of that you might be able to help me out seeing the car more or more visibility, I am totally committed to making this a car more visible on the internet on my website for sure.
Lisa: Alright, good. It was great to have you and thanks for your efforts, yes. That is really cool and I mean I guess I am excited to see the work that you are putting into it, it’s really cool.
Chad: Thank you. I have one more question, I know you probably don’t handle this but my university, Northern University is having Auto Show in about a month. And I was wondering if there is way to find out, if we can get a Focus ST on this campus for the Auto Show.
Lisa: Probably not, only because we don’t have it on properties right now and then readily, like next month we have Chicago Auto Show and it’s going to 80 Auto Show there we support and we only had a handful of cars, but certainly as we get more downstream even like maybe into next year, it’s like an yearly event that you guys do.
Chad: It’s an yearly event.
Lisa: That might be a lot, a lot easier to support something like that.
Chad: Yeah I figured much, I have kept asking the Auto Show Chair about and so they are trying but now I know a definite answer “no.”
Lisa: Yes.
Chad: I understand there is New York Auto Show, Chicago and –.
Lisa: Yeah, exactly.
Chad: I got it.
Lisa: As well as all the regional auto shows.
Chad: Yeah, I had a viewer that was going to the New England Show and they were quite disappointed that they didn’t see Focus ST there, but I figured that you only had a limited amount of them to spread out.
Lisa: Exactly because right now we have 2 at the Detroit Auto Show and then there is another one that is touring like in the Canadian Shows so they are [Indiscernible] [0:27:31] used so. Of course they can’t call one away for that but like I said, next year that would be a lot easier to [Indiscernible] [0:27:39].
Chad: Absolutely, I totally agree. Well, Lisa it’s been such a pleasure and I appreciate you taking the time to speak with me, I really appreciate it.
Lisa: Okay, you have a great day.
Chad: You too.
Lisa: Okay thanks.
Chad: Bye-bye.
Lisa: Bye.
[0:28:00]
[Audio Ends]
Google Document with Current Questions I will ask:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vvBDB50YghSfyu1VgC5nwr47Ampr_Cq2a9GSwtGF7GU/edit
Please post some questions.
Thanks!
P.S. This thread will serve as the official interview thread.
___________________________________
Lisa: In terms of students who join the forum what’s the, how is it going?
Chad: It’s going alright, I just started in November, so this is my 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] month and I am starting to see some traffic pick up of U.S. Facebook and I do have a few common people who visit the site right now and it’s like anything in the beginning and it just takes time basically.
Lisa: Yeah, which I feel like times and place and how you want to kind of get more, you know get the word out, what’s happening organically.
Chad: I have been doing some different, yeah of course you are a marketing major. I have been doing different things with social media and then of course I am trying to get the organic search going and content, I mean content is king, so the site doesn’t have unique and good content it’s not going to be useful to anybody.
Lisa: Right exactly.
Chad: But...
Lisa: Are you familiar at all with Focaljet?
Chad: I am familiar with Focaljet, yes.
Lisa: Okay because I think their fan base, they have a pretty established group I would say and Ron Myers over there at Focaljet is really a great guy. And I think that you guys might be able to kind of you know to jump forward well to a certain extent because the common ground of interest and just a thought you know.
Chad: Yeah absolutely I am actually a member over there and I do participate in the discussion about the Focus ST.
Lisa: Oh very good.
Chad: Yeah I have been trying real hard and it’s certainly and hopefully and couple of months from now we are having 100 people a day versus 10 people a day.
Lisa: Right, absolutely and yeah like you said I mean, you know more content is out there and it’s really it could be a great place, even in the future as you know owners you know the vehicle is in market, people can actually you know come together to talk about you know what they are doing with the cars kind of at Focaljet has evolved.
Chad: Right that’s the kind of, I am actually a fan of his business model. And I like what he has done with Fiesta Faction as well. So it’s kind of something I want to create if I can so.
Lisa: Great. I am happy to answer your questions, I just want to let you know that some information we are not releasing yet or either which were not complete with some of our plans or so don’t think I am trying to be difficult but there is something that we are not ready to talk about it yet, so I am happy to answer that.
Chad: I totally understand, yeah. I don’t think there is probably anything that’s new that you are going to be able to tell me but I am going to try. First off, official release date for the North American market and European market is it more than just summer or fall is there a month –?
Lisa: Yeah we haven’t really got the exact timing yet and then it really comes down to the fact that we are orchestrating this global launch and we are a little sensitive to the fact that you know North America is finally getting the cars, you know the U.S. consumer has been trying for a long time.
Chad: Yes they are.
Lisa: Finally coming we don’t want you know we don’t want a situation to happen when you know Europe has it 6 months before the U.S. has for example so we are trying to kind of to do 2 launches concurrently and it gets tricky right because you have a limited number of resources. So that’s why we haven’t said anything other than later this year. We have set it for 2013 model year. So we are trying our best and yeah a distinct date, we haven’t really done anything yet.
Chad: Right, because obviously you will be manufacturing what in the Germany plant in Europe and then –?
Lisa: Right it’s been built in Saarlouis in Germany and then assembly in Wayne, Michigan.
Chad: Yeah so that’s a very crucial part is lining all that up and I understand in a global world market its difficult things out there to put together.
Lisa: Right, I mean everything is going along as planned there is no delays or anything like that, because I have read a lot, you know people have been, a feeling that the product has been delayed and it hasn’t been delayed. We have always said it was going to be released in 2012 calendar year, we have never had any kind of specifics around that and now we are starting to now in you know on seasons but yeah it’s coming along as planned and all these things are worth the delay right.
Chad: I cannot wait to get my hands on one of these. In fact I own a Fiesta a 2001 Fiesta and I am trying to pay off my financial obligations a little bit faster so I can have this car.
Lisa: Yeah.
Chad: Second thing is, is there a area timeframe where customers will be able to make a deposit on the car to the dealers?
Lisa: I think at this point we are trying to sort through, we do think we will be able to open order by somewhere in the Spring and it would be exactly as you are assuming, to your dealer, place your order and the support obviously on the site on our website you will be able to set kind of a building price, you can put it all together and decide which ST you want to purchase and then go to your dealer to place the order.
Chad: And I think that’s a lot of people are waiting for that to see the fuel mileage, the price the and so many people are just so frustrated on reading the same things you are reading and obviously you know people think it’s delayed and so now that you say it’s not been delayed it’s all been planned that makes me feel better. Yeah certainly would like to see ST in this country because it’s never been here except for SVT I believe years back?
Lisa: That’s right.
Chad: Alright so the next really good question is why not a Focus wagon ST wagon in this country in the United States market?
Lisa: Yeah I think I mean it’s fundamentally goes back to what the U.S. market, it would be really difficult since there is not a base Focus Wagon, to put a Focus ST wagon into the U.S. market and then investments are quite high.
Chad: Right the numbers –.
Lisa: Like the whole different body style, oh you are talking about like an ST it’s a pretty small volume by comparison so it’s pretty difficult to make a business to expect work and so because our whole point of we want ST to be I mean it’s an exhilarating car to drive everyday we expect the people are just going to be people, you know the everyday daily driver car so we would like it to be affordable and still deliver that great performance to keep it affordable so wagons in the U.S. it just doesn’t make a lot of sense, it’s what we have seen day to life, that’s basic something which could happen down the line we would like to get that feedback from consumers and we listen to it and try to see can we make something work and those are the types of input that I can bring to the product development team and say I am hearing this a lot, let’s you know maybe we should take another look at it like if it’s wagon or if it’s anything you know any kind of product and in fact we get some –.
Chad: Now in saying that and doesn’t mean in the future you couldn’t have a wagon in this country, are you aware of the poll that’s going on, on Focaljet about the wagon Focus ST wagon?
Lisa: I do see that, it’s good to see interest is out there and we will keep it in mind.
Chad: It’s good to hear that you personally look at these sites with the customer feedback because it’s very important for sure.
Lisa: Absolutely yeah and in fact I know, I guess that I know Ron Myers and he has been a great kind of partner on the consumer side. And it’s helpful to have a direct link.
Chad: Absolutely okay the million dollar question, price, probably can’t talk about it but is there a range that maybe you could say?
Lisa: Well basically we have been speaking it out clearly because we want to make sure that when we go to market we understand what is going on, on the competitive ground as well, because like I said we want to make sure it’s an affordable car but we want to make sure it’s also competitive. So we haven’t set a final pricing yet, but what we have done is obviously we keep an eye on what our competitors are doing so we will take a look at what GTI are selling, Mazdaspeed3 and Subaru WRX and we recognize that we will be in that neighborhood.
Chad: Okay and that means that it’s a 25000 to 30000 range then, because –?
Lisa: It will be competitive with those cars.
Chad: I understand I got you, I understand. Alright, let’s move on to some technical aspects of the car, some consumers had posted for me to ask you.
Lisa: Okay.
Chad: Why the 2.0 liter EcoBoost engine and not a bigger engine like in the Mazda3 speed that’s one question?
Lisa: Well I think if you look holistically at Ford’s EcoBoost strategy we have a pretty great portfolio of engines coming on board and quite honestly if you look at the evolution of the previous generation ST that was in Europe that was an inline-5 mobile turbo 5 but that was about 225 horsepower. And so the 2 liter EcoBoost is ready to be installed in the Focus ST and it’s expected to achieve about 250 horsepower. So it seems like a good thing and there is really, I mean reason to build bigger necessarily in regards it was a suitable engines for the type of performance that we want to get out of the ST.
Chad: And it doesn’t mean say like a Focus RS and in the future that a bigger engine could go in that car if there is a Focus RS.
Lisa: Well we don’t have any plans for Focus RS right now. We recognize again I mean people are asking about it but honestly from my point of view as the ST line manager we need to launch ST before we can look at launching any other future products.
Chad: I think a lot of people would agree with you on that. Alright estimated fuel mileage, I know that the Explorer has a 2.0 liter EcoBoost, the Edge has it and they are I mean honestly speaking from a consumer standpoint those mileage numbers look excellent, is that something we can see on the ST as well.
Lisa: Well obviously the EcoBoost has both performance as well as efficiency so comparing to those other vehicles it’s kind of apples and oranges because especially when you look at it just from a mass standpoint those vehicles are a lot larger so we do expect to be quite competitive, if not leaders in terms of fuel economy when it comes to market.
Chad: Yeah the ST is about a 1000 pounds lighter than the Edge so?
Lisa: Yeah that’s you know it sips a little less fuel.
Chad: Yeah I would think so. And another person asked why not a all wheel drive and I think I know the answer.
Lisa: Well I mean fundamentally the vehicle didn’t require it, you know STs has not done all wheel drive in the past and when we look at the team that’s behind the ST within the global performance vehicle’s crew so we had team RS from Europe who were a mastermind behind STs of the past and then you have the special vehicles team here in the U.S. So these are engineers that essentially all they do are performance vehicle here. So I tip my hat to them and recognize that they know what needs to be done to make a performance vehicle and if they thought that an all wheel drive was required to be ST performance requirements they could have gone that way. However we recognize also that all wheel drive becomes well you know you get the traction benefit out of it; you also take a hit on your weight, the fuel economy. So from an overall vehicle perspective if it wasn’t required we opted to use smarter technology features like our enhanced Torque Vectoring and torque steer compensation and things like that to take care of the most aerostat that might come from a front wheel drive high performance vehicle and then you get your great fuel economy.
Chad: Absolutely I agree, I don’t believe the car needs all wheel drive, I mean it would be kind of a cool thing to have but it just doesn’t need it for sure. Another question, moving on, some viewers were coming on images of the Focus ST as far as Boost and one person says and one person says and these are the dash icons mind you the 3 dash gauges, one says 1.2 bar and the other one says 1.8 bar and they were thinking there might be a difference in boost between the EU version and the NA version.
Lisa: No I can tell you with 100% certainty there is nothing different that Europe is getting in terms of performance that as far as the U.S.. It’s the same engine, the calibration is being worked on as a single calibration, vehicle dynamics, and performance is exactly the same. Honestly it probably just comes down to editing on an image but you know rest assured the boost will be exactly the same around the globe.
Chad: Okay I think that person would be happy with that response. What fuel octane what type of fuel will the Focus ST require?
Lisa: Well all the EcoBoost engine can run on regular fuel but we do recommend premium to get the most performance very similar to other turbo boost engines. And it can run it on regular but if you want to get Focus run it you are going to want to put premium in it.
Chad: Okay so it’s going to, it’s going to be recommended on the fuel door that you put 91 or 92 in it.
Lisa: But it won’t be required.
Chad: Okay.
Lisa: It’s [Indiscernible] [0:14:53].
Chad: Very important question from the 2 consumers because of the cost associated with the higher octane fuel.
Lisa: Absolutely.
Chad: That’s very good, I am glad you guys are allowing a lower octane fuel for that. We are worried about the engine knock, but the lower octane is –.
Lisa: Right, you won’t have to worry about that.
Chad: Excellent. Another viewer asked me, how complete was the sound, in the sound composer YouTube video?
Lisa: How complete was it?
Chad: Is that the sound that we are going to get out of the Focus ST or is it a different sound from the video?
Lisa: I think that was point in time, in the development I know that the engineers, I mean they are, night and day trying to fine tune this vehicle. So I would say that for the time that that video was shot which was, you know last what like summer, August something like that. It was a point in time, and now you know it is getting further refined, but in terms of what the sound composer will provide, it’s going to have a signature sound to it. So when you hear you know that vehicle you will be able to start to recognize it as an ST.
Chad: Excellent, good to know. Another question was will Ford Racing parts be available for the Focus ST?
Lisa: We have every expectation that we will work with Ford Racing to put together the Performance Part Catalog. They have certainly expressed their interest and kind of coming onboard and certainly with the Focus ST-R, development and competition is starting this next week actually. You know there will be a lot of learning that can come out of that that we might be able to then put together some performance parts.
Chad: Excellent, good to know. Can you clarify exterior color choices I believe it’s been mentioned in a press release, but can you clarify those colors for me?
Lisa: Sure, we have six colors in total. Tangerine Scream is the ST signature color so no other vehicles will contain the Tangerine Scream except the Focus ST. Then we have a really great metallic blue called Performance Blue, it kind of is similar to the Sonic Blue that used to be on the Focus SVT, it’s kind of an upgraded a little richer color given to today’s technologies. And then we have a solid Race Red as well as another Solid Oxford White. And then in terms of metallic we have Tuxedo Black, which is the black that on the new Focus as well as other Ford products and then Ingot Silver.
Chad: Excellent. Are you able to comment on the specifics of the trim levels more specifically on the HID lights, will the car have high intensity lights or –?
Lisa: They will have HID’s available, the multi-standard concept, but they will be available and we noticed when we kind of drew our competitive research, it’s a similar strategy that our competitors use as well.
Chad: So it will be there on option, and it will HID’s not a halogen bulb, it will be bi-xenon, excellent that’s definitely the one I want. One viewer asks multicolor ambient lightings will be available on ST, will they?
Lisa: Yeah.
Chad: I thought so. Another viewer asks will Recaro seats be a standard or an option?
Lisa: Well, right now, we are trying to sort that out, they are certainly going to be available, so – we will have Recaro be available, both in a partial level execution which you probably some of the images that have feature colors or in tangerine scream, performance blue or neutral smoke storm, kind of charcoal color and we also have a full leather Recaro in black.
Chad: I wish I would have wait one more year from my Fiesta because they started doing those inserts with the colors of the car and it’s a small thing but you know it goes along way as far as looks of the car.
Lisa: Yeah.
Chad: Definitely. Another viewer asks will MyFord Touch be standard on the Focus ST?
Lisa: Again, it’s down to what we are going to finalize in our content but it will be available.
Chad: Okay. Another viewer asks will SYNC/DAB plus radio be available in the Germany release?
Lisa: I am not sure, I understand.
Chad: Sync, I guess, it will be the same thing as Ford MyTouch but they want to know if it’s going to be available in Germany at release?
Lisa: Oh, in Germany, you know I would have to check, I am not sure.
Chad: Okay. Another person asks, we have seen documentation from Frankfurt back in 2011 that there is a Focus ST1 and ST2 and ST3, would a similar execution be taken place in United States?
Lisa: Likely, we will have similar packaging, it maybe some differences just based upon markets, ST1, ST2 are nomenclature that Europe has used in the past for their packaging strategies and like I said, we are just at our final packaging strategy pricing all of that, but as soon as we have all that updates we will provide that release.
Chad: Excellent, this is really good information. Let’s see I have a couple of more questions I have posted on the form but I didn’t have on my document. The one person asks rear lights, they say in the first PDFs of the ST they were told that we are going to get black rear lights, do you know what I am talking about the smoke lights instead of the clear lens, I guess?
Lisa: Well the smoke lights that appeared where on the Concept that was shown in Frankfurt, we did it on concept at that point in time, so we don’t have smoke, we have clear lamps.
Chad: I see.
Lisa: Being a little bit fantastic on the concept vehicle.
Chad: Of course, it all comes down to cost I mean or final decisions obviously. Let’s see one, he also asked in some images they see carbon design like carbon parts, some of the plastics and such, is that something is going to be available on the production version?
Lisa: Well right now we do have some images at www.ford.com so the Focus ST was displayed, so you can kind of get a look inside the interior, obviously right now we are putting together our mainstream packaging, but as we get into productions we have our partners in the vehicle personalization group and they are always looking for ideas for things just like that, how can people personalize their car and kind of put together a package. So if there is items like, that I think it would be great to encourage your group to provide those kinds of ideas and then we can feed that information into products, vehicle personalization team.
Chad: Definitely. Another question someone had was, he has seen some aluminum the silver on the steering wheel and on the gear handle, he is wondering if that’s going to be a plastic painted or an aluminum part?
Lisa: I would have to check to be certain, I thought it was aluminum.
Chad: Okay that’s good, so it’s a little bit more quality for sure.
Lisa: Well all of the details of the car we have gone a little bit with the fine [Indiscernible] [0:23:12] make sure that you know its high quality materials and other things that you touch. We want to make sure it gives an ST feel. So for example the steering wheel is a unique steering wheel for ST, it has a little stickers rim to it, it’s a little bit more substantial to hold on to because we recognize, people touch that 100% of the time. So when they are driving and you want to make sure that it gets across with the image brand.
Chad: Absolutely, I totally agree people need to perceive the value and the product for sure. One last question, I guess then we can wrap this up. They are asking about the sound system, will a Sony sound system, 10.1 or 9.1 be available globally?
Lisa: Again I have to look because of, you know if it’s a regular pricing some content may exist globally things like that, but like I would have to look into what is available, globally. So certainly in the U.S. but then you will have the Sony audio system available as we do in other products.
Chad: Is that a standard feature or as an option?
Lisa: It’s again something we are sorting out.
Chad: Okay. I understand. Okay, I think that’s all I have for you as far as what people wanted me to ask you. And I will certainly distribute this out to my Facebook page, my website Focaljet I will let everyone know, everything you have told me in the interview and hopefully they will have more of a peace of a mind.
Lisa: Okay, very good. I just want to ask you, because you are in Florida.
Chad: I am in Florida, yes.
Lisa: Because there you would be able to get to Daytona, next Friday is the STR debut in the Grand AM series and I probably get you a ticket.
Chad: That would be so awesome. The problem is I am going to be flying out of Michigan that day.
Lisa: Oh god.
Chad: I am going to be in Michigan, Monday, I mean Sunday night.
Lisa: Okay.
Chad: Up in Midland, Michigan.
Lisa: Okay. Well maybe we will try to see what other [Indiscernible] [0:25:33].
Chad: Sure, anything you can think of that you might be able to help me out seeing the car more or more visibility, I am totally committed to making this a car more visible on the internet on my website for sure.
Lisa: Alright, good. It was great to have you and thanks for your efforts, yes. That is really cool and I mean I guess I am excited to see the work that you are putting into it, it’s really cool.
Chad: Thank you. I have one more question, I know you probably don’t handle this but my university, Northern University is having Auto Show in about a month. And I was wondering if there is way to find out, if we can get a Focus ST on this campus for the Auto Show.
Lisa: Probably not, only because we don’t have it on properties right now and then readily, like next month we have Chicago Auto Show and it’s going to 80 Auto Show there we support and we only had a handful of cars, but certainly as we get more downstream even like maybe into next year, it’s like an yearly event that you guys do.
Chad: It’s an yearly event.
Lisa: That might be a lot, a lot easier to support something like that.
Chad: Yeah I figured much, I have kept asking the Auto Show Chair about and so they are trying but now I know a definite answer “no.”
Lisa: Yes.
Chad: I understand there is New York Auto Show, Chicago and –.
Lisa: Yeah, exactly.
Chad: I got it.
Lisa: As well as all the regional auto shows.
Chad: Yeah, I had a viewer that was going to the New England Show and they were quite disappointed that they didn’t see Focus ST there, but I figured that you only had a limited amount of them to spread out.
Lisa: Exactly because right now we have 2 at the Detroit Auto Show and then there is another one that is touring like in the Canadian Shows so they are [Indiscernible] [0:27:31] used so. Of course they can’t call one away for that but like I said, next year that would be a lot easier to [Indiscernible] [0:27:39].
Chad: Absolutely, I totally agree. Well, Lisa it’s been such a pleasure and I appreciate you taking the time to speak with me, I really appreciate it.
Lisa: Okay, you have a great day.
Chad: You too.
Lisa: Okay thanks.
Chad: Bye-bye.
Lisa: Bye.
[0:28:00]
[Audio Ends]
