福特公司最终抛弃小型车了吗？

    要了解福特公司（Ford）是否已摆脱昔日糟糕光景的最新情况，请试驾一下2011款福特福克斯，准备好感受令人愉悦的惊喜吧。

    两年前福特公司才勉强躲过破产危机，本周，在位于密歇根州韦恩市由卡车工厂改造而来的工厂里，它开始生产新款紧凑型轿车。本田思域（Honda Civic）和雪佛兰科鲁兹（Chevrolet Cruze）是这一新款车型的直接竞争者，而它很可能会是福特公司在美国卖得最好的小型车。

    最起码，这款福克斯有别于福特公司的Escort, Topaze 和很久以前的Contour 。

    跟其所替代的上一代福克斯相比，新款福克斯有了极大的提升。消费者对上一代福克斯兴趣索然无可厚非，而现在他们会发现，新款真是焕然一新。这辆车外形俊美，车身钢板接合得工艺精良，感觉十分坚实。

    在共计三天的市内和高速公路试驾后，我所驾驶的福克斯顶配钛版（Titanium version）行驶里程约为250英里。这一版与全系车型装配的都是排量2.0的四缸引擎。试驾车型的变速器为六速自动档，包括了几种电子选配设备，如语音激活巡航系统。MyFord Touch触摸屏和福特同步娱乐信息系统配合得天衣无缝。

    有一次福克斯的后视镜倒车摄像头在系统重启时画面僵住了——不过，嘿，谁的电脑又能从不死机呢？

    这辆车的操控、刹车和弯道表现都可圈可点，虽然谈不上马力强劲，但其加速性能在高速公路上也足以让驾驶者信心十足了。而且，福克斯每加仑平均行驶里程超过30英里，在油价接近每加仑4美元的今天，为了燃油效率牺牲点马力也算是公平。

    配置良好的钛版福克斯标价约25,000美元。高配福克斯不可谓不贵，但它看上去及感受上都像是一款高级车，车上的众多配置，如真皮座椅和一键式启动按钮，都是一般在豪华车上才能见到的。（而配有五速手动变速器的入门版起价还不到17,000美元。）

    福特公司的发言人赛德•迪普表示：“出于高油价和环保的考虑，很多购车人都开始考虑小型车。他们希望获得，也应该得到在大型车上才有的配置。”

    奇怪的是，福特公司为欧洲消费者生产高品质、颇受认可的小型车已颇有时日，但在美国生产的却是更廉价、更低端的版本。这一战略不仅将美国市场的份额拱手让给了丰田公司（Toyota）和其他厂商，还使福特公司不得不在欧美两地建立起独立的营销、工程和生产架构。

    2006年上任以来，福特公司首席执行官艾伦•穆拉利就将“一个福特”（One Ford）标榜为公司的信条，并着手整合产品研发工作。此前，福特公司曾尝试推出“世界”车，但最后以失败告终。

    福特的广告公司Team Detroit为福克斯发起了全球性的营销推广活动，采用社交媒体在新车上市前吸引人们的关注。

    Team Detroit的执行副总裁保罗•韦恩说：“我们选择了40家社交媒体，给每家一台福克斯在西班牙的一条试驾道路上测试。”测试的视频通过Facebook，Twitter和其他社交媒体平台广为发布。

    今后，福特公司在研发新车型及开展营销时，将充分利用其全球化的规模经济布局。福克斯是否能流行开来还有待观察，但其试驾视频获得的观看次数和好评，表明该款新车的初露锋芒颇受肯定。

    如果福克斯能赢得一些重要奖项，请一定记得这离不开YouTube给予支持的功劳。

    译者：清远

    For a fresh clue about whether Ford has left its bad old days in the dust, take a test drive in the 2011 Ford Focus and be prepared for a pleasant surprise.

    Ford, which narrowly avoided bankruptcy two years ago, this week kicked off production of its new compact car in a converted truck factory in Wayne, Michigan. The new model, which competes directly against models like the Honda Civic and Chevrolet Cruze, is likely the best small car Ford ever has sold in the U.S.

    At a minimum, this Focus is a refreshing departure from Ford's Escorts, Topazes and Contours of yore.

    The new Focus is a dramatic improvement over the Focus it replaces. Shoppers who were justifiably unimpressed with the previous version could find the new one a departure. The exterior is handsome, the sheet metal fit craftsmanlike, the feel solid.

    Over three days of city and highway driving, I covered about 250 miles in the Focus's top-of-the-line Titanium version, equipped (as all versions are) with a two-liter four cylinder engine. The test model, with six-speed automatic transmission, included several electronic options, such as voice-activated navigation. The MyFord Touch touchscreen and Ford Sync infotainment system generally worked well.

    On one occasion Focus's rear-view backup camera was frozen on screen while the system rebooted -- but, hey, who owns a computer that never has crashed?

    The vehicle handled, braked and cornered competently, and although it couldn't be described as powerful, the acceleration certainly was sufficient to impart a feeling of confidence on the freeway. Focus averaged more than 30 miles per gallon, which is a fair trade-off for excess horsepower at a time when gas prices are approaching $4 a gallon.

    Sticker price for the well-equipped Titanium is about $25,000. The high-end Focus isn't inexpensive, yet it feels and looks like a premium car, with lots of amenities like leather upholstery and push-button start that buyers would expect to see in a luxury car. (The entry-level version, with a five-speed manual transmission, starts at just under $17,000.)

    "Lots of shoppers are moving to smaller vehicles because of gasoline prices and for reasons of conservation," said Said Deep, a Ford spokesman. "They expect, and should get, the same kinds of features they had in the bigger vehicles they're trading in."

    Oddly, Ford has manufactured high-quality, well-regarded small cars for European customers for some time, choosing to build cheaper, flimsier versions for the U.S. That strategy not only handed share of the U.S. market to Toyota and others, it required Ford to have separate marketing, engineering and manufacturing organizations for each continent.

    Alan Mulally, Ford's CEO, declared "One Ford" as the company's credo after taking over in 2006 and set about harmonizing product development. Ford had tried for "world" cars before and failed.

    Ford's advertising agency, Team Detroit, undertook a global marketing campaign for Focus, using social media to build awareness prior to the launch.

    "We selected 40 social media practitioners and gave them each a Focus to test at a test track in Spain," said Paul Venn, executive vice president of Team Detroit, Ford's advertising agency. The videos were distributed via Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms.

    Henceforth, Ford will take advantage of global economies of scale when developing new vehicles and marketing them. Time will tell whether Focus catches on, but early reviews suggest that the model's buzz is positive, given the number of views and the tenor of comments from videos shot on the test drive.

    If Focus wins some important awards, be sure to credit YouTube with an assist.