New Ford Focus with upgraded climate control

The new Ford Focus has been tested in some of the most extreme locations such as frozen lakes, hot deserts and up and down high Alpine passes to ensure reliability and dependability wherever it is sold. The tests focused on how extreme climate conditions affect the performance of the vehicle. The new Ford Focus electronic automatic temperature control (EATC) will be able to handle any conditions. The system needs to be able to cool the occupants down quickly and comfortably in scorching sun and warm them up just as rapidly when the temperature drops.

The new generation Ford Focus goes on sale in early 2011. The fans are quieter and are capable of moving cool air through the cabin more quickly. Ford systems engineer Klaus Schuermanns said "

we are doing a subjective and an objective evaluation of the EATC system so that we can finalise its calibration. We take the data from the EATC, compare with how we feel inside the car, as well as with objective data from the cabin, such as the breathing level temperature. We then make adjustments to fine tune the system."

Customers will benefit from the same quality of dynamic performance in the new Ford Focus. The engine line-up will deliver performance with outstanding economy, there will be a range of state-of-the-art Ford EcoBoost&trade four-cylinder turbocharged direct injection (DI) engines including the 1.6-litre unit in Europe and a choice of advanced and improved Duratorq TDCi common-rail diesel engines, all of which offer reductions in fuel consumption of between 10 and 20 per cent compared to the outgoing models.

By Geraldine Ashton Green, motoring.co.uk

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