2020 Ford Focus Adopts Stylish Redesign

The fourth-generation 2020 Ford Focus is sporting a new look on the outside and inside and is sitting on a new platform.

Before we dive into all of the small changes that Ford has made to the Focus, let's take a look at the most notable thing – its design. The new Focus is sleeker and better looking from every angle. While we're suckers for hatchbacks, even the sedan has gone from being an economy car to a stylish vehicle.

The Focus' cabin has also been redesigned with a reworked center console as the focal point. Following in the same trend as the majority of other automakers, Ford has tacked a tablet-like screen onto the dashboard and moved the vents to the middle of the center stack. The move creates some much-needed space between the audio and climate controls. The new generation, for models with an automatic transmission, get a rotary-style gear selector.

Underneath the Focus' sleek body sits an all-new chassis that adds more interior space. Shoulder room, knee clearance, and legroom have all grown for passengers sitting in the back.

As far as powertrains go, Ford has only released information on Chinese and European models – the Focus' future in the US remains in doubt, but if it does arrive stateside, it will likely be with a small, turbocharged four-cylinder or perhaps even a turbo three-cylinder. Bottom line, we expect that whatever engine a US-market Focus gets will likely be familiar in the American market.

The new Focus has also grown when it comes to available technology. The automaker's Co-Pilot360 suite of safety features is standard on the vehicle and brings a blind spot information system, automatic emergency braking, automatic high beams, and a backup camera. The Focus can also be fitted with full-speed adaptive cruise control, traffic sign recognition, and lane keeping assist, an adaptive lighting system, an updated version of active park assist, as well as evasive steering assist, which helps the driver steer around a stopped vehicle. The latter, according to Ford, is a first for the segment. Like the powertrain info, though, this is specific to markets outside the US – it's entirely plausible that American Focus models won't get some of these advanced active safety features.

There's some more bad news, as consumers in the US will have to wait until the end of 2019 to get their hands on the new Focus, which means it'll probably arrive as a 2020 model. It's almost a certainty that the US market will get the hatchback and the sedan, as those were offered in the last generation of the model. But the fate of other variants, like the high-riding Active or the luxury focused Vignale, is still up in the air.

We expect Ford to drop some more information on the American version of the Focus before the vehicle officially goes on sale.