Achievement Of A Lifetime For Ford Focus

The Ford Focus has another important addition to its trophy cabinet this week, after collecting a rare ‘Lifetime Achievement’ award from Autocar magazine at a ceremony in central London yesterday.

In a departure for an accolade that normally recognises individuals’ achievements in the world of motoring, Autocar credited the Ford Focus with changing the small family car market forever, saying: "… there may never be another family car as good as the Ford Focus."

Collecting the award, Dr. Franz Laermann, engineering manager through the original Ford Focus development programme, highlighted his great personal satisfaction with the car, saying simply: "The Ford Focus is the single achievement I am most proud of in my career."

Launched in 1998, the Ford Focus was immediately crowned European Car of the Year 1999, before going on to amass over 50 major European awards. Launched in the US in 2000 to great acclaim, it was also the first car to receive consecutive European and North American ‘Car of the Year’ titles.

A range that has introduced high performance RS and ST models, state-of-the-art TDCi diesels and most recently the Focus C-MAX compact MPV has ensured Ford Focus’ place at the forefront of UK buyers’ minds. British customers have bought over 600,000 Ford Focus, making the car the UK’s bestseller every year since launch.