Ford says new Focus shows turnaround momentum

(Refiles to change dateline to DETROIT instead of LOS ANGELES)

* New Focus best proof yet turnaround is working-Ford CEO

* Mulally says Ford ready to go on offensive in Asia

* Ford shares end slightly higher

By Bernie Woodall

DETROIT, Sept. 28 (Reuters) - When Ford Motor Co (F.N) rolls out its Focus early next year, it expects to have an all-new small car that can win in the highest volume and highest stakes segment of the global car market.

The Focus represents something even bigger to Ford Chief Executive Alan Mulally: a vindication of the "One Ford" strategy he has been driving for the past four years and a commitment to take his company on the offensive in the fast-growth markets of China and India.

The Focus, due to begin its global debut in early 2011, represents the first Ford vehicle to have been developed under Mulally's mandate for a radical and sweeping simplification of the automaker's engineering and production.

"I think that the new Focus is a significant, maybe even the most significant, proof point of the transformation of Ford," Mulally told Reuters in an interview.

Ford will show off the production-ready Focus at the Paris auto show on Wednesday at an event intended to showcase the car's improved performance, styling and the fruits of Ford's restructuring.

"The next act is to keep developing the products that people really want and to do it more productively, in less time with less resources," Mulally said.

By making 80 percent of the parts on the Focus the same in models sold across Europe, Asia and North America, Ford was able to bring down costs on components.

That equates to savings of 40 percent on parts like seats supplied by Johnson Controls Inc (JCI.N). Ford has also invested in areas like engine technology to give the car best-in-its-class fuel economy, expected at up to 40 miles per gallon in highway driving, executives have said.

"This is bringing the global power for Ford right into the showroom. For our customers it's going to be a very new Ford Motor Company," said global marketing chief Jim Farley, hired by Mulally in 2007 from Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T).

Jay Baron, president of the Center for Automotive Research, said the Focus will be immediately competitive with the likes of top-sellers Toyota Corolla and the Honda Civic.

"I think it will hit the ground running," said Baron. "In the minds of consumers, it will be right up there."

MULALLY'S BIG BET

Mulally, credited with steering Ford back to profit over the past year and a half, is betting that the automaker can slash costs and time by reducing the number of vehicle platforms it develops and using the savings to offset investments in features generally not available in small cars like the MyFord Touch entertainment and communications system.

The Focus is central to that strategy because it sits in the sweet spot of a global car market where demand is being pulled by China and India, Ford has said.

Analysis firm IHS estimates that the mid-size car segment will account for 40 percent of global sales growth over the next five years.

For its part, Ford expects to use the new Focus platform as the basis for up to 10 new vehicles, including new versions of the C-Max crossover and the Escape SUV.

By 2013, Ford expects that the Focus-sized platform will account for 2.2 million units of its annual sales globally. That figure from one platform for Ford would be more than twice the number of vehicles of all kinds that Chrysler sold last year.

Mulally said Ford expects mid-sized cars and smaller vehicles will account for up to 60 percent of global auto sales in the next few years.

With the new Focus and the just-launched Fiesta, he said the automaker has the lineup it needs to make a sales push in the faster-growing Asian markets where it has lagged.

"We are going to dramatically accelerate our growth in Asia-Pacific, especially India and China," Mulally said.

Under product chief Derrick Kuzak, a 32-year Ford veteran, the automaker has cut the number of its vehicle platforms from 27 in 2007 to 16 projected from 2013. Meanwhile, the number of individual models Ford sells has been reduced to about 30 from 97 in 2006.

Mulally's "One Ford" strategy and a rallying reputation for quality has already started paying off for the No. 4 global automaker, analysts have said.

The share of U.S. consumers who said they would consider buying a Ford has surged to 29 percent, ahead of Toyota Motor Co (7203.T) for the first time since 2003, according to CNW Research.

Mulally said that indicator, watched as a leading gauge for sales, would continue to rise as new vehicles like the Focus arrive in showrooms.

"It will continue to progress with the strength of our product line," said Mulally, who was hired away from Boeing Co (BA.N) four years ago this month.

The Focus, developed by Ford's European engineering team, will be built for North America in an assembly plant in Wayne, Michigan, under the terms of a cost-saving deal with the United Auto Workers union. (Editing by Toni Reinhold)