REGENT MOTORS LAUNCHED the new Ford Focus in style last month, unveiling the car to the public over a three-day event that combined an elaborate showroom setup with high-speed taxi rides for potential customers, designed to show off the new car’s surefootedness.

It’s been a decent start for the car so far, with around 100 units registered since the May 22nd’s launch. Regent Motors sold 680 of the last Focus in 2004, making it the brand’s bread-and-butter model and accounting for around 75 percent of Ford sales here.

Regent’s target for the new car? To sell “as many as possible”, jokes sales manager Paul Ng. At its peak, the first Focus notched up sales of around 1,500 per year. “That would be a respectable target to shoot for,” says Regent’s managing director Say Kwee Neng.

“But you have to bear in mind that number was established at a time when the Euro was very friendly.”

Today’s far stronger Euro translates to higher costs than Japanese imports, making conditions for the new Focus much tougher, he adds. Focus prices start at $76,900 with COE for the 100bhp 1.6-litre sedan. A more powerful, 115bhp version (but also powered by a 1.6-litre engine) will join the range around September.

Jeffrey Eggen, a regional manager for Ford’s Worldwide Direct Market Operations, which covers the Singapore market, told CarBuyer that Ford expects to sell “significantly more” of the new model.

That will be due in part to the fact that the last Focus was only sold in three markets, while the new model will be launched in almost all ASEAN countries.

The Asian region remains one of Ford’s few profitable markets, with sales hitting all-time highs here, against declining sales in North America and a stagnant European market.