10:05 pm, September 14, 2011
THE all-new Ford Focus ST will have a staring role in a blockbuster movie Car Dealer can exclusively reveal.
Ford’s executive design director Martin Smith told us that his team have already built five new Focus STs to be used by stunt drivers in a forthcoming film.
Smith gave no indication as to the movie’s name but said: ‘It will be a film version of a popular television series.’
He also hinted the main character will be driving the Focus ST because it is the modern equivalent of the car he drove in the original tv series.
If correct it marks yet another step in Ford’s product placement activities. Most recently Ford products took staring roles in James Bond movies. ‘The Mondeo used in Casino Royale was actually our deisgn mule,’ said Smith. ‘It was just a plastic body with an engine shoved into it so it could drive into shot.
‘That car was in the movie before the Mondeo was launched, and there was a team of people on set whose job it was to make sure it was covered up when it was not used. A Ford product having a staring role in film does great things to how the car is perceived by the public,’ Smith added.
