FLEETS will have to wait another four months before getting behind the wheel of a new common rail diesel Ford Focus. The car was originally expected to go on sale in June following its European launch in the spring, but Ford has now decided to wait until the Focus range gains a minor facelift in October.

Ford is also experiencing supply problems for fuel injectors for the new common rail engines. The company, proud of the fact that it is among the first to be offering 'second-generation' common rail technology, was forced to delay the launch of the Mondeo TDCi after planning to launch both Focus and Mondeo versions of 1.8 and 2.0 litres respectively this summer. Ford expects annual Focus TDCi sales of about 9,000 compared with 30,000 for the current TDdi, which will run alongside the new engine.

But the decision to put back the Focus launch means both cars will now go on sale at the same time. A Ford spokesman said: 'The launch will be a lot later than we would like but the Focus range will be revised in October with new options and minor cosmetic changes. We didn't want to launch TDCi versions of the current Focus only for the revisions to come in a few months after.'