2002 FORD FOCUS: 100,000 POWERTRAIN WARRANTY

DEARBORN – In an effort to compete with the HOT Korean car makers Hyundai, Kia and Daewoo. 100,000 mile 10 year warranty, Ford Motor Co. has raised the Focus power train warranty from 3 years and 36,000 miles to 5 years and 100,000-mile on all 2002-model Focus cars.

Ford says it also hopes the longer warranty will help Focus compete with the Toyota Corolla and Honda Civic, which enjoy reputations for high quality.

TACH believes that it is jut a matter of time until all cars sold here in the U.S. carry the longer term warranty., although General Motors Corp. and Chrysler said that they have looked into similar programs they said, there are no plans to match Ford.

"It's a competitive response to the market, and something our dealers thought would be effective," said a Ford spokesperson

The extended warranties may be a smart gamble. Hyundai and Kia sales are up 37 percent and 38 percent respectively this year, while industry sales as a whole are down 5.3 percent.

Ford, by contract, sold 200,615 Focuses through September, down 10.5 percent from the year-ago period.