Spy shot 2011 Ford Focus

These images show the all-new Focus as it is likely to look when it is ready for the road - and running down the production line at Broadmeadows in Victoria - in 2011.

The next Focus is already well into development in Europe and, after being caught several times during secret durability tests, has now been unmasked as a production car.

These images are not official from Ford, but they give a best-guess look at how today's Focus will be morphed into the all-new model for 2011.

So the basic shape is the same but the car has much more adventurous lines, just as the baby Fiesta took on a sharper edge with the new model seen in Australia this year.

The 2011 Focus will have the same model spread as today, but is expected to have better performance with improved fuel consumption and emissions. It will also have an ECOnetic hero car with benchmark economy and emissions.

Ford Australia will not comment on the design of the next Focus but confirms the car is on track for local showrooms.

"The plans are moving ahead with no changes at this stage. We're just moving ahead and the next milestone is later this year. We're still planning for implementation in 2011," says Ford's spokesperson, Sinead McAlary.

The new look for the Focus helps to explain why Ford Australia did not make an immediate switch to the current compact when it decided to bolster production of the Falcon and Territory with a small car. It chose to wait for the full model change, and also for a car which takes the next big step in the history of the Focus.

"If we had done it now we would have had to re-engineer the plant for this car and then the new model. That didn't make sense," says McAlary.