Ford Begins European Production of the Focus Electric

Ford has started production of the Focus EV, the first full-electric vehicle to be built by the U.S. carmaker in Europe. Manufacturing of the Focus Electric was integrated directly into the established Focus assembly line at the company's Saarlouis plant in Germany.

Instead of using a gasoline or diesel engine for its motivation like the regular Focus models, the Electric sports an electric motor and lithium-ion battery powertrain that produces 145PS (143 hp) allowing the hatch to reach a top speed of 84mph (135 km/h).

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Ken Block Tries to Annihilate As Many GoPro Cameras As He Can for Promo Shot in Russia

After killing some cones in an old Ford Sierra, in Hungary, Ken Block goes much further east, in order to shoot a promo clip for action camera manufacturers GoPro, who call themselves the makers of "the world's most versatile camera." The aim of the video was for Block to "kill" as many cameras as he could, while driving his custom rally Ford Focus through the frozen woods of Russia. Read more »

Toyota Questions Polk’s Statistics, Says Corolla Beat Focus as World’s Best-Selling Car

Toyota says its Corolla compact car was the world’s best-selling vehicle in 2012, not the Ford Focus, as the U.S. carmaker said yesterday citing R.L. Polk & Co.’s global new vehicle registration data for the full-year 2012.

Ford said it sold 1.02 million Focus vehicles last year topping the Toyota Corolla, which was attributed sales of 872,774 units. The Japanese carmaker’s was quick to contradict its rival.

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Ford Focus Was the World’s Best-Selling Car in 2012, Says Polk

Ford Focus ranks as the best-selling vehicle nameplate in the world, according to Polk’s global new vehicle registration data for the full-year 2012. Sales of the compact car totaled 1,020,410 cars worldwide, according to the automotive data and trends forecasting supplier.

Ford’s “global car” recorded market gains in China and the United States, with China registrations up 51 percent last year. Put into context, that means more than 1 in 4 Ford Focus vehicles sold worldwide went to China. In the U.S., Focus sales were up 40 percent in 2012.

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Jay Leno is Impressed by 420HP Tuned Ford Focus RS

Americans are undoubtedly very displeased at the fact that the head-turning Ford Focus RS never made it to US shores. Watching the many reviews of it posted online, one gets the impression that, while it may be a bit on the heavy and cumbersome side, it is a great driver's car, with lots of potential for tuning, primarily thanks to the fact that under its bonnet lies a 2.5-liter Volvo engine, which in stock form makes around 300 hp. Read more »

Spy Shots: Is This a Test Mule for the New Focus RS or a Focus Facelift?

While we try our best to gather information and use our investigating skills to identify most prototypes, there are times that carmakers leave us in the dark. This very lightly camouflaged Ford Focus hatchback captured by our scoop photographers that you see pictured here is one such example.

What we can tell you about this test car is that, the only part of the vehicle covered up is the front grille, and that the central exhaust pipes and the size of the brake discs, point to the 252hp Focus ST.

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The Year of the Hot Hatch: See Which Models We're Expecting in 2013

If anything else, this year, the automotive world will be blessed with a wide range of new hot hatches for you to choose from. Sadly, for U.S. buyers, most of these pocket rockets will be staying in Europe, but if there was ever a time to switch continents, now would be it (well, from an automotive perspective...).

To make your decision easier, we have put together a list of all of the hot hatches that are expected to go on sale in Europe in 2013, and which you can check out in detail right after the break.

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Ford Focus ST Howls with 367-Horses, Courtesy of Wolf Racing

The Ford Focus ST, which is currently Europe's bestselling hot hatch (partially thanks to the fact that VW has yet to launch the new GTI), is a car that can really be modified to your heart's desire. While the standard power output is sufficient for most owners, that's not to say the 2.0-liter EcoBoost hasn't more to give. Read more »

New Ford Focus ST Selling Like Hotcakes in Europe, Beats VW Golf GTI

The talented Ford Focus ST has been on sale in Europe since October of 2012. It is a more practical five-door alternative to the usual three-door hot hatches with around (or over) 250 hp. Its suspension setup is also considerably softer than that of its rivals, which makes it comfortable when driven normally. Read more »

Foolish Moscow Drivers Cause a Multi-Car Accident and then Drive Away…

A road rage incident between two senseless drivers on Wednesday afternoon (February 27, 2013) ended in a multi-car crash on Russia's Moscow Ring Road.

Footage shot from a dashboard-mounted camera of a vehicle that was not involved in the crash, shows the drivers of what look like an older generation Ford Focus Station Wagon and a Lada model trying to pass each other.

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John Hennessey Talks Us Through the HPE300 Upgrade for the 2013 Ford Focus ST

You may expect that John Hennessey, the automotive mastermind behind Hennessey Performance and the record-breaking Venom GT hypercar, to drive around in one of his more extreme creations, as he really seems to be into big horsepower figures. However, his daily driver, for the last 3,000 miles (4,800 km) at least, has been a front-wheel drive hatchback, albeit a rather quick one – the new 2013Ford Focus ST. Read more »

New Ford Focus RS to Stick with FWD, Reportedly Share a 2.3L Turbo with the…Next Mustang!

The horsepower race in the hot hatch segment is heating up, with some models even surpassing the 300HP mark.

Transmitting all that power through the front wheels, though, which also have to do the steering, is a bit too much. That’s why the likes of Audi’s S3, VW’s Golf R and Mercedes-Benz with the A45 AMG have adopted all-wheel drive; even the BMW M135i, which is rear-wheel drive, is offered with AWD as an option.

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Ford Offering Huge Discounts on All-Electric Focus Due to Slow Sales

In 2012, the base price for Ford’s Focus Electric was US$39,995. Now, Ford’s website features a list price of US$37,995 for “cash-only” sales and a hefty US$10,750 discount on “Red Carpet leases” for delivery by April 1.

Moreover, the monthly payment for a 36-month lease with 10,500 miles per year has dropped from US$350 to US$285 and US$930 up front, and if the car is purchased through Ford Motor Credit, it offers a 1.9 percent financing rate.

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Ford Focus ST vs. Subaru WRX for the Final ST Session Video

For the past five months or so, Ford has been steadily releasing web episodes of its ST Session series featuring the new 250-horsepower Focus ST hatch and a number of direct rivals like the VW Golf GTi and Honda Civic Si, while even placing it against the much more expensive and powerful BMW M3 Coupe.

The time has come for the fifth and last episode of the series, named "Control Battle", which sees the Focus ST in the hands of professional rally driver Chrissie Beavis challenging her colleague Matthew Johnson in a Subaru WRX.

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Shelby Juices Up 2013 Ford Focus ST's Looks and Dynamics for the Price of a New Fiesta

The new Focus ST is the newest Ford vehicle to be added to the range of Shelby American. Revealed today at the Detroit Auto Show, the Shelby package for the Focus ST will be limited to 500 models year, each priced at a hefty $14,995, not including the car itself that starts from $23,700. That brings the total to 38,695, which is a whole lot of money, especially since it doesn't include any engine modifications. Read more »

Ford to Sell 2.2 Million Vehicles in the U.S. this Year, Has 3 Best Sellers in the World's Top 10

The Blue Oval has announced that U.S. sales of its Ford brand will surpass the 2.2 million mark in the year that ends today, adding that it has three vehicle nameplates in the global top 10, according to the latest vehicle registration data from research firm Polk.

This is the second year in a row that the Ford sells more than 2 million vehicles in the States, the only brand to do so since 2007.

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Ford Focus ST vs. VW Golf R and…Subaru BRZ in MT's Head2Head

What are the criteria for comparing one car against another? Well, basically, they should belong to the same category; have similar performance stats and, perhaps more importantly, be close in price.

The new 2013 Ford Focus ST and the soon-to-be replaced VW Golf R that are featured in latest episode of "Head 2 Head" from Motor Trend are a match in two out of these three criteria: they're both compact hatchbacks and each gets a 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine producing 256hp in the VW and 252hp in the Ford.

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Chris Harris Puts Ford’s Focus ST Against Opel Astra OPC and Renault Megane RS

Hot hatches are the Swiss Army knives of the automotive world in that they can do almost everything. Their humble underpinnings mean that they are as practical as any hatchback in everyday use, their tuned chassis and powerful engines can scare a sports car or two on twisty roads and they are, comparatively affordable.

There was a time, not so long ago, that putting anything more than 200-horses on the road through the front wheels was considered a recipe for terminal power understeer. Things have certainly changed and, as Chris Harris points out in the video that follows, front-wheel drive hot hatches have really become very competent.

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Ford Margins Shrink as Buyers in North America Turn to Smaller, Less Profitable Cars

In the first nine months of the year, Ford’s earnings in North America were US$6.47 billion before taxes, more than it had made in the region in all of 2011. Its operating margin in that period was 11.2 percent, more than double the 5 percent that’s the norm in the industry.

Now, however, the Blue Oval says that its profit margins are shrinking and the reason is that new car buyers in North America are downsizing, turning their backs on trucks and opting for smaller passenger cars such as the Fiesta and the Focus.

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Ford Triples Number of Dealers that Can Sell EVs and Plug-In Hybrids

In case you haven’t noticed, there’s a hybrid, plug-in and all-electric vehicle war raging in the U.S. new car market right now and Ford is one of the parties engaged in it.

Attacking Toyota and its Prius range claiming that its own hybrids are superior isn’t the only way the Blue Oval plans to boost the sales of its “green” fleet that by early 2013, will include the hybrid and plug-in (“Energi” in Ford-talk) versions of the C-MAX and the Fusion, and the pure-electric Focus EV.

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