Ford's SEMA Fleet of Custom F-Series, Fiesta, Focus, Fusion and Mustang Concepts

Ford has detailed more of its 57 custom concepts that will be on display at this year’s SEMA Show in Las Vegas. Besides the 10 Transit Connect tunes we’ve presented earlier this week, Ford will also bring six different interpretations of its F-Series trucks. There will also be concepts based on the Fiesta, Focus, Fusion and Mustang. You’re invited to scroll down and check them out one by one.

Ford F-350 from Cars by Kris

The heavy duty truck gets an extensive list of modifications, including Carli Suspension upgrades to the chassis to handle 22-inch, eight-lug wheels from American Force Wheels, custom upholstery with hexagon stitched seats, painted interior accents and custom floor mats, as well as technical modifications like the Banks Power Ram-Air Intake, Straight-Shot Water-Methanol Injection System and iQ Man-Machine Interface.

Ford F-350 by EcoTrek

This is an environmentally-friendly truck with a 6.7-liter V8 diesel engine – no, we're not joking; it’s what Ford says. It features two additional fuel tanks that have a range of 1,800 (2,897 km) miles each, a rooftop shelter, refrigerator, stoves and flexible solar panels that allow it to be used in some of the most rugged locations. The truck can run on diesel, biodiesel or algae-based biodiesel.

Ford F-250 by Hulst Customs

This mean-looking F-250 features powertrain upgrades via Banks Power, 22-inch wheels from American Rebel MFG and a two-tone leather interior that matches the custom-painted black panels and chrome accents.

Ford F-150 by JR Consulting

Equipped for adventures at hunting, fishing, hiking and camping, this F-150 features an 11,000-pound (4,989-kg) winch from Superwinch, a CargoGlide storage cargo management system, 20-inch Dick Cepek all-terrain wheels and tires and more.

Ford F-150 by Skyjacker Suspensions

Aimed at people who are into the backwoods lifestyle, this F-150 features a 6-inch lift kit from Skyjacker Suspensions, locked storage area from TruckVault, bumpers from Fab Fours Inc. and BMF wheels with BFGoodrich Tires.

Ford F-150 by Fatal Clothing

A full-size pickup posing as a street racer, the F-150 by Fatal Clothing features a supercharged 6.2-liter V8 engine matched with twin-screw supercharger from Whipple Industries and performance exhaust system from CGS Motorsports for a total output of 650 hp. Huge 24-inch DUB wheels somehow fit beneath the wheelarches, while the Katzkin Leather interior has Fatal Clothing logo embroidered in the seats.

Ford Fusion Concepts

Two interpretations of the Ford sedan will be on display at SEMA, a 400-hp racer concept by Full-Race Motorsports that gets turbocharger and exhaust upgrades, and a blingy tune from DSO Eyewear.

Ford Focus Concepts

The main theme for the Focus is motorsport: there’s one with a Lotus livery, one with a Gulf racing livery and a rally-inspired Focus ST for law enforcement. The fourth Focus concept is one that celebrates Southern California’s car culture.

Ford Fiesta Concepts

There are five Fiesta interpretations: a 3Dcarbon tune that mixes elements from European road touring cars and American muscle cars, a rally race-ready Fiesta ST from Ice Nine Group, a Fiesta ST that will be featured in the upcoming Forza Motorsport 5 video game, a model dedicated to the U.S. military by COBB Tuning/Tanner Foust Racing and a Fiesta ST with a custom BASF paint job by Bojix Design.

Ford Mustang Concepts

Finally, there are three Mustang tunes, starting with Vortech Superchargers’ 605hp Project Yellow Jacket Ford Mustang. There’s also the spectacular Hollywood Hot Rods Mustang GT Convertible with 750 horsepower and a handsome concept from Nitto.

By Dan Mihalascu

PHOTO GALLERY

Ford Claims Focus World's Best Selling Nameplate, Toyota Says No It's Not

This week, Ford announced that its Focus compact is the best-selling vehicle nameplate in the world with 589,709 units delivered during the first six months of 2013, basing its findings on the latest Polk global vehicle registration data.

However, someone disagrees and that someone happens to be Japanese rivaling carmaker Toyota, which according to Detroit News, said it sold 590,760 examples of its Corolla compact in the same period, excluding derivatives like the Matrix.

So how does Toyota explain the discrepancy? A spokesman from Japan's biggest automotive firm told the Detroit daily that Polk does not receive data from all markets where the Corolla is sold.

Polk, on the other hand, maintains that its data is correct.

“The Polk data reported by Ford earlier this week is accurate based on the single nameplate ‘Ford Focus,’” said Anthony Pratt, a vice president of forecasting at Polk. “Polk does not report on or track global sales data so does not comment on (automaker) sales claims.”

Whatever the case for the number 1 spot, Ford said that its global Focus sales grew by 20 percent in the first half of 2013 from the same period last year, "driven primarily by increasing demand from customers in China and other Asian countries".

China is the Focus models' single biggest global market and accounts for one-third of total sales. This year, Focus deliveries in China are up 137 percent from 2012. At the same time, Ford has scheduled two weeks of down time at its Michigan factory that produces the Focus, due to stagnating sales in the States.

PHOTO GALLERY

VIDEO

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.

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.

Ford Focus gets New 1.0-liter Turbo EcoBoost with up to 123HP in Europe, Replaces 1.6-liter Units

Ford continues to downsize its engines in order to reduce consumption and lower CO2 emissions with the presentation of a brand-new 1.0-liter, three-cylinder EcoBoost petrol unit on its Focus family car range in Europe.
The new turbocharged engine replaces the naturally aspirated 1.6-liter petrol and is available with two power levels, the first of which produces 99HP (100PS) and delivers 58.9mpg UK (4.8lt/100km or 49mpg US) with 109g/km of CO2 emissions in the five door Focus.

Ford Announces Five Focus RS Le Mans Classics Specials, Each One Inspired by a Historic Race Car

Production of the Focus RS may be coming to an end soon, but that isn't about to stop Ford from introducing yet another [we've lost count of the number...] series of special edition versions of the... limited edition hot hatch.

Today, Ford of Europe unveiled a collection of five Focus RS cars in unique paint schemes, each paying tribute to a Ford race car that made history at the Le Mans 24 Hours.

The Focus RS in black with white stripes and gold rims echoes the 1966 GT40 Mk II; the red with white strips the 1967 Mark IV; the white with a thin blue centre stripe surrounded by a red border the 1967 GT40 Mk IIB; the two-tone sky blue and orange the GT40s that dominated Le Mans in 1968 and 1969 and finally, the two tone white and blue, the Capri RS 2600 which took the Touring category in 1972.