Indeed, as a measure of this car’s ability, a standard production Focus ST set a segment-leading record time of 8 minutes 35 seconds around the Nordschleife circuit at the famed Nurburgring.

This sort of achievement requires more than just brute power and the Focus ST remains one of the sharpest handling cars in its class. In fact, the ST may well be the definitive choice for enthusiastic drivers who also demand comfort around town and an array of subtle suspension enhancements ensures this is still the case.

A powerful braking system is top of this list while Electronic Stability Programme (ESP) and Traction Control are now standard on all versions.

The Focus ST has always provided lots of choice and the range retains its simple ST, ST-2 and ST-3 trim grades and three or five-door hatchback bodystyles. It is priced from £18,250 - £20,850.

Every Focus ST boasts 18-inch five-spoke alloy wheels, sports styling, body-hugging Recaro sports seats, a unique sports steering wheel and upgraded instrumentation. New to this generation of ST are the ‘Ford Power’ starter button and Easyfuel capless refuelling system. Upgrading to ST-2 adds a Sony audio system, bi-xenon lights, LED rear lights and Quickclear heated windscreen while the ST-3 includes an in-dash six CD player plus full leather trim.

You might have heard a lot of hubbub about how hybrid vehicle sales are down from last year. The economy was great in most of 2008 and gas was going for $4 a gallon. Hybrids were hot. Toyota posted a drop of 42 percent in overall sales this April from last April.
But in the cases of Ford and Honda, things have been looking up.
Despite car sales being pretty dismal this year, Ford still managed to move a record number of Fusions in April with 18,321 sold. Not considering that over 1,000 of those Ford Fusions were hybrids. Combined with sales of the Ford Escape hybrid, Ford ended up selling 2,300 hybrids in total for April, helping make for an increase in Ford hybrid sales by 21 percent over last ye
Meanwhile, Honda saw a 25 percent drop in overall sales in April from last year, but saw a surge in hybrid sales. With the new Honda Insight selling 2,096 units and the Civic Hybrid selling 3,461, Honda hybrids manage to sell 25 percent more than last April.
If you’re thinking of buying a used hybrid vehicle yourself, check out LemonFree.ca and their hybrid vehicle

ord Performance Vehicles’ (FPV) line-up of the hotted up FG Falcon performance range will include a new GT-E luxury-performance model alongside the trademark GT and F6 variants.

Prominent FPV badging on the centre grille and boot lid replaces the Ford badge on new FPV models while the line-up itself consists of nine vehicles split between the GT and F6 families and they are:
features a re-designed front bumper which looks suitably menacing with a matte black eye mask under the G-Series-style headlamps and a honeycomb inserts in the lower bumper. Visually, the new GT-E is further distinguished from its V8 siblings by its refined rear lip spoiler, chrome accenting and distinctive GT-E badging.

The GT-E’s unique 19 inch alloy wheels are matched by a premium brake package, with 6 piston Brembo brakes now featured as standard.

What the new FPV range of FG Falcon performance vehicles misses out on are quad-exhausts and rear diffuser, a modern styling cue of high-performance vehicles.

Ford/FPV remains Falcon-based range, lifting the covers off the latest evolutions of its performance GT sedan, F6 sedan and Super Pursuit Ute.

“Today we have given the public a glimpse of the new era in Australian performance motoring,” said Ford Performance Vehicles General Manager Rod Barrett.

“Our new model range offers performance enthusiasts the ultimate in performance engineering, luxury appointments and sports styling.”

For the first time, the Ford badge will not appear on an FPV model. The new-look FPV vehicles will feature FPV badges prominently on the centre grille and centre boot lid.

“Featuring the FPV badge on all our new models is a major repositioning for the FPV brand,” said Barrett.

“It signifies the maturing of our brand and the evolution of FPV as Ford’s performance partner.”

As with Ford, FPV has repositioned its high performance sedan and Ute model variants, with eight stunning vehicles divided into the GT series and F6 series families.

“The repositioning of the vehicle line-up has been done for similar reasons to the Ford G Series,” said Barrett.

“It is all about growing the brand and attracting new customers. The GT series family continues our strong iconic heritage, while the F6 series family caters to a new segment of performance car enthusiasts who prefer a slick turbo charged six-cylinder to a thundering V8.”

The GT series family retains the familiar GT and GT-P sedan nameplates, and introduces the stylish new luxury GT-E sedan.

The bold exterior styling of the new GT and GT-P is highlighted by the trademark unique front grille treatment, rear wing, side striping and V8 bonnet bulge accented with a newly designed hood decal.

Visually, the new GT-E is distinguished from its V8 siblings by its refined rear lip spoiler, chrome accenting and distinctive GT-E badging.

The GT-E’s unique 19 inch alloy wheels are matched by a premium brake package, with 6 piston Brembo brakes now featured as standard.

“The GT-E is a sophisticated luxury performance car that will cater for those buyers that don’t want the stripes, wings, and seats offered in the GT-P; however want to retain all the performance attributes of that car,” said Barrett.

The Super Pursuit and Pursuit Ute variants complete the GT series range.

The F6 series family features the F6 and F6 Ute- the Typhoon and Tornado nomenclature are discontinued on the new vehicles.

Significant ride, handling and safety advancements have been made to the new FPV stable. Each new model variant has been fully engineered and designed to provide the performance enthusiast with the ultimate in Australian performance motoring.

Safety advances include the addition of Dynamic Stability Control (DSC) on FPV sedan & Ute vehicles for the first time.

Significantly, FPV customers will also have a choice of manual or auto transmission at no additional cost.

“The option of auto or manual transmission at no extra cost caters for both our luxury and overt sports customers, without penalising either for their choice of transmission,” said Barrett.

FPV has produced exhilarating performance upgrades across the GT and F6 range, however the exact engine performance power and torque figures will be revealed closer to the on sale date in June.

“The unique FPV enhanced design gives each vehicle and a bolder road presence,” said Barrett.
tight-lipped about performance figures which will not be released until closer to its on sale date.

odge views the new Citadel as the ultimate expressio Dodge Durango, the perfect canvas for the distinguished SUV enthusiast. The vehicle was developed as a representation of the current trend in tasteful customization.

This special edition of the Citadel utilizes the clean lines of the 2011 Dodge Durango. Its stunning, shiny black paint color is the perfect backdrop for the evolution of the modern urban SUV. It-inch custom-forged aluminum Super Alloy wheels are highly polished with hyper-silver accents. The Citadel also features an exclusive chrome-textured grille and polished stainless steel tips of the Mopar/Corsa custom exhaust. The Citadel “Black & Tan”, riding on Pirelli tires, was dropped with Mopar lowering springs, complementing its stunning new stance.

The shiny black exterior is matched on the inside with an all-new interior, crafted by the new Chrysler interior studio that is bent on redefining American quality and unparalleled comfort. The timeless design features sculpted soft panels throughout with world-class fit and finish, complete with the liberal use of premium materials and three rows of gorgeous Nappa leath

This is one of the great diesel pushers built by Holiday rambler. It is finished off with over 16 Gallons of paint to give it a one of a kind look that can really turn heads. Inside the Natural

The Mark III Detroit-inspired “coke bottle” shaped Cortina was a hit amongst fleet buyers. It replaced both the Cortina Mark II and the larger, more expensive Ford Corsair by offering more trim levels and the option of larger engines than the Mark II.

The MacPherson strut front suspension was replaced with more conventional double A-arm suspension to give the car a soft ‘freeway’ ride. The larger engines induced distinct understeer.

Ford UK originally wanted to call it something other than Cortina, but the name stuck. Although the Mark III looked significantly larger than the boxier Mark II, it was actually the same overall length, but 4 inches (100 mm) wider.

Trim levels were now Base, L (for Luxury), XL (Xtra Luxury), GT (Grand Touring) and GXL (Grand Xtra Luxury). 1.3 L, 1.6 L and 2.0 L engines were offered, the 1.6 L having two distinct types - the Kent unit for models up to GT trim and a SOHC Pinto unit for the GT and GXL, the latter of which was also offered in 1600 form for a short while. 2.0 L variants used a larger version of the 1600 Pinto unit and were available in all trim levels except base.

Four headlights and Rostyle wheels marked out the GT and GXL versions, while the GXL also had bodyside rubstrips, a vinyl roof and a brushed metal and black tail panel on the GXL and plain black one on the GT. All models featured a downward sloping dashboard with deeply recessed dials and all coil suspension all round. In general styling and technical make up, many observed that the Mark III aped the Vauxhall Victor FD of 1967.

Car was really a re-badged Ford Taunus. Many parts were carried over, most notably the running gear, and even the dashboard design.

This series spawned the first Ghia top-of-the-range model, which replaced the 2000E. The 2.3 L Ford Cologne V6 engine was introduced in 1977 as an engine above the 2.0 L Pinto engine, already a staple of the Capri and Granada ranges. The 2.0 L Ford Cologne V6 engine continued to be offered on Taunus badged cars in parallel with the Pinto unit,[9] and offers here an interesting comparison with the similarly sized in-line four cylinder Pinto engine. The V6 with a lower compression ratio offered less power and less performance, needing over an extra second to reach 50 mph (80 km/h).[9] It did, however, consume 12½% less fuel and was considered by motor journalists to be a far quieter and smoother unit.[9] The 2.3 L was available to the GL, S and Ghia variants.

GXL also had bodyside rubstrips, a vinyl roof and a brushed metal and black tail panel on the GXL and plain black one on the GT. All models featured a downward sloping dashboard with deeply recessed dials and all coil suspension all round. In general styling and technical make up, many observed that the Mark III aped the Vauxhall Victor FD of 1967.

The Cortina Mark III was introduced at the London Motor Show in October 1970, but sales got off to a particularly slow start because of production difficulties that culminated with a ten week strike at Ford’s Dagenham plant between April and June 1971, which was at the time reported to have cost production of 100,000 vehicles equivalent to almost a quarter of the output for a full year.Nevertheless, volumes recovered, and with the aging Austin/Morris 1100/1300 now losing out to various newer models, the Cortina was Britain’s top selling car in 1972, closely followed by the Escort.

In late 1973, the car received a facelift. Outside, there were revised grilles, rectangular headlights for the XL, GT and the new 2000E (the “E” standing for executive), which replaced the GXL. The 1.3 L Kent engine was carried over but now, 1.6 L models all used the more modern 1.6 L SOHC engine.

Ford Anglia Super was also available for certain markets where the 1300 cc engine attracted a higher rate of tax. The 1500 cc engines were at first carried over, but for 1967, they received a new crossflow cylinder head design, making them more efficient. At this time, they became 1600 cc in size, with the Lotus Cortina continuing with its own unique engine.

Again, a Lotus version was produced (this time done in-house at Ford) but the most admired was the 1600E that came out in late 1967.

The Cortina was Britain’s most popular new car in 1967, achieving the goal that Ford had been trying to achieve since it set out to create the original Cortina back in 1960.

Again, 2- and 4-door saloons were offered with base, Deluxe, Super, GT and, later, 1600E trims available, but again, not across all body styles and engine options. A few months after the introduction of the saloon versions, a 4-door estate was launched, released on the UK market on 15 February 1967[5]: much was made at the time of its class topping load capacity.

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