Focus RS coming to America?

Image by jonanamary via Flickr With Ford making moves to bring several of it's European models stateside, there is new found hope that we'll see the new Focus RS on domestic soil. Despite all of the hoopla over ever rising gas prices, there is still an overwhelming majority of Americans that don't want to compromise performance.



There's no denying the appeal of high performance coupled with reasonable fuel economy. Most enthusiasts want a little extra spice in their daily commute. Americans are power hungry by nature. Europeans have the same desire for performance that we do, except their gas is much more expensive than ours and their cities provide narrow roads and an underwhelming amount of parking spaces.



Enter the Focus RS, which debuted at the London Motor Show. Sporting a screaming 2.5L Duratec turbo four under the hood, the rally esque ride has drawn a tremendous response in the UK, with 1000 already ordered.



Ford of Europe has reported that it has been inundated with orders, with almost 40% of buyers wanting the car in Electric Green, the color of the show car.



Representing a return of the famed Rallye Sport badge last seen in 2002, the RS puts out 295 hp and 302 lb-ft of torque and includes extras such as a Quaife Automatic Torque Biasing limited-slip differential and a front suspension system called a "RevoKnuckle" designed to reduce torque steer. Despite lacking the all-wheel drive setup some competitors boast, the Focus RS manages an estimated 0 to 62 mph time of under 6 sec.



One can only imagine what a blast this car would be on a winding road, but naturally Ford is being cautious with the idea of bringing it stateside. But when Ford of Britain's chairman and managing director Roelant de Waard says the company is "delighted by the reaction of performance car enthusiasts to the new Focus RS and that so many want to place orders even though it will not be available until early next year," hopefully the staff in Michigan will take notice and let American drivers in on the fun, too.

700 Horsepower Electric Supercar

A new British sports car was unveiled at the British Motor Show, and it wasn't a new Aston Martin either. The Lightning GT, produced by the appropriately named Lightning Car Company, packs some serious juice with a claimed 700hp. A classic GT design with a long hood, low roofline, and massive wheels comes with a major surprise.

The blue discs that you see aren't exactly traditional brakes. The Lightning GT uses four hub-mounted electric motors, providing direct drive to the wheels. Combined with just 30 battery packs, these deliver the electric equivalent of "700 horsepower" and each motor can be individually controlled. All this means that the car is able to modify the speed of the wheels based on steering angle and velocity, and a number of other factors that the design team wants to dial in. This can add up to exceptional handling, provided all of the computers can talk to each other.

This all sounds lovely, of course. But there are some doubts as to whether it can actually happen. The Lightning packs only 30 batteries (which isn't nearly as many as other electric cars) which are supposed to give the car a 186 mile range on a 10 minute charge. The Lightning Car Company does have video of the car moving on it's own accord, but a full demonstration is yet to be seen.

The company says that deliveries could start in 2010 but that it requires significant investment to make that happen.

For those of you that fear missing the intoxicating sound of a real engine with the purchase of a car like this, it does include a sound module to replicate the noise of everything from a smooth V6 to a throaty V12. Just imagine the fun that can be had with that...