Ford Unleashes Gang of Focus STs on 2012 SEMA Show

Ford unveiled five individually customized versions of its new Focus ST hot hatch today at the 2012 SEMA Show.

With 252 hp and 270 lb-ft of torque right from the box, this is likely to be one of the most popular tuner cars not only of the year, but for many more to come. That’s partially because the car will be easy to tune beyond the stock specs thanks to its factory turbo setup and the wealth of already-available performance parts.

That’s exactly what Ford is aiming to prove this year by bringing so many of its pugnacious five-door front-drive cars.

Each car shown here has at least one equipment list in common: they share the same 2.0-liter EcoBoost engine and six-speed manual transmission. Apart from that, there’s little else these cars share.

For example, each car gets its own exhaust upgrades helping their engines breathe better, but the Cosworth CS 330 also gets a heavily upgraded turbo kit, ECU flash, larger intercooler and more. All those go-fast parts are good for two very impressive numbers given the car’s 2.0-liter displacement: 330 hp and 323 lb-ft of torque – figures that Ford’s 4.6-liter Mustang V8 fell short of only a few years ago.

Meanwhile, Galphin Auto Sport (GAS), perhaps best known as an MTV pop culture reference thanks to Pimp My Ride didn’t do much to boost the car’s power, but then again competing with Cosworth isn’t easy. Instead, the shop went for width – literally. To be fair there are also performance upgrades under the hood like a cold-air intake, Borla cat-back exhaust and methanol injection system.

The “Tanner Foust” edition car, on the other hand, does get performance upgrades to push the car to 305 hp, but Ford says that wasn’t really the focus here. Instead, it was meant to be a more performance-oriented version of the Focus ST that was designed with comfort in mind as a daily driver also capable of taking track days in stride.

With its smoked headlights, black 20-inch wheels and eye-catching orange paint, the Focus ST by Bojix Design gets chassis stiffening parts including front and rear sway bars, a coilover suspension and four-piston brakes on the front. Powertrain modifications are sparse here with the only change being a different exhaust.

Finally, a car tuned by Steeda Autosports does a little more than the Bojix car for performance, but still far less than the Foust or Cosworth cars. It gets a high-flow downpipe, cat-back exhaust and cold air intake, but that’s it. Despite that, it gets Brembo brakes, an improved suspension and 19-inch HRE wheels.

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