By Nauman Farooq

The 2010 North American International Auto Show has been a big one for Ford.

2012 Ford Focus

Not only did it win the coveted ‘Car of the Year’ award for the Fusion Hybrid, it also won ‘Truck of the Year’ for the Transit Connect.

Plus, Ford had arguably the most important new car launch at this years auto show, with the introduction of the all new Ford Focus.

The Focus has been a key car for Ford globally for over a decade now.

While the recent North American version of the Focus has been ill-received, the European version has been improving and thus doing better and better in sales in Europe and Asia.

Ford has now finally woken up to the fact that the best Focus is the Euro-Focus, and hence the new 2012 version is an updated version of that.

Unarguably it looks a lot better than the current version we buy in Canada, and the interior is in a whole new league.

2012 Ford Focus

The interior design is excellent and the quality of materials also looks to have been improved. Plus there are new gadgets for you to play with while driving. So a new SYNC entertainment system will be on hand with convenient steering wheel mounted buttons to be less distracting while on the move.

To make it move, Ford will offer the new Focus with direct injection and Eco-Boost engines, although details about their power and displacement have not been made yet.

However, it should handle corners very well with independent suspension in the front, and a multilink rear control arm. Plus the new Focus will also feature a new Dynamic Cornering Control system, which will use torque vectoring to send power to whichever drive wheel can best use it. This will improve turn in and cut down on understeering off the road.

Alan Mulally, president and CEO of Ford Motor Company said the platform for the new Focus (which is referred to as the C-car platform) will be used in many different vehicles around the globe. The Euro-only Ford C-Max and the Grand C-Max will be the first vehicles to go on sale using this new structure. Overall, Ford plans to produce 2-million vehicles annually using this platform.

The new Focus, in both its four-door sedan and five-door hatchback form will go on sale in North America by the first-quarter of 2011.

So expect Ford dealers offering incredible discounts on the current Focus by the middle of this year.