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2012 Ford Focus ST gets 297bhp

Those clever chaps at SuperChips have given the 2012 Ford Focus ST a bit of an ECU tweak to deliver 297bhp and an extra 85lb/ft of torque. When we reported last week that WTC outfit Arena had in roped Ford’s tuner of choice, Mountune, to give the new Ford Focus a makeover, we were a tad disappointed to discover that they were tweaking the rather journeyman Focus Zetec S. That meant the Zetec S got 200bhp – a handy jump – but we bemoaned the fact that they hadn’t fiddled with the Focus ST to give us a car to fill the void left by the absence of a Focus RS in the current iteration of the Focus.

Skoda Fabia & Skoda Roomster (2010) facelift at Geneva

The 2010 versions of the Skoda Fabia and Skoda Roomster will be at Geneva Skoda are taking the term ‘Facelift’ quite literally with the 2010 Skoda Fabia (and 2010 Skoda Fabia Estate) and the 2010 Skoda Roomster. They’ve grafted on a new nose for both in a facelift for the models which will debut at the Geneva Motor Show next week. Skoda say that the new nose “…accentuates the cars’ width, with a totally redesigned face that gives both cars a more dynamic look, increasing their road presence.” So there.

Honda goes social with the Sounds of Civic songwriting contest

It seems all automakers are tapping the social-media networks these days. From the Ford Mustang Mayhem package to the Toyota Prius plural campaign, conventional wisdom is there's nothing a few thousand Facebook fans can't handle. The latest automaker to hop the train is Honda, which is sponsoring a creative songwriting competition called the Sounds of Civic to mark the debut of the 2012 Honda Civic.