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2015 Ford Focus ST zooming toward Goodwood reveal [w/video]

Ford has quite a party ready for the Goodwood Festival of Speed starting on June 27. Not only is the 2015 Mustang going to be driving in front of the European public for the first time, the Blue Oval is also unveiling its 2015 refresh for the Focus ST.
Official details about the latest Focus hot hatch are practically nonexistent at this point. Ford's teaser image shows narrower headlights, and the company says that the ST also benefits from the technical and quality improvements from the refreshed standard model, which likely means an even more Aston-Martin-like grille. However, any improvements for the power or handling are a mystery for now.
Ford will even give visitors to the festival the chance to drive the new ST - at least virtually. Gran Turismo 6 kiosks will be on hand with the hot hatch loaded up to race the Goodwood Hill Climb. There will also be real-time races between former Stig Ben Collins in the real ST challenging a player up the hill in the game.

Ford Fiesta ST orders off to strong start

We at Autoblog love the new little Ford Fiesta ST, and apparently, folks in Europe are pretty impressed with it, as well. According to Ford, the automaker's European arm has already logged 3,000 orders for the new hot hatch since it hit dealerships this March. The US-spec car, which will only be available as a five-door, will go on sale in the United States this summer.
What's perhaps most interesting about the Fiesta ST ordering is that the majority of customers appear to be ordering high-spec cars. According to Ford data, 60 percent of customers have opted for the leather interior with Recaro buckets, and 90 percent have selected the upgraded 17-inch wheels (seen on our test car, above). Spirit Blue has been the most popular color, commanding 27 percent of all orders. As for the technology upgrades, 19 percent of customers have ponied up for the Sony stereo with navigation.
To recap, the Fiesta ST is offered with Ford's 1.6-liter EcoBoost four-cylinder engine, putting out 179 horsepower and 177 pound-feet of torque, mated exclusively to a six-speed manual transmission. We had an absolute blast flinging the hot Fiesta through the French Alps, and we can't wait for this sharp little hatch to make its way over to the States.

KBB 2013 Brand Image Awards has some obvious and oddball winners

The sixth edition of the Kelley Blue Book Brand Image Awards have crowned a wide range of winners - in a couple of cases the recipient of the laurels might say more about KBB users than they do about the actual winner. Compiled from the responses of more than 12,000 shoppers on KBB.com over the past year, there are 13 categories broken into non-luxury, luxury and truck segments "representing the combined wisdom of the American car-buying public."
The award categories have been revamped this year, with some dropping off, some new ones appearing and at least one other given a new term. What isn't surprising is that Honda won Most Trusted Brand for the second year running, Best Value Brand for the third year in a row and took Best Overall Brand, which wasn't on last year's list of awards.
On our own shores, in the non-luxury categories Chrysler got Most Refined Brand and Buick took Best Value Luxury Brand. Neither one of those marques won anything in last year's Brand Image Awards, while Cadillac, which won Best Interior Design Brand and Best Comfort Brand last year - those awards disappeared this year - went home without a single accolade.