The Ford Focus compact car and Ford F-Series family of trucks have each won “Hottest Vehicle” awards at the 2017 Specialty Equipment Market Association Show, currently in progress in Las Vegas. The awards acknowledge the vehicles’ accessory-friendliness and popularity among vehicle customizers. The Ford Focus, including the performance-oriented ST and RS models, took home the “Hottest Hatch” award, while the Ford F-Series won “Hottest Truck”.
The awards were decided by votes from SEMA exhibiting manufacturers, and Ford’s double-win reflects the automaker’s efforts to maintain a huge presence at the annual exhibition. In 2015, Ford became the first automaker to win three Hottest Vehicle awards – for the Ford Focus, the Ford F-Series, and in the Coupe category, the Ford Mustang. That achievement was duplicated the following year, but for 2017, the Mustang was nudged out by the Chevrolet Camaro.
Since SEMA started distributing Hottest Vehicle awards in 2010, Ford has won 15 of the total of 33 awards. The F-Series alone has been crowned Hottest Truck seven out of the eight times the award has been given. This year, the automaker’s SEMA display contains more than 50 vehicles, many of which are custom-built for the show.
“The aftermarket industry’s ongoing elevation of our vehicles feels great,” says Ford Performance Director Dave Pericak. “We are beyond proud to have two back-to-back-to-back winners in our Focus and F-Series.”
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I raced ford mustangs in quarter mile asphalt tracks 1/2 mile oval tracks when everyone ran chevrolets except me everyone ran 358 cid late model I ran a 318 cid Ford based 302 with a slight stroke increase and cleveland style heads roller cam 12-8-1 compression iron block and iron heads for the first two years. Set track record and won the championship 4 years in a row. Ran the same engine for two years turning over 8000 rpms in 100 lap feature races. Got protest 5 or 6 times a year was always legal and this kept my engine in good shape all year the protest lol. The car was an exceptionally good handling 1969 mustang tube frame car fiberglass body parts etc. borg warner T-10 four speed with 488 gears. Did not have the massive hp the gm cars had but it was smooth and would not spin the tires coming off the corners even on worn out tires. Cam timing was retarded back for mid to high rpm. One my secrets the others never tell anybody till this day.