The former chief engineer for the Mustang has just been appointed as the head of Ford Performance, a new division of the company that will unite SVT, Ford RS and Ford Racing all under the same banner. The new head, Dave Pericak, spoke at the Automotive Press Association recently, explaining that heavy investment in performance is seen as the way forward for Ford. Partly due to the traditional halo effect that motorsports has and partly just because Ford sells a lot of these cars...and it obviously wants to sell many more.

The Focus and Fiesta ST models have been a huge sales success, especially among the tricky but coveted millennial demographic who bought ST models at twice the rate of regular Fords. But even in other demographics, Ford's recent performance portfolio has done a fantastic job of attracting people to the brand, even for mainstream models. So Ford is planning 12 new vehicles from the newly formed Ford Performance by 2020, and have just opened a new state-of-the-art technology center in Charlotte, North Carolina. But all of this is just for the Ford brand: other Ford brands are still on their own.