Leno invites Ricardo HyBoost Ford Focus to the garage

Jay Leno invited Tom Apostolos to the garage this week. He’s the president of Ricardo Americas, a tech company partially responsible for the hybrid powerplant on the McLaren P1.

Leno and Apostolos talk about hybrids, and how you have to drive them tens of years and hundreds of thousands of miles to get any added value out of them.

As an alternative, Apostolos brought a stock 2009 Ford Focus, tweaked with the Ricardo HyBoost system. The company replaces the Duratec engine with a 1.1-liter and adds a turbocharger and electric supercharger. That supercharger operates as a torque filler, adding boost while the turbo spools up.

The HyBoost upgrades cost about $11,000, on top of the price of the car. That still seems steep to us, considering that you’d have $11,000 to spend on your first 3,000 or so gallons of gas. Later Leno brings in Paul Riviera, global director of Ricardo, to explain some of the HyBoost’s bits and pieces.

The HyBoost Focus features a stop/start system and super capacitors in the trunk to store energy. The engine puts out 143 hp and 177 lb-ft, while efficiency goes up 47 percent. Leno says the car feels like it’s carrying a 2.0-liter engine. He even chirps the tires during a gear change.

Check out the video, and go to Ricardo’s website for more information.

By Jake Lingeman