Riding the wave of success from sweeping the 2010 North American Car and Truck of the Year awards, Ford is no doubt on a high as it unveils the 2012 Ford Focus. And judging by these live shots of the debut presentation, it's got even more to be proud about than the Transit Connect and Fusion Hybrid.

Sleekly styled in both hatch and sedan forms, the 2012 Ford Focus also brings U.S. customers the global version of the Focus, meaning better margins and simpler supply chains for Ford, but more importantly: more fun for us.

The global Focus's platform is a known sporty commodity and with an efficient-yet-spunky 175-horsepower 2.0-liter mill and a possible four-pot EcoBoost upgrade in the near future, there's a lot here to like from a performance enthusiast's viewpoint.

Looking inside the car, the cutting-edge interior design and generally classy materials along with Ford's SYNC implementation and the new MyFord features push the 2012 Focus into the near-premium realm, an area not often visited by compacts in the U.S.

For full details, read our 2012 Ford Focus preview, but don't forget to ogle the live shots in the gallery above.