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Technology giant Siemens has been named as the sponsor of the 2025 Autocar Awards, which will celebrate the people and organisations shaping the future of automotive - as well as the best cars on sale.

This year's awards ceremony takes place on 24 June, where Autocar and Siemens will name the industry's most innovative and impactful individuals, and provide a platform for them to tell their stories. 

As part of Autocar's collaboration with Siemens, the two brands will also host a free, interactive webinar on 25 June in which we will delve into how software is defining the future of automotive.

As its role in vehicle development and functionality becomes ever-more important, there are huge questions over what software means for how we use our cars - and what the future holds.

Siemens is a technology leader with a significant influence on the mobility sphere so is well placed to help answer those questions and reveal the full potential of software in this space.

How can manufacturers upgrade cars post-purchase? Does your car have untapped technological potential built in already? What is a software-defined vehicle? These are just some of the questions we’ll seek to answer in our free webinar on Wednesday 25 June from 14:00-15:00.

Join Siemens head of automotive, battery and mobility Uday Senapati, Autocar deputy editor Felix Page and a selection of special industry guests – to be announced in the coming weeks – for an insightful and interactive deep-dive into the world of automotive software.

Mark Tisshaw, Autocar editor, said: “Throughout our collaboration with Siemens, it has become clear just how deeply connected the company is to the automotive industry and how influential its relationships are at every level.

“We are thrilled to partner with Siemens to tell the stories of the industry's most impressive individuals and companies at this year's Autocar Awards ceremony and to hear how the company's insights and expertise are shaping the future of the car in our upcoming webinar.”

The webinar will be broadcast live on Wednesday 25 June from 14:00-15:00, with the opportunity to put questions to our expert guests.

Sign up here to watch for free

The Ford Focus ST has been taken off sale in the UK ahead of production of the hot hatchback ending in November. 

The Focus ST had been open for orders as recently as April but disappeared from dealer price lists in an update issued on 26 May, despite remaining on Ford's online configurator.

It means the Focus can now be had only with the turbocharged and mild-hybridised 1.0-litre three-cylinder Ecoboost engine, with outputs of 123bhp or 153bhp. Trim choices are limited to Active X Edition, ST-Line and ST-Line X Edition.

All are set to go in the coming months as Ford winds down Focus production. The company has courted buyers for the plant in Saarlouis, Germany that has housed assembly of every Focus but has yet to find a buyer.

Ford has committed to keeping the plant open with 1000 workers (down from a previous 4600) until 2032 if no sale can be made.

Ford UK told Autocar: “There are no new factory orders available for the Focus ST at the moment, but there are around 170 built and unsold currently available within the UK dealer network. This includes 30 of the special ST Edition variant in Azura Blue.”

Asked for clarification on whether that wording means Focus ST orders could be taken again before the end of production, Ford suggested that the situation could change but nothing was confirmed. 

This leaves the door open to the order book reopening if there is a sudden influx of demand, or for a special edition sending the hot hatch into retirement. 

The disappearance of the Focus ST is representative of a wider market trend, with the traditional mass-market hot hatch having all but died out in recent years.

The business case for such cars has been sullied by the shift to more profitable (and ultimately less dynamic) SUVs, as well as tightening fleet emissions regulations that have pushed manufacturers towards EVs and low-emission hybrids.

Hyundai pulled its i30 N and smaller i20 N from Europe last year, the Peugeot 308 GTi didn't survive more than a single generation and Toyota has yet to launch the GR Corolla in the UK.

Of the hot hatches that live on, many have either spiked in price – the Volkswagen Golf GTI now starts north of £40,000 – or remain strictly limited in number, as is the case for the Honda Civic Type R and Toyota GR Yaris.

Indeed, Ford recently turned down the temperature on the Focus ST’s smaller sibling, the Puma ST. Its 197bhp 1.5-litre powerplant and manual gearbox were discontinued, leaving only an uprated version of the regular Puma’s mild-hybrid 1.0-litre powerplant with 158bhp and an automatic gearbox. This is the only ST model to survive the cull of the past few years.

This doesn't spell the end for fast Fords, though: design director Amko Leenarts last year told Autocar that there was “definitely” a future for the brand’s performance cars, referencing the popularity of Formula 1, the Dakar and the World Rally Championship, among others. “If we’re not doing that, we are making the wrong investments,” he said. “So it’s got to transition to our normal car lines globally.”