Once upon a time, to be considered an American sports car, there were but two requirements; a big and powerful V8 engine and rear-wheel drive. But as time has marched on, the wants and needs of car buyers have changed. Not everyone wants or needs a full-time rear-wheel drive car (especially those of us where it snows) and with gas prices climbing ever higher, many people can’t afford to feed a hungry V8 engine.

Hence the rise of the domestic sport compact, with the field currently led by the excellent Ford Focus ST. To show all of its customers that it cares about more than just the Mustang, ROUSH Performance has rolled out a handful of new performance parts for Focus ST customers.

ROUSH is rolling out just a few basic modifications to start with, though we’re thinking this could just be the first of many performance parts to come. For now ROUSH will offer 2012-13 Ford Focus ST owners a cold-air intake system and a cat-back exhaust which, as you can see from the video, gives the Focus ST a much burlier growl.

You can order the parts now, though as of this writing pricing is not yet available and the parts won’t actually ship out until July. Later on though, ROUSH will offer styling, suspension, and probably more performance upgrades for the Focus ST. Who knows, maybe ROUSH will even go the whole way and make a Focus ST3 in the same vein as the Mustang RS3. That certainly would be something, wouldn’t it?