Jay Leno's guests do battle in electric Ford Focus

The soon-to-debut Jay Leno Show has revealed the car it will be using for its celebrity driving challenge segment, an electric Ford Focus.

Ladies and gentlemen! Start your electric engines!
(Credit: Ford)

Dubbed the Green Car Challenge, the concept is based on Top Gear's Star in a Reasonably Priced Car segment, where a celeb, after a few professional pointers and practice laps, does a timed lap around a test track, with the time then placed on a leaderboard.

In the UK original, the car is of humble stock; the car used between 2002 and 2005 was a Suzuki Liana, while the current vehicle is a Chevy Lacetti (Holden Viva). The car to be used on Jay Leno's new primetime show is anything but humble.

Indeed, because the electric Focus won't be available for purchase in North America until 2011, the one to be used on the show had to be hand built. That took three weeks as engineers had to properly tune the suspension so it could be driven quickly around a race track, as well as fit a roll cage and five-point harness for the driver; the development work was done at Ford's Michigan Proving Grounds in Romeo in Michigan.

The Jay Leno Show debuts in America on NBC at 10pm on Monday September 14. It will screen nightly in Australia on the Comedy Channel at 7.30pm beginning on Tuesday September 15.