Ford confirms Focus RS for 2009

Ford has confirmed that it will be building an RS version of its current Focus. Following several years of deliberation, the green light was finally given after Ford won the World Rally Championship manufacturers’ title for the second year running with its four-wheel-drive Focus WRC.

That doesn’t necessarily mean the new RS Focus will come equipped with four-wheel-drive too, even though there’s enough room in the new Focus for it to be engineered in. Jost Capito, Ford of Europe’s newly appointed Vehicle Line Director for Performance Vehicles, will be the man in charge of developing the RS and he has a healthy dislike for adding complication to a car, especially when it might increase kerb weight.

Another consideration is that Ford is now admitting that the original Focus RS was a loss-leader, reckoning each of the 4500 examples sold cost the company around £6000. This is not something Ford will want to repeat, so Capito will have to ensure the next RS will be profitable.

All Ford is saying about the new model at the moment is that it will be based on the five-cylinder turbocharged Focus ST and will go on sale in early 2009. Just one teaser image has been released so far and it suggests that, as well as gaining a suitably aggressive front-end, the RS will get heavily blistered front arches, presumably to contain a dramatically widened track.

We will get our first look at a concept of the RS at the London Motor Show 2008, although Ford admits that it has already been out testing prototypes for several months, as our spy shots confirm. The unusual wheels fitted to the front of the black RS caught testing near the Nürburgring are used to monitor wheel speed when developing traction control systems and the like – another clue that the RS may have just front-wheel-drive.

Information that we have gleaned so far suggests that the car will be fitted with a twin-turbo version of the ST’s 2.5-litre five-cylinder engine, resulting in a power output of around 300bhp; torque could be limited in the first two gears to keep torque-steer at manageable levels.

In the event that Ford does decide to go down the four-wheel-drive route, the only likely donor of a system from within the group is Volvo, but as its system is not permanent four-wheel-drive (it only delivers torque to the rear wheels when the fronts begin to run out of grip), it’s not an ideal solution for a car as extreme as the RS.

What is clear is that the RS will be far more than just a badge engineering exercise. Talking to evo, a Ford spokesperson described the RS as being ‘a rally weapon in disguise, with real credibility for all potential RS owners’.

Expect the RS to cost £25-27K, a price that would put it head to head with Subaru’s new Impreza WRX STI, due in the UK in March. There will also be competition from a cheaper, five-door Mitsubishi Lancer, due to be revealed at Geneva in March. The 237bhp Lancer Ralliart will cost around £20k and will have Evo X running gear but last- generation active yaw control and the six-speed dual-clutch gearbox.