Bad news for fans of sporty Fords: the current Ford Focus will have to do with the ST as the sportiest version. A new RS version is reportedly no longer Ford.
No generation of the Ford Focus has passed without an RS version. In line with the Escort predecessors, Ford continued to use the acclaimed RS name on the sportiest Focus, right down to the very impressive RS of the previous generation. Now that the current Focus has been on the market for a while and there is also an ST version, many are looking forward to the arrival of the new RS. Unfortunately, it will not come, reports French Caradisiac based on sources within the brand. Not necessarily because Ford does not want it, but because it is simply no longer considered feasible.
Ford is already making every effort to comply with the stricter European rules regarding CO2 emissions and a Focus RS is of course not useful within that story. That would be the main reason for not doing it. Earlier this year, a postponement of the new RS was already expected on the basis of that argument. A hybrid powertrain for the RS could be a solution, an anonymous source within the brand argued at the time. That kite does not seem to be valid now either.
Furthermore, the development of a new RS is of course a costly story, and the RS does not exactly ensure a flourishing financial result of such an investment. In that respect, too, a new RS is said to no longer fit into the brand’s future plans, especially now that it may have to cut back even more than it had already planned due to the corona crisis. Fortunately, the Focus ST is still there and with its 280 hp 2.3 from the last Focus RS, it is certainly not for the cat. That alleviates any pain from the loss of an RS.