Currently reading: Ford: No plans for a fourth-generation Focus RS
Low-volume hot hatch falls victim to increasingly stringent emissions regulations as firm confirms no replacement

Ford has no plans to introduce a range-topping RS version of the current Ford Focus, the car maker has confirmed.

As reported by Autocar in February, it had been understood that any fourth-generation Focus RS would hinge on development of a a high-output hybrid powertrain that would minimise the performance model’s impact on Ford’s fleet average CO2 emissions. 

It has now been confirmed, however, that development of such a system for the model has been deemed not cost-effective, and so Ford isn't planning a new Focus RS. 

A Ford spokesperson said: “As a result of pan-European emissions standards, increased CO2 taxation and the high cost of developing an RS with some form of electrification for a relatively low volume of vehicles, we are not planning another RS version of the Focus.

“We remain committed to Ford Performance vehicles in Europe as part of our DNA, with cars like the multi-award-winning Focus ST and Fiesta ST, as well as our Ford Mustang and Ranger Raptor models.”

Focus rs 2018 2735m 0

We weren’t expecting to see a new Focus RS until 2022 at the earliest. Earlier this year, a senior source at Ford told Autocar: “We are waiting for our engineering team to come up with a solution on the powertrain, and that is not easy given the new fleet CO2 regulations.”

With no Focus RS on the cars, the Focus ST, which currently heads up the model range with 276bhp in its most potent guise, will remain the hottest variant for the foreseeable future. 

The news comes as it’s revealed that the Mustang will likely adopt an electrified powertrain in 2022 as part of the manufacturer’s ambition to launch 18 mild-hybrid and full-hybrid models by 2022. 

A hybrid Mustang had been set to arrive this year, but development of the Mustang Mach-E electric SUV was fast-tracked as a priority. 

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Felix Page

Felix Page
Title: News and features editor

Felix is Autocar's news editor, responsible for leading the brand's agenda-shaping coverage across all facets of the global automotive industry - both in print and online.

He has interviewed the most powerful and widely respected people in motoring, covered the reveals and launches of today's most important cars, and broken some of the biggest automotive stories of the last few years. 

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Citytiger 20 April 2020

Well considering

in my opinion, the start of the demise of the Mondeo, was when Ford made the descision not to offer an ST version of the mk4, and the mk3 ST220 was the last hot one, and the last with a V6, this could well be the last hot (ICE powered) Focus, with the stupid future ban on conventional powered vehicles getting ever closer, is there really any point developing another one. 

Peter Cavellini 20 April 2020

Life sentence.

Citytiger wrote:

in my opinion, the start of the demise of the Mondeo, was when Ford made the descision not to offer an ST version of the mk4, and the mk3 ST220 was the last hot one, and the last with a V6, this could well be the last hot (ICE powered) Focus, with the stupid future ban on conventional powered vehicles getting ever closer, is there really any point developing another one. 

By the time the ban comes in , I'll be too old to drive, plus, I like to think that we care enough to try and make the World a little healthier for our kids.

Citytiger 20 April 2020

Peter Cavellini wrote:

Peter Cavellini wrote:

By the time the ban comes in , I'll be too old to drive, plus, I like to think that we care enough to try and make the World a little healthier for our kids.

[/quote]

Cars are not the problem, manufacturers who cheated the system caused the problem, and the world has over reacted, There is no viable alternative for ICE powered vehicles even on the drawing board before the ban comes in, unless of course you think all the large trucks will be electric within the next decade or so, along with boats, trains and planes and every other means of transporting people or cargo in bulk.  Then of course there is all the contrsuction equiptment needed to build the infrastructure to power all these electric vehicles, and thats obviously if you can convince countries like America, China or India to abandon ICE power.. 

Perhaps you believe XR didnt create any extra polution problems when they clogged up the capital or that Greta is not just a spoilt child who is being manipulated behind the scenes... 

Torque Stear 21 April 2020

Citytiger wrote:

Citytiger wrote:

Peter Cavellini wrote:

By the time the ban comes in , I'll be too old to drive, plus, I like to think that we care enough to try and make the World a little healthier for our kids.

Cars are not the problem, manufacturers who cheated the system caused the problem, and the world has over reacted, There is no viable alternative for ICE powered vehicles even on the drawing board before the ban comes in, unless of course you think all the large trucks will be electric within the next decade or so, along with boats, trains and planes and every other means of transporting people or cargo in bulk.  Then of course there is all the contrsuction equiptment needed to build the infrastructure to power all these electric vehicles, and thats obviously if you can convince countries like America, China or India to abandon ICE power.. 

Perhaps you believe XR didnt create any extra polution problems when they clogged up the capital or that Greta is not just a spoilt child who is being manipulated behind the scenes... 

[/quote]

There is no viable alternative?

Cars, BEV is a superior alternative I don't miss having to make special trips to put noxious liquids in my car. Fr everyone without a drive the challenge is getting electricity the 2-5m from the street to car. This is not a particulary difficult technical challenge.

Heavy vehicles; the Tesla Semi has more range than a driver is legally allowed to travel in one go and recharges that range quicker than the mandated rest time.

Construction vehicles; already some electrified models availible and they are much quieter. Most construction sites have electricity and the vehicles can charge overnight.

Trains; can either have overhead wires or be made obsolete by much clean electric cars and share autonomous vehicles. I suspect the latter with a long tail. Battery trains with BEV car technology are also technically possible and would only need to be under a wire for 20-30% of the journey. The issue is rail is structurally complicated and hidebound by standards and practices.

Planes, a 1000km range electric plane is possible with todays batteries, operating costs are likely to drop by a factor of 30-50%. By 2030 a 2000-3000km plane will be possible (enough to cross any body of water with stops on islands. To electrify flight the only move will be getting passengers to swap planes more often. With Uber and other AI dynamic planning apps I don't think that is a problem and may be desirable as who actually wants to be on a 20 hour flight as opposed to a number flights with stops to coincide with dinner (its the airports which make flying horrible)

Boats are difficult to electricfy due to the outright number of batteries they would need and their low discharge rate (planes work their batteries hard and thus economically efficiently). However by about 2030 cars are going to be about 100% electrified which means that 50-100GW a year will need to be added to world production. I doubt very much that the companies that make battery equipment will suddenly mothball their technology which means battery prices will continue to fall and capacity increase, they will be incentivised to find new markets. The solution for ships will be either to stop and charge in the region of every 2000km, there is no law saying you must go from China to the Med without refuelling and once common ships will probably pull up to an electrified buoy, batteries charge at the same % rate regardly of size so a large ship will be able to charge in less than an hour if you have the grid connection, or to go to hydrogen.

 

Peter Cavellini 20 April 2020

Plenty.

 I see Lots of them every week, four of five , mostly in blue, one a sort of Taupe color, I don't think it would be missed for a few years, so, maybe it would come back then?

manicm 20 April 2020

They can..

Improve the ST's dynamics with a facelift in the absence of the RS.