RideLust

 After years of success in the World Rally Ford Europe is ready to give the new Ford Focus a rally inspired makeover to make the Focus RS a 2009 street beast. With months of work already under the belt the Ford Team RS under the direction of Jost Capito will spend the next year getting the Focus RS ready for production.

Ford and Capito are remaining mum on the specs of the Focus RS at this point but turbo-charging the Focus ST 5-cylinder and reaching upwards of 280-hp could easily be speculated. Maybe when the car is shown some time in mid-2008, possibly at the London Auto Show, Ford will share more of the secrets that will give the High Performance Focus RS its sizzle.

Ofcourse, those of us in North America will just have a continuation of these teasers as Ford Europe is not big on sharing with us. But to read more about the design and design team setting forth on the Focus RS task you can check out the Ford Press Release below.

Source[Ford] 

Official Ford Press Release

COLOGNE, December 17, 2007 – Ford of Europe is confirming its plan to deliver an exciting all-new, high performance Focus RS model for launch in 2009. A design image released by the company today hints at the exciting direction the new model is taking.

The new Focus RS will be based on the dynamic new Focus ST. It will be developed by Ford Team RS, a specialist team led by Jost Capito who, as previously announced, is being appointed to the new role as Vehicle Line Director for Ford of Europe Performance Vehicles from January 1, 2008.

“With two consecutive Manufacturers’ World Rally Championship titles under our belt, the time is right to create a new Focus RS,” said John Fleming, Ford of Europe’s President and CEO. “With the Fiesta and Focus ST models, Jost and his team have proved already that they can deliver exciting and practical performance road cars. The success of these models, combined with Jost’s experience in motorsport and Ford of Europe’s positive business results, mean that we now have a credible business case for a no-compromise Focus RS roadcar for more enthusiastic drivers.”

The basic concept for a new Focus RS has been under development within Ford Team RS under Capito’s leadership for some months already. Now that the programme has been given the ‘green light’, Capito and his team will be concentrating fully on this programme.

“We have reviewed our technical options and worked closely with the Design team on how the car might look, and I’m very excited by the results,” said Jost Capito, “Now with the programme going ahead, the hard work really starts as the small team working on the project takes the car from prototype to production.”

Stay Tuned
Ford of Europe will not reveal any of the technical details of the new Focus RS until closer to launch in 2009. The company plans to show a concept version of the car publicly for the first time in mid-2008.

“We will use the redesigned 2008 Focus ST as the base for a no-compromise RS model that will become the ultimate road-going Focus,” Capito added. “Just as the Focus RS WRC owns the rally circuit, we want the new Focus RS to own the road, so we have the major competitors in our sights as we develop the car’s performance, design, handling and braking.”

“We’re not ready to confirm any of the technical details of the new Focus RS yet – Jost and his team have a lot to do to finalise the exact specification and styling,” said Fleming. “But make no mistake, I can assure you that ultimately, the car we plan to launch will be worthy of wearing the coveted Ford RS badge.”