Ford's previous Focus RS. Image: Ford Motor Company
Bad news, Euros: if you’re saving up for a new Ford Focus RS, you’ll be saving for a while longer than anticipated. As Left Lane News, via Car Advice, reports, work on the next generation Focus RS has been stopped, in order to focus (no pun intended) on more essential and profitable products. In the words of Gunnar Herrmann, Ford’s vehicle line director for small cars, “We are not working on RS right now. It’s just because we have other priorities to clean up and effectively we have to make a final decision on how we proceed. We have other items to proceed with.”
Those other items include developing and launching more profitable products that share the Focus RS’ platform, like the Kuga, Focus ST, B-Max minivan and even the Focus Electric. In total, 11 Ford models will use the common platform, and those 11 combined account for roughly two-million annual sales worldwide. The Focus RS, on the other hand, is a low volume image car that Ford wants in its portfolio, but doesn’t necessarily need.
Since we won’t get the RS on these shores, the decision has no impact on U.S. customers. If it helps to get the Focus ST to market, we’re all for it.
