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.
Kurt Ernst has been passionate about automobiles and driving nearly his entire life. His early years were shaped working in the family service station, though his real passion was auto racing. After graduating from the University of Colorado, Kurt spent a year club racing with the Sports Car Club of America, before focusing on a business career in marketing and project management. Later, his passion for writing and the automotive hobby found him freelancing for a variety of automotive news sites, including Automotive Addicts and Motor Authority, where his work was syndicated and appeared in several national publications. Recognized as an expert in the automotive field, Kurt joined Hemmings Motor News as an Associate Editor in 2013, and in the years since has progressed to Editor, Hemmings Daily; Managing Editor for Hemmings Motor News, Hemmings Classic Car, Hemmings Muscle Machines, and the Hemmings Daily; and now, Managing Editor, Hemmings Auctions. Kurt was instrumental in organizing the Hemmings Motor News Concours d’Elegance from 2013-2019, and has served as a judge at this event and The Vintage Racing Stable Concours d’Elegance. A Skip Barber Racing School graduate and prolific writer, Ernst is also skilled in copyediting, project management, brand development, and public relations.
