Ford Focus RS not going to the U.S.

Ford's Focus RS won't be going to the States - but there may be a next gen Focus RS after all that will

Ford's Focus RS won't be going to the States - but there may be a next gen Focus RS that will

Ford are working hard to make the Ford Motor Company a ‘World Car’ producer. Finally, after years of eschewing high quality, stylish and relatively economic cars from overseas, the States is finally waking up to just how good the products on offer from the likes of Ford and GM in Europe are.

We’ve seen the Ford Fiesta in the USA prior to a full scale launch, and there is talk that the U.S will get the Ford KA if Fiat decide to build the Fiat 500 in Mexico. So it would seem reasonable that petrol-heads in the US will be able to get their hands on the new Ford Focus RS – Ford’s hottest car. But it would seem not. At least for now.

It would seem that the Focus platform lags behind that of the Fiesta in that it’s not homologated for US safety standards, so there is no chance of the Focus RS being offered to keen drivers on the other side of the pond. Ford’s RS guru, Jost Capito, is quoted as saying that much as Ford would love the kudos that the Focus RS would bring to the North American market for Ford, it is just too costly to homologate the platform for such a niche vehicle. So that’s that then? Maybe not.

Ford have been quoted as saying that this will be the last of the Focus RS models. They believe that the changing car landscape mitigates against there being any demand in the future for a hot-hatch of this nature. But it looks like they may be rethinking that, especially in light of the great reviews for the RS, and its sales figures.

Hermann Salenbauch, Ford’s director of Advanced Product Creation and Global Performance (now there’s a title – I wonder how big his business cards need to be to fit that lot on!) has said that Ford are looking for feedback from Media and Customers on the RS to help them decide if the US is a viable market. Which seems to be contrary to what Ford were saying earlier in the year. So it looks like Ford are considering an RS version of the Focus on the next Focus platform, which is due in 2011 and will be homologated for the U.S.

So sorry, Colonial Cousins, you can’t have the current Ford Focus RS. But if you’re very good, and say lots of nice things about Ford, that nice Mr Salenbauch may make one for you to buy in two or three years time.