Ford Focus RS 500 revealed

The limited edition, matt black Ford Focus RS 500

We have photos and detail of the limited edition Ford Focus RS 500 a couple of days ahead of its official reveal.

According to Ford’s micro-site for the Focus RS 500 the reveal of the limited edition Focus RS will happen on Wednesday. But we’ve managed to jump the gun a little and bring you the Focus RS 500 in all its matt black goodness a day or two early. We’re sure you won’t object.

Much as expected the limited edition RS 500 (yep, you guessed – just 500 will be made) gets a leap in power and torque to deliver 345 bhp (up from 300bhp) and 339lb/ft of torque (up from 325lb/ft). The power and torque changes – brought about by a fiddle or three with the exhaust system, the ECU and an improved induction kit – allow the RS 500 to get to 60mph in 5.6 seconds instead of 5.9 seconds in the regular Focus RS. And it’ll feel quicker. When we reviewed the Focus RS last year we were amazed just how quick it is in the real world.

As we told you when we revealed the Focus RS500 last week, they will have a matt black paint job with gloss black detailing. In fact, the cars will leave the Ford factory in standard gloss black and be shipped to 3M in Frankfurt where they’ll get a matt black wrap. Brake callipers will be finished in red. The main changes to the interior are red detailing instead of blue and an RS500 plaque on the dash.

We’re expecting the order book for the RS 500 to open up next month with cars being delivered by the end of the summer. No word yet on price – there may be in a day or two when the reveal is official – but when we speculated on the RS 500 a month or so ago – when we thought it would be the Focus RS Clubsport – we expected the price to be around £35,000.

We still do.

(Update: Ford has decided to issue what we’ve published – officially. There’s nothing new, but you might want to have a look at the Ford Focus RS500 Press Release for all the minutia)