New Ford Focus RS will POKE the new Mercedes AMG 45 with a 400bhp stick

The new Ford Focus will be revealed on Tuesday, and it will be followed by a new Focus RS which, according to new reports, will take on cars like the Mercedes AMG 45 with a mild hybrid powertrain good for 400bhp.

We’re about to see the new Ford Focus debut, and that means there will be a new Focus RS too, although we probably won’t get to see it until the end of next year.

Despite that, Autocar claims to have got the inside story on what’s going to be on offer when the new Focus RS does arrive, and it does sound like Ford are taking aim at the soon to arrive new Mercedes AMG 45 with a Focus RS good for 400bhp.

That sounds like a lot from a 2.3 litre four-pot, but it’s actually no more than you can already get if you open your wallet to Mountune, who will lift your current RS to 400bhp already.

But it seems that Ford will be employing a bit of a mild hybrid boost to achieve the new RS’s power output – unlike AMG who are expected to deliver 400bhp just from its 2.0 litre turbo petrol – and in the process previewing a 48v mild hybrid system which will roll out across Ford’s other models in time.

It seems likely that some of the next RS’s power leap will come from some fettling of the current 2.3 litre Ecoboost, but the remainder will come from that 48v mild hybrid system which, although adding weight, will help Ford cut the next RS’s emissions and improve economy.

But first comes the new Ford Focus on which it will be based, and that’s scheduled for this Tuesday – 10 April 2018.