Yahoo Autos It Sounds Like the Hotter Ford Focus RS500 Won't Happen
Earlier this year, we heard that Ford had a hotter Focus RS, dubbed the RS500, in the works. Shortly after, we saw a fancy-looking Focus RS testing at the Nurburgring, making the RS500 seem like an inevitability. However, now it sounds like the Focus RS500 is off the table.
That's according to an Autocar report that quotes anonymous Ford sources as saying the RS500 only has a 30 percent chance of production. Apparently, higher-ups in Ford worry that a Focus RS with more than the stock RS' 350 horsepower could encroach on U.S.-sales the 435-horse Mustang GT. Without a viable business case, it doesn't sound like the RS500 will see the light of day.
Ford apparently considered building a hotter, Europe-only Focus RS, but that doesn't jive with the company's One Ford philosophy of building the same cars for major markets. Building a Europe-only car would also cut development budgets significantly.
While a hotter Focus RS would be great, it's not as if Ford is abandoning the idea entirely, at least for U.S. customers. As we reported earlier this month, Ford Performance will offer a factory-backed tuning kit for the RS, that should fill the void created by the lack of an RS500. So fear not, it'll be ok.
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