Sporty RS Based On 2012 Ford Focus May Get Hybrid AWD System

By Viknesh Vijayenthiran

Viknesh Vijayenthiran

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Vik is an Editor at High Gear Media and contributor for a number of sites within the High Gear Media network. He was a co-founder of Motor Authority... More

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2010 Ford Focus RS (European edition)

It’s a well known fact that the U.S. misses out on most of Ford’s hot products, but with a push for new global models taking shape in Blue Oval offices around the world hopefully we will start to see more of these coveted models make their way into local showrooms.

Last year reports emerged claiming Ford was considering bringing its high-performance Focus RS--a 305 horsepower variant of the European Focus hatchback--to the U.S. but those claims were quickly dismissed by the car’s engineering chief Jost Capito.

Now, with the global 2012 Ford Focus finally revealed, interest in the possibility of an RS version being sold in the U.S. has reignited. After all, Ford’s global product boss, Derrick Kuzak, did reveal at this year’s Geneva Motor Show that a global performance version of the new Focus would be launched.

According to a new report, Ford is working on a new RS but instead of using the current car’s 2.5-liter five-cylinder turbo and advanced RevoKnuckle front-wheel drive system and Quaife differential, the next-generation of the high-performance Focus RS will feature a revolutionary hybrid system offering the option of all-wheel drive.

The hybrid system will team a 2.0-liter EcoBoost engine with an electric motor in effort to maintain power while cutting emissions and fuel economy. Peak output should remain around the 300 horsepower mark, with drive being sent to the front wheels via the EcoBoost engine and to the rear wheels via the electric motor.

As strange as it may seem that Ford would make such a radical departure for its Focus RS, it’s a move Mitsubishi is planning to do for the next-generation of its Lancer Evolution series, the Evo XI.

Don’t get too excited because the new Focus RS isn’t expected to arrive for at least another three years and anything could change between now and then. In the interim, however, Ford is expected to launch a Focus ST model complete with a 250 horsepower EcoBoost engine and dual clutch transmission.

[Autocar]