2012 Ford Focus ST
About a year ago we brought you reports that Ford was considering a revival of the European Capri, a sporty coupe model that dates back to the 1960s. Those reports claimed that the new Ford Focus would eventually spawn a successor to the Capri in the form of a new coupe that could be on sale by the start of 2012.
Ford has previously flirted with the idea of bringing back the Capri, and even released a concept called the Visos shown in 2003. That car held very true to the original car's body style, at least in terms of being a two-door hatch/liftback. Fast forward to today, and the re-ascendancy of coupe and hatchback body styles over the past year or two on the strength of fuel economy concerns and high oil prices has brought with it a rumor of the Ford Focus Coupe once again.
According to latest reports, a concept version of the new coupe is set to be unveiled at January’s 2011 Detroit Auto Show. During a recent interview with AutoExpress, Ford’s European design boss Martin Smith suggested that there will be something exciting based around the Focus in Detroit.
“Our plan was always to get the basic Ford product lineup successful,” he said. “Now we have done that, we can start to build more exciting products--and we’ll show how we’re going to do this at Detroit.”
Expect the new coupe to share much in common with the sporty Focus ST model, which means it should feature the same 247 horsepower 2.0-liter EcoBoost engine as the hot hatch. Though still channeling all that power through the front wheels, the coupe is expected to have a wider track than the Focus ST and a more hardcore suspension setup.
