Many Americans still don’t realize how awesome the Ford Focus has been in Europe. From the highly successful WRC racer, to the street tuned ST and RS models, the Focus has earned a reputation of being one of the top sport compact cars in Europe, in addition to the rest of the automotive world, except the US of course. Well that’s all about to change.
You see, after Ford of America decided that all its models from around the world would share similar chassis and drivetrains, as opposed to market specific ones for Europe, Australia and North America, the US will finally get the Focus that everyone always wanted. That, boys and girls, would be the hot Ford Focus ST. The car you see here is a concept version, which, rumor has it, is extremely close to the production model that every global market, including the US, will have available as a 2012 model. The Ford Focus ST will compete with the likes of the Mazdaspeed3 and Volkswagen GTI under the ST badge and not the SVT moniker that was once expected.
So what’s so special about this latest Foci you ask? For starters, the body has been designed with a deeper front bumper with large air intakes, a gaping one-piece grille, wider side sills, a sizable spoiler above the rear tailgate, a unique rear bumper cover housing a pronounced central exhaust and signature five-arm, double-spoke alloy wheels. The interior consists of sport seats with body-colored inserts, deep-set main instruments, a trio of secondary dials for oil temperature, turbo boost pressure and battery charge, with carbon-fiber-look trim adorning the dashboard. The Ford Focus ST will be powered by a performance-oriented version of Ford’s turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder EcoBoost engine delivering 247 horsepower. This provides the Blue Oval’s latest hot hatchback with an increase of 25 hp over the current European ST, which uses a turbocharged 2.5-liter five-cylinder shared in a number of models by Volvo. A six-speed manual gearbox will be standard equipment, with power delivery being sent to the front wheels. Rumors are also flying that a sedan version is in the works as well.
I guess it’s only a matter of time before we see the young tuner crowd taking it to the Mustang with their modified Focus STs and we can’t wait.
SPEEDMOTORING 