Ford's Next Focus ST Could Produce 275bhp From Just 1.5 Litres

The 2018 Ford Focus ST is set to have up to 275bhp from a turbocharged 1.5-litre four-cylinder engine, according to a report from Autocar, who have also granted us permission to use their renders.

That means the Focus, which will have Ford’s next generation of high-tech turbocharging, will extract as much as 183bhp per litre from the dinky little four-cylinder unit. To put that into perspective, the 2.3-litre Focus RS has 150bhp per litre and the current Focus ST makes do with 125bhp per litre. Impressive stuff.

With the 1.5-litre three-cylinder Fiesta ST due to make 131bhp per litre, it’s believed that an extra cylinder will help Ford extract more from the same cubic capacity, possibly along with higher revs. As it happens, the scaleable architecture Ford is using means that the Fiesta and Focus technically use the same chassis, too – just in different sizes.

Elsewhere in its report, Autocar says that interior quality is slated for big improvements, while the wheelbase grows 50mm and overall length increases to over 4.4 metres. You’ll get more luggage and passenger space from it, says Ford.

There will be manual and dual-clutch automatic gearboxes in the wider range, but we don’t yet know if they will extend to the ST, but we do know the diesel will continue – it takes too many sales to even dream of getting rid. We don’t yet know whether the 2.0-litre engine will give way to a 1.5 like it will on the petrol side, but Ford has both in its arsenal.