New Focus RS500 On The Verge Of Getting The Go-Ahead From Ford Performance

The last RS500 was a 345bhp five-cylinder beast that was used to boost sales of the Mk2 RS back in 2010. But, it’s looking like the RS500 is coming back. It’s now almost certain that Ford will manufacture a new extreme Focus RS as one of 12 high-performance variants coming from Ford before the year 2020.

Under development by Ford Performance in Germany, the RS500 is expected to develop around 400bhp, a 15 per cent increase in power from the standard car. Although there are some production queries and business decisions to be made, it can be almost guaranteed that the most powerful Focus yet will be on the roads in the near future.

A source has told Autocar that the car “is not genuinely green-lighted, but the desire exists to have a star in the RS and ST range”. Although very few specs from the car are known, prototypes have been seen testing on the Nürburgring (below) sporting large bonnet scoops for added cooling and a large rear wing.

The 2.3-Litre EcoBoost engine should produce around 172bhp/Litre, a smidgen off the 177bhp/litre from the A45 AMG, a possible target for the RS500. This increase in power should see performance increase to around 4.2 seconds to 62mph, bringing the Focus on par with the Mercedes and just pipping the Audi RS3 by 0.1 of a second.

With prices estimated at around £45k, the RS500 is expected to be predominantly sold in the UK, with a few models making it overseas to selected lucky punters. The Ford Focus RS is already a weapon of a car and with this hike in power, it could assert itself as the king of hot hatches.