Focus RS Horsepower Rating Accidentally Leaked by Ford Ireland!!!

Jobber · Mar 6, 2015

"As for power, a specially tuned 2.3-litre EcoBoost petrol engine delivers 350 PS"

Accidentally on purpose? Regardless, earlier today Ford.ie publicly released the horsepower figure for the 2017 Focus RS, much to the chagrin of Ford US.

The Official Ford Ireland site was shutdown earlier this evening, I suspect Ford U.S. became involved and shut down the domain in order to investigate if Ford.ie had any other confidential information blatantly displayed. However, an hour later the site went back up and the image was not taken down.

Was this legitimately an accident or a brutally crafty way to generate buzz?

Edit: The image was originally located at http://www.ford.ie/AboutFord/GenevaMotorshow2015, but that link is now redirecting here http://www.ford.ie/AboutFord/Overview

S.Elliot · Mar 7, 2015

Glad to see the number confirmed after all the reports of its power expectations, one of them being the below:

We have additional details about the upcoming 2016 Focus RS from another trusted source, including power output, so let's start with that. With the Mustang GT's V8 holding down a 435 hp spot at the top of the Ford performance pecking order (for now, until the 2016 Ford Mustang Shelby GT350 emerges), the Focus RS is free to turn up the horsepower wick. Since the 2.3-liter Ecoboost is easily capable of more than its 310 hp output in the Mustang, which was dictated more by fuel economy concerns than anything else, the RS is free to pump out between 325 and 350 hp. The higher figure is more likely. This is because as a low-volume, niche product that doesn't compete with the Mustang GT, there's no reason to hold the Focus RS back.

centurion · Mar 7, 2015

that last line in elliots quote is an important one to factor in:

This is because as a low-volume, niche product that doesn't compete with the Mustang GT, there's no reason to hold the Focus RS back.

combine the leaked power of 345HP with the fact it'll have an all-wheel-drive and dynamic torque vectoring control system, this works out to be quite the recipe

Creedence · Mar 7, 2015

figure this. The mustang makes 310 hp 320 ft-lbs, can we extrapolate and say 360-370 ft-lbs for the RS?

Cosmonaut · Mar 9, 2015

It sounds to me that this was more of a mistake than a purposeful planting of information. Ford Ireland? That just doesn't seem likely to me. If it was, then man o man have they got good at this. I'll be interested to know how that power rating translates into top speed and acceleration once full specs are out there.

AutoFocus · Mar 9, 2015

Jobber said:
Was this legitimately an accident or a brutally crafty way to generate buzz?

]

I'd say it was a brutally crafty way to generate buzz haha. I don't see how else that info would get to that website without going through some heavy protocol. This information about horsepower will only stand true when the Focus itself is ready to take home.

centurion · Mar 9, 2015

if it was a way to generate buzz.... they did an awesome freeking job!

Jobber · Mar 10, 2015

AutoFocus said:
I'd say it was a brutally crafty way to generate buzz haha. I don't see how else that info would get to that website without going through some heavy protocol. This information about horsepower will only stand true when the Focus itself is ready to take home.

Same, especially when you consider the importance the UK markets have meant to RS in the past... 0

Cosmonaut · Mar 10, 2015

I feel like Ford Ireland just made a mistake. At this point now I am curious what the full story is though. Wish Ford could just let us know what the deal was.

AutoFocus · Mar 10, 2015

That's the whole point of creating the buzz, not to pull us in all the way but just enough to keep us on the edge of our seats waiting for what information will be thrown out next!

S.Elliot · Mar 11, 2015

They're just trying to keep the ball rolling, not letting the hype slow down

Jobber · Mar 11, 2015

Cosmonaut said:
I feel like Ford Ireland just made a mistake. At this point now I am curious what the full story is though. Wish Ford could just let us know what the deal was.

They did, its claimed it was a typo. someone meant to write more then 310 PS but instead wrote 350 PS!

HA, mistake my arse, 1 and 5 are quite distinct, not to mention the more than!

Fords deal is publicity, what you thought they were going to let the Civic type R continue to dominate the headlines?

Civic wins nurburgring, Civic has 306 bhp... Ford says thanks for coming out 350 PS!!! Focus RS and CTR are competing for the same pool of dollars and CTR will beat the RS to market. Ford needs to keep potential CTR buyers out of Honda show rooms, they want people to wait for the RS, how, tell them it makes bonkers numbers... and drifts!!!

A broken dome is a mistake, this is forgetting one deliberately

AutoFocus · Mar 11, 2015

S.Elliot said:
They're just trying to keep the ball rolling, not letting the hype slow down

Yup! That's exactly what they are doing and what's been planned out from long time. Just like this thread it creates hype to keep everyone pulled in so when they're ready to throw out all the information everyone's waiting.

S.Elliot · Mar 13, 2015

Jobber said:
They did, its claimed it was a typo. someone meant to write more then 310 PS but instead wrote 350 PS!

HA, mistake my arse, 1 and 5 are quite distinct, not to mention the more than!

Fords deal is publicity, what you thought they were going to let the Civic type R continue to dominate the headlines?

Civic wins nurburgring, Civic has 306 bhp... Ford says thanks for coming out 350 PS!!! Focus RS and CTR are competing for the same pool of dollars and CTR will beat the RS to market. Ford needs to keep potential CTR buyers out of Honda show rooms, they want people to wait for the RS, how, tell them it makes bonkers numbers... and drifts!!!

A broken dome is a mistake, this is forgetting one deliberately

That's why it always helps to consider how what ever is going has to do with their marketing efforts.

Hearing about a 'leak' sure sirs up discussion and get attention

Jobber · Mar 13, 2015

S.Elliot said:
That's why it always helps to consider how what ever is going has to do with their marketing efforts.

Hearing about a 'leak' sure sirs up discussion and get attention

For sure, production won't begin until year end 2015, cars will be at stores by this time 2016... thats a ton of time for Ford to be sitting on their hands, while Honda has tangible product on the market...

Cosmonaut · Mar 18, 2015

Well I am more convinced its a big Ford publicity conspiracy now since there was another "mistake" that happened on the Ford Spain site. That site said that the Focus RS would have horsepower of 345. I just don't believe that after making the mistake once, another website would make the same mistake so quickly.

http://www.leftlanenews.com/ford-focus-rs-to-arrive-with-345-hp.html

centurion · Mar 18, 2015

Cosmonaut said:
Well I am more convinced its a big Ford publicity conspiracy now since there was another "mistake" that happened on the Ford Spain site. That site said that the Focus RS would have horsepower of 345. I just don't believe that after making the mistake once, another website would make the same mistake so quickly.

http://www.leftlanenews.com/ford-focus-rs-to-arrive-with-345-hp.html

Sure seems like that is the case or just really, really bad miscommunication

Jobber · Jun 25, 2015

Well looks like it was 345 hp after all! http://www.focusrsclub.com/forum/19...st-released-345-hp-325-trq-2016-focus-rs.html

Cosmonaut · Jun 25, 2015

I still wonder if this was a publicity stunt or a mistake when it happened originally.

S.Elliot · Jun 25, 2015

Cosmonaut said:
I still wonder if this was a publicity stunt or a mistake when it happened originally.

My best guess is it was for publicity, the time it happened was just way too perfect.

During that time there wasn't much news, dead time... then that happened.

Focus RS Horsepower Rating Accidentally Leaked by Ford Ireland!!!

Top Contributors this Month