[Creedence]

As we see other automakers tease their latest hot hatches, or demonstrate them in Hondas case, Ford responds with its own salvo of tantalizing teasers.

While still missing those elusive horsepower and torque figures, the latest word from Dearborn has Ford wrangling every last drop of available power from the little 2.3L 4 cylinder. Of course this is likely carefully crafted marketing speak, as we all know, no factory is going to debut an engine right on the edge of its performance threshold, the internals would prove FAR too unreliable over the lifetime of a performance vehicle.

Also coming from Dearborn this week was an admission that Ford WILL build an automatic RS should the demand be there, by automatic they likely mean DCT despite the issues they've had with the Focus ST.

Lastly it has been rumoured that the RS would be offered to North Americans in almost artificially low quantities, hopefully we can put that to bed today. Ford has said that they're expecting the US as the largest market for the RS.

 

[Cosmonaut]

Well, I hope that they don't limit the amount of Focus RSs by too much. It shouldn't be too much of a task to find one, or have to engage in some type of bidding war. I'm sure the automatic will be offered. Lots of young people just never learnt how to drive manual.

 

[centurion]

Well, I hope that they don't limit the amount of Focus RSs by too much. It shouldn't be too much of a task to find one, or have to engage in some type of bidding war. I'm sure the automatic will be offered. Lots of young people just never learnt how to drive manual.

Although they originally reported 2000, depending on demand they could expand. 2000 is probably their "stop loss" number.

 

[Jobber]

Well truthfully 2000 units could actually be their biggest allocation. But if they're honest that the US will be their largest market they won't put a hard cap on demand. They'll sell them built to order, build as many as they order....

 

[Cosmonaut]

Well truthfully 2000 units could actually be their biggest allocation. But if they're honest that the US will be their largest market they won't put a hard cap on demand. They'll sell them built to order, build as many as they order....

I don't see them refusing people who want to buy them because they have placed an arbitrary limit on production. As long as they have the ability to, I think they will build a Focus RS for anyone who wants one. Only thing that the limit would be good for is protecting some residual value.