Focus RS does LeMans!

[porsche4life]

Why won't they sell this in America? This is like the one Ford product I would buy....





Ford Focus RS does Le Mans - BBC Top Gear

[Embraer]

seriously....very cool

[porsche4life]

Exactly.... So what's keeping it out of the US?

[dd74]

Probably the same thing that's keeping the Mustang GT out of Europe. Different markets.

[Noah930]

Probably because they think "hatchbacks never sell" in the U.S. Of course not, when just about every hatchback sold by one of the Big-3 was some entry-level piece of crap. Sell something interesting, and Americans will buy it, hatchback or not.

[Geronimo '74]

Wow, the one in Gulfblue and orange! me like! (actually, you could paint a turd in those colors and i would like it... )
I saw one at Spa Francorchamps a while back, a viperish green one.
Fast mofo, that's for sure! (300hp and front wheel drive!)

[porsche4life]

You'd think the big 3 would look at rabbit/golf sales and do the math. VW makes a good hatch and sells the crap out of them. And bc ford won't sell me a hot hatch I am forced to look at the GTI

[Geronimo '74]

GTI ain't no slouch either, Sid.
Too bad you guys get the Mexican VW's which are appearantly not so good, because over here they have a very good reputation and high resale values.

[Shearer9]

Hi,

I've had the pleasure of driving a mate's "regular" (er, has remap, induction & exhaust mods) RS & was really impressed with the way that Ford engineers have been able to control the torque steer of this FWD motor.

I still prefer the Renault Megane R26.R though - do a search, it's just bonkers - reminds me of my Renault Clio Williams ..... ahhhhh ...

This makes interesting reading :

Focus RS500 v Clio Cup - Autocar.co.uk

G

[TGTIW]

The only real reason I can see that they won't bring it to the US is that it would be too much competition for their performance flagship, the Mustang. Shame really.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by TGTIW

The only real reason I can see that they won't bring it to the US is that it would be too much competition for their performance flagship, the Mustang. Shame really.

Exactly. It's the same reason they don't make a Boxster/Cayman with the more powerful 911 engines and Chevy didn't make the Camaros faster than the Corvettes. You can't have your cheap "entry level" cars as fast or faster than your bread and butter cars.

[Rikao4]

believe Top Gear did something on this and other 'small' rockets..
Jeremy drove the RS..loved it..

Rika

[kaisen]

I think the competition for the Mustang is a very small part of it. More if it has to do with US consumers associating small hatchbacks with entry level pricing. I don't think the US market would understand a $40K Focus RS when they can get 300hp in a Mustang for under $25K, and a 400hp GT for about $30K.

[jyl]

Especially when the Golf GTI's MSRP is around $24K.

Which begs the question - could Ford profitably sell a Focus RS here for MSRP under $30K?

[TerryBPP]

I would have a deposit on that gulf blue one today! Very very cool indeed.

[Pazuzu]

Originally Posted by jyl

Especially when the Golf GTI's MSRP is around $24K.

Which begs the question - could Ford profitably sell a Focus RS here for MSRP under $30K?

Or the Mazdaspeed3 for under $25K. Which, of course, actually IS Ford's hot hatch in the US...

[TerryBPP]

Originally Posted by Pazuzu

Or the Mazdaspeed3 for under $25K. Which, of course, actually IS Ford's hot hatch in the US...

Apparently you didn't notice the extra door on the side of the Mazda.

[jyl]

Hmm, a thought - how does the Focus RS compare to a Subaru Impreza WRX? The MSRP on that is mid-$30s.

[Pazuzu]

Originally Posted by TerryBPP

Apparently you didn't notice the extra door on the side of the Mazda.

I know it's not literally the same thing, but it's the "hot hatch money machine" that feeds Ford from the US. The focus RS would directly compete with it, and then Ford would be come GM, where they create multiple products to steal their own market share.

[LSA]

Remember seeing it on Top Gear, looked like a pretty cool car and I'm not really a huge fan of hatchbacks but they definitely got that one right.