Ford Possibly Working on a 250-HP Fiesta RS

RS Badge (Credit: © Ford)

The Ford Focus RS is no mystery. In fact, we already have a pretty good grasp on what to expect from it and that Ford will show it off on February 3, 2015. That said, the newly formed Ford Performance team has promised us 12 new vehicles, and our friends over at Evo seem to think that one of these vehicles will be an RS-badged version of the tiny Ford Fiesta.

Evo even went so far as to talk to the folks over at Ford Performance about this possibility, and as expected, they were about as transparent as a new bill making its way through Congress. When asked about the Fiesta RS (in a roundabout way) Ford Performance came back with “we can’t say anything at this moment, but we have promised to produce 12 performance models in the coming years. We’ll leave it for you to decide whether that includes a Fiesta at this moment.” So basically, Evo was told to speculate as you see fit, but we’re not telling you!

I, for one, tend to agree with Evo that it only makes sense for Ford Performance to release a Fiesta RS. From the looks of things, it appears as if Ford is wants its performance arm run almost as a spinoff of the main company, creating a full range of performance vehicles. In my mind, that means you need to have an entry point, and the Fiesta RS would make the perfect jumping-off point for any gearhead looking to get his hands on a little hot-hatch fun.

So, what would the Fiesta RS offer? According to Ford Performance, the RS would have to take the ST’s metrics “to the next level.” The Fiesta ST is already an insane little machine with its 197-horsepower, 1.6-liter engine, but Ford Performance can do better. Somewhere in the range of 230 to 250 horsepower is certainly a possibility, and all-wheel-drive is possible with technology borrowed from the Fiesta WRC rally car.

For now, this is all just wild speculation based on an assumption that Ford Performance will offer a car under the Focus RS, but it certainly is food for thought. All I know is that a 250-horsepower, all-wheel-drive Fiesta RS sure sounds like something I need in my garage…