For real this time? Ford Focus RS could pack 350-HP EcoBoost engine and AWD

By Stephen Edelstein August 27, 2014

The current Ford Focus ST is quite the pocket rocket, but it’s not the hottest Focus to ever turn a wheel.

U.S. drivers have been continually denied the Focus RS, a Europe-only model that bowed out with the last Europe-only Focus. Now that the same car is sold on both sides of the Atlantic, it seems likely that a new RS could be sold here.

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According to Road & Track, that’s exactly what will happen in 2016. The magazine predicts that the new Focus RS will also be the most extreme ever, packing the 2.3-liter turbocharged EcoBoost four-cylinder engine from the 2015 Mustang and Lincoln MKC, with all-wheel drive.

Related: 2014 Ford Focus ST review

This rumor actually goes back quite awhile, to when the Mustang EcoBoost was itself a rumor. More recently, there were reports that Ford was concerned about a hi-po Focus cannibalizing Mustang sales, but that issue has apparently been resolved.

The 2016 Focus RS is not only happening, it’s primed to blow the doors off the competition.

The same Road & Track report puts power output between 325 horsepower and 350 hp, significantly more than the 310 hp on tap in the Mustang, and much more than likely rivals such as the Subaru WRX STI, Volkswagen Golf R, and the rumored 2017 Mazdaspeed3.

To handle all of that power, the RS’ all-wheel drive system will feature front and rear torque vectoring. It will be very different from the system available in current Ford cars, which is designed primarily to save fuel. The new performance all-wheel drive setup could make it into other Ford models as well.

This news leaves a lot of questions, of course. Chief among them: Is it 2016 yet?

Stephen Edelstein

Contributing Editor

Stephen is a freelance automotive journalist covering all things cars. He likes anything with four wheels, from classic cars…

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Range Rover’s first electric SUV has 48,000 pre-orders

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Range Rover, the brand made famous for its British-styled, luxury, all-terrain SUVs, is keen to show it means business about going electric.

And, according to the most recent investor presentation by parent company JLR, that’s all because Range Rover fans are showing the way. Not only was demand for Range Rover’s hybrid vehicles up 29% in the last six months, but customers are buying hybrids “as a stepping stone towards battery electric vehicles,” the company says.

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BYD’s cheap EVs might remain out of Canada too

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With Chinese-made electric vehicles facing stiff tariffs in both Europe and America, a stirring question for EV drivers has started to arise: Can the race to make EVs more affordable continue if the world leader is kept out of the race?

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Tesla posts exaggerate self-driving capacity, safety regulators say

Beta of Tesla's FSD in a car.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is concerned that Tesla’s use of social media and its website makes false promises about the automaker’s full-self driving (FSD) software.
The warning dates back from May, but was made public in an email to Tesla released on November 8.
The NHTSA opened an investigation in October into 2.4 million Tesla vehicles equipped with the FSD software, following three reported collisions and a fatal crash. The investigation centers on FSD’s ability to perform in “relatively common” reduced visibility conditions, such as sun glare, fog, and airborne dust.
In these instances, it appears that “the driver may not be aware that he or she is responsible” to make appropriate operational selections, or “fully understand” the nuances of the system, NHTSA said.
Meanwhile, “Tesla’s X (Twitter) account has reposted or endorsed postings that exhibit disengaged driver behavior,” Gregory Magno, the NHTSA’s vehicle defects chief investigator, wrote to Tesla in an email.
The postings, which included reposted YouTube videos, may encourage viewers to see FSD-supervised as a “Robotaxi” instead of a partially automated, driver-assist system that requires “persistent attention and intermittent intervention by the driver,” Magno said.
In one of a number of Tesla posts on X, the social media platform owned by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, a driver was seen using FSD to reach a hospital while undergoing a heart attack. In another post, a driver said he had used FSD for a 50-minute ride home. Meanwhile, third-party comments on the posts promoted the advantages of using FSD while under the influence of alcohol or when tired, NHTSA said.
Tesla’s official website also promotes conflicting messaging on the capabilities of the FSD software, the regulator said.
NHTSA has requested that Tesla revisit its communications to ensure its messaging remains consistent with FSD’s approved instructions, namely that the software provides only a driver assist/support system requiring drivers to remain vigilant and maintain constant readiness to intervene in driving.
Tesla last month unveiled the Cybercab, an autonomous-driving EV with no steering wheel or pedals. The vehicle has been promoted as a robotaxi, a self-driving vehicle operated as part of a ride-paying service, such as the one already offered by Alphabet-owned Waymo.
But Tesla’s self-driving technology has remained under the scrutiny of regulators. FSD relies on multiple onboard cameras to feed machine-learning models that, in turn, help the car make decisions based on what it sees.
Meanwhile, Waymo’s technology relies on premapped roads, sensors, cameras, radar, and lidar (a laser-light radar), which might be very costly, but has met the approval of safety regulators.