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Ford’s performance boss says U.S. Focus RS a possibility
02/23/2010
By Mark Kleis

In a recent interview, Ford’s new global head of performance vehicles, Jost Capito, commented about the possibility of future global performance models, such as a next generation Focus RS. Capito also commented about the complications of bringing both a Fiesta RS and a Focus RS to market at the same time.


Ford’s newly appointed head of global performance vehicles and motorsports, Jost Capito, recently sat down with Automobile and discussed his new role with Ford Motor Company.

While clearing up other questions concerning the future of Ford performance vehicles now that there is a single united global team, Capito touched on the interesting nomenclature issue that must now be considered – ST, RS or SVT?

“We’re not finished with the nomenclature yet. I think we have two different things. We have regional performance vehicles and we have global performance vehicles. We are fully agreed on global performance vehicles, you need one nomenclature. We see that the RS already has got quite the following in the U.S., so there would be nothing wrong in calling it RS globally. Each car should have only one nomenclature [globally], but I don’t see RS in Europe going away, and I don’t see SVT in the U.S. going away,” said Capito.

The big question that is asked of Ford countless times each year – will the U.S. get the Focus RS? The answer may not be as direct as many would have liked to hear, but it was much more promising than any answer Ford has offered in the past.

“When you see the global vehicle lines, they offer the opportunity of global performance vehicles. The two generations of Focus we’ve had so far [internationally] were great bases for performance vehicles. The new Focus is the same, so there’s no reason if there’s one in Europe, it wouldn’t be here,” Capito told Automobile.

There is also a new question that Americans are yearning to have answered with the global Ford Fiesta coming stateside – what about a Fiesta ST or RS, especially if a Focus of similar pedigree is also offered?

“In Europe, we had the ST Fiesta and Focus in parallel, but that is entry-level performance and I think that’s a no-brainer and it’s a very easy answer,” said Capito.

The virtual confirmation of upcoming Fiesta and Focus global models will be satisfactory to many Ford enthusiasts, but some still wonder about the future of the RS brand and what it means with the latest Fiesta and Focus coming to market.

“With the RS, it’s an icon, and I’m convinced you shouldn’t just flush the market with RSes. The lesson we learned in Europe is that we shouldn’t do as many cars as we can sell. Our customers, they are really loyal RS customers and they need the car for everyday driving. It’s not their second car, it’s not their third car, and they always want to have the new RS. They can only afford that if they can sell their old RS for a good price. If you keep the RS limited, you keep the used price up so that the guys who are our traditional customers can fulfill their dream and get the new RS. That keeps the whole hype about RS going,” said Capito.