'Chop or not? Ford Focus RS revealed in Autobild
We've already seen the teaser put out by Ford of its new Focus RS, but the crew at Autobild – a bastion of journalist integrity in Germany – has reportedly dropped the first ever shots of Ford's hottest of hot hatches. Rolling on 18-inch OZ wheels and sporting many of the front-end elements seen in the teaser, our first reaction to this supposed exclusive first peek was, "That looks like a Focus ST with a nose job and some photochopped wheels."The profile shot is the most glaringly obvious design foible. It's hard to imagine any production model with its wheels shoved that snug up against the fender liner – not to mention the horrid lighting. Another noteworthy skepticism includes the fact that the OZ rollers don't have the blue center-cap that's shown on the rolling shots. So we're calling "foul," unless one of our German-speaking readers can give us translation of the text where Autobild admits that it's a mockup. Top tippage Joe!
[Source: Autobild via FocalJet]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Ubizzle 9:13AM (2/18/2008)
It is, in fact, an artist's impression.
Car Magazine had same photoshops if i remember correctly and they are 'closely based on the teaser shots and information from sources'
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Ubizzle 9:15AM (2/18/2008)
Didn't post my whole comment, the rest was saying that was paraphrased and it's definitely not official
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JayP 9:27AM (2/18/2008)
Roofline is very Cossie.
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Rick 7:17PM (2/18/2008)
Yea, that circular fog light looks so real....
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Nick 9:54AM (2/18/2008)
I hope the Europeans enjoy there beautiful new Focus. Unfortunately, the home team still gets an ugly piece of crap.
Way to take care of the country, and people that kept you in business for 100 years.
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Toppi 9:57AM (2/18/2008)
The scans on focaljet forum are incomplete. The text is not complete.
But the words said on those scans say nothing about the pictures being renderings, photoshops of real photos.
... but the last picture really looks like a bad photoshop job :)
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XGM 4:09PM (2/18/2008)
That is hot. Why cant Ford here in North America have a Focus as awesome as that ?
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Leo M. 10:38AM (2/18/2008)
most definitely a photochop
look at the floating foglight on the first pic and look at those four lugs on the profile shot. I mean four lug? NAH
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FamilyGuy 10:39AM (2/18/2008)
Probably a photoshop'd image. Interestingly enough the front end reminds me of the old cosworth.
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Ilya 11:30AM (2/18/2008)
The profile shot definitely looks photoshoped. In addition to what the others have mentioned, you can see that the brakes look TINY, which hints that those wheels were photoshoped onto the original pic that priobably showed a lower grade model.
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DreamTheater 11:45AM (2/18/2008)
Hmmm... Autobild and "a bastion of journalist integrity in Germany"?! - I think not...
anyway... the article on FocalJet is incomplete so no telling... here another link from the end of last year with a pic... looks good on that rendering... apparently they are taking cues from the 2009 WRC Rallye Car...
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Damon Lavrinc 12:20PM (2/18/2008)
Sorry, should have added the /sarcasm tag after that line. Autobild is a bigger joke than the National Enquirer.
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Guenther 12:43PM (2/18/2008)
Its AutoBild- a subsidiary of Bild. To lend a N American eqivalent, its somewhere between Motor Trend and the NY Times, with a Popular Mechanics flair for speculation. Pictures are pretty to look at.
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Devin 12:55PM (2/18/2008)
I agree that the foglamps give it away. Everything else would pass as far as I can tell, but the foglights look very fake.
By the way Ford, stop waiting to bring this over. You need it now.
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nagmashot 1:31PM (2/18/2008)
I was the one who scanned the pictures from the Autobild Sportscars magazine...
The sideview is for sure a little photoshop
The rims and stand is REAL they just black painted the space between the rims to hide the brake system!!!!
The picture source Autobild sportscars claim, they recived the pictures from manufactor Ford Europen HQ Cologne Germany, pictures taken by Varicak (photograph).
Facts from the article
- The Focus RS II is developt by Ford Cologne Germany like the Focus RS I.
- It hit the market in fall 2009.
- The picture source Autobild claimed manufactor Ford.
- Chassie from the curret Focus ST
- same 5cyl engine beefed up to 300hp
- larger Turbo
- larger intercooler
- remap CPU
- stronger pistons
- polished intake mainfold
- Getrag DSG tranny (6speed)
- over 10% lower consuption/emission compared to ST
- it was a surprise for Autobild sportscars to hear that it gests FWD and not as tought the AWD system from the Volvo S40 T5 AWD which shares the same platform as the Euro Focus (Ford C1 Platfrom)
- high performance tractioncontrol
- electronic controlled limited slip dif
not clear now if the limit it to 250km/h (155mph) or let it run unlimited to 270km/h (169mph)
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Craig 4:22PM (2/18/2008)
Cos they like the ugly stepsister version they have.
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Chase 6:05PM (2/18/2008)
You know, this RS had me go on this very long train of thought about how strange and fickle American car makers' strategies have been.
I mean, lets say Ford had decided to bring the euro focus over with its 1.6L (100 hp) and and 2.0L (145 hp) motors. Lets say precisely that in 2003 they had decided to refit one of their truck factories to make this focus.
-- If that was the situation today for Ford in America, instead of that flying bannana they call a car that they currently sell, they would have quite possibly a best-in-class package. The 1.6L motor would beat all competitors in fuel economy, quite possibly even hybrids, with its 32 mpg city and 52 mpg highway consumption. Also, the interior would be comparable or even better than the VW Rabbit, which has the best by a long shot in small cars today. And not to forget the styling, which is just amazing. For how much? If the factory and suppliers were here in the US, it would probably start in the mid $15 grand range. Wow! Those would sell like hot cakes. Plus, as an added bonus, Ford of Europe would be more profitable, meaning the company as a whole would more quickly pay back their investment of moving production here.
As an added bonus, us auto-geeks would have access to the likes of the above-mentioned awesome machine.
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51ckmyduck 6:29PM (2/18/2008)
Hey! Stop complaining...you guys have the Stangs, Challengers, Chargers we're all craving for!
I mean, we CAN get them (import), but a 30k Stang most likely will cost 50k and more very quickly!
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Dustin 10:11PM (2/18/2008)
also, on the profile shot the front fender noticeably doesn't match the clearance of the side sills and rear fender
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