Frankfurt Motor Show: Ford Focus RS

Four-point-seven seconds - the Ford Focus RS will be the fastest car to 100km/h under $60K when it arrives locally next year.

When it comes to bang for your buck, Ford is throwing down the gauntlet to the 0-100km/h times posted by the Mercedes-AMG A45 (4.2sec) and Audi RS3 (4.3sec), both of which cost $75,000 plus.

The new Focus RS is expected to cost around $50K, even less than the previous generation limited-edition front-drive monster that came here priced from $59,900.

The Blue Oval product will also be two-to-three tenths faster than price-point rivals, the Audi S3, Subaru WRX STi and Volkswagen Golf R.

The 2.3-litre Ecoboost turbocharged four-cylinder will then continue using all its 257kW and 440Nm (or 470Nm for 10-second overboost) to push towards a 266km/h top speed.

Backing the five-door’s aggressive new styling is an all-wheel drive system with torque vectoring and a dedicated ‘drift’ mode to allow the electronic stability control to permit and help with oversteer slides.

Although Ford continues to drip feed information – this time performance times – ahead of the expected Focus RS arrival in Australia in the first quarter of next year, at least the news continues to be of the exciting variety.

Pricing is currently being finalised, and unlike the previous Focus RS it won’t be supply constrained. If the new model lands for Golf R money, it may do to the mega-hot-hatch segment exactly what the baby Fiesta ST did to entry hot-hatch rivals – and that is, win.