We're All To Blame For Its Death, Some More Than Other

Bark’s Bites: The Focus RS Is Dead, and Dealers Are to Blame

[W]e know that Ford has already decided to pull the plug on the RS, and they’re gonna send it off with a limited-edition run of 1500 cars with the RS2 package and a Quaife LSD (something the car has always desperately needed). But why? Why did a car that American hot hatch enthusiasts have been craving for decades see such a short existence in the States?

Ford dealers. Duh.

So what did Ford dealers do? They fucked it all up.

They refused to allow test drives of the car. They put them behind velvet ropes, right next to the 2016 GT350R that’s been sitting untouched since Day One. They treated anybody under the age of 40 who was interested in one like they had leprosy. And then, of course, they asked for additional dealer markup, sometimes as much as $10,000 — and when the market balked at their asking price, they stood firm like the musicians on the deck of the Titanic, playing the requiem mass for their floorplan loans.

In fact, a quick search of online third party sites shows that there are still dealers asking for as much as $20,000 above sticker price for Focuses that are getting damned close to celebrating a birthday.

(TheTruthAboutCars.com)

I'll Take A WRX STi, Please

By The Numbers: 2017 Honda Civic Type R Vs Focus RS, WRX STI, Golf R

(Jalopnik.com)

It's Still Not As Bad At The Mark Ups On The Evo's

SPIED! First All-New Ford Focus RS Models Land At Dealers With HUGE Mark Up — Would YOU Pay Up?

One of this years most highly anticipated releases isn't coming from the likes of the Germans or Italians.

Yes, it's coming from the Americans.

And no, we're not talking about the all-new Ford GT.

Though we are talking about a Ford. That would be the all-new Focus RS. This marks a tremendous step forward for those who love Ford Performance vehicles. That's because the all-new Focus RS is the first RS to come to The States.

As this is a watershed moment for the blue oval, you had to suspect that dealers would leverage this situation. If you guessed so months ago, today is your pay day. Ford dealers are marking up the all-new RS. According to one Monroney that Agent 001 ran across, the RS was commanding a $10,000 mark up. This makes the RS now a $55,000 product.

(AutoSpies.com)

I'm Sure It Was "Accidental"

The Ford Focus RS' Drift Mode Was Discovered Completely By Accident

However, Ford Performance vehicle and engineering manager Tyrone Johnson told Australia’s Motoring that drift mode was an accidental—if fortuitous—discovery made while testing out the Focus RS’s twin-clutch all-wheel-drive system. Johnson explained:

It wasn’t like that it was more like one of my guys sitting in the car – the lead dynamics guys sitting in the car – and next to him is the guy who is doing the calibration of the all-wheel drive system with a lap-top on his knees.

And they are talking and he says “oh let me try this out” and he tries it and he says “oh that’s cool can you give me more of that” and he gives him more and he says “that’s really cool” and then it starts working.

They eventually demonstrated the tail-happy settings they’d discovered to Ford global technical and development chief Raj Nair, who ultimately identified it as a major selling point for the car and pushed it through to production.

The rest, as you know, is history—just like the Focus RS of someone with more confidence than talent pulling out of a car show. Happy hooning.

(Jalopnik.com)