Word from the other side of the PH office is that the next-generation Ford Focus RS will have electrical assistance, giving a development of the 2.3-litre petrol engine it runs now 400hp.
Autocar
reckons it's due in 2020.
Which says a bit about the next-generation Ford Focus RS, but even more about performance cars from big carmakers.
As you'll know, upcoming emissions regulations mean carmakers need to cut the average CO2 outputs from their model line-ups. If they don't make too many cars a year, there are some exemptions and easier-going reductions, but Ford - like other big OEMs - will have to have a fleet average output of 95g/km by 2021.
Which is dandy. Difficult, apparently, but achievable, albeit at the cost of ancillaries to make diesels clean enough, and battery tech to make petrols efficient enough, CO2 versus air quality being the debate of our age.
And this won't come without connotations for performance cars from big manufacturers. Time was they'd stick a big engine in a hatchback to make it hot. These days they still can, but the resulting CO2 output might push their average over the edge, so they won't.
Which means a performance car from a big carmaker will have to be one of two things: not so powerful and simple (read, light) or more powerful and clever (read, heavy). Either way, it mustn't tip a range's CO2 emissions into the red.
I wonder if that's how we've ended up with the Alpine A110 (light) and Honda NSX (clever). If the Autocar report is accurate - and I think it is - for the Focus that means it gets a 48v electrical system, encompassing a 'shoe-box sized battery' under the rear seats and an electric motor to boost the engine's power, particularly at lower revs, where it can fill any torque gap. Sounds complicated. Sounds fast. But sounds heavy.
The alternative is that it makes less power than today, and weighs less, and perhaps would even revert to front drive. But who would sit in a planning meeting and suggest that a new car costs less and has less power than the old one? Sounds like something purists might love, but that few people would buy, and unlike with the Mk1 Focus RS, all such cars from all carmakers are expected to wipe their feet and return a profit these days.
So, the part-electric hot hatchback. Ideal? Perhaps not. But inevitable? Certainly.
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