The Ford RS brand has always held its own, but the latest Ford Focus RS was something of a masterpiece that proved Ford still had what it took to compete in the hot hatch segment. The Focus RS came late in the Focus’ life cycle though, and with a new Focus ready to debut sometime in the next week, it’s time to start talking about the new Focus RS – a model that’s slated to debut for 2020 and could deliver as much as 400 horsepower, if not more, thanks to a 48-volt mild hybrid system. The system in question will be showcased on the Focus RS before making its way into all of Fords mid- and large-sized vehicles. Forget that, though, 400 horsepower in the RS? Hell yes!

Will the Ford Focus RS Really Have 400 Horsepower?

Yes, it probably will, thanks to the mild-hybrid system. And, in fact, the current-gen model already does if you have Mountune’s M400 tuning kit. But, what’s important to note here is that the next-gen RS could be a serious performance machine. See, the current model delivers 350 horsepower and 350 pound-feet of torque when it rolls off of the production line. Mountune, can up that power to 375 ponies and 376 pound-feet or 400 horsepower and 413 pound-feet. Pretty impressive figures for a 2.3-liter engine, right? That final package even brings the RS’ sprint time to 60 mph down to 4.3 seconds.

Here’s the kicker, though. Ford probably won’t be using all of the Mountune upgrades for the next-gen Focus RS to develop that extra power. It will be using its new 48-volt mild hybrid system. So, that 2.3-liter will still deliver 350 horsepower and 350 pound-feet of torque while the mild hybrid and energy recovery system will be able to dish out at least 50 horsepower and 50 pound-feet more. With that in mind, Moutune could very easily apply some of these updates and really increase output.

Next-Gen Focus RS Maximum Power Output

If you consider the engine itself, with Mountune’s M400 upgrade package can deliver 400 horsepower and 425 pound-feet, then adding in an extra 25-to-50 ponies and the same amount of torque could push the next-gen RS up to as high as 450 horsepower and at least 450 pound-feet of torque if not more. That’s based on reports from Autocar that the next-gen RS will roll off the line with 400 horsepower and 425 pound-feet, of course, but it sounds like a tuners wet dream, right?

With that in mind, the next-gen RS could put a serious hurting on the Mercedes-AMG A45, among others. The next-gen Focus is set to shed just over 100 pounds, but the RS will be lugging around a battery and a motor, so don’t expect its weight to drop that much if not even increase by a pound or two. On that note, that battery and motor will also make the next-gen RS significantly more expensive to create so expect to see a $3,000 to $5,000 price increase as well.

Is a 400- or 450-horsepower Focus RS too much? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.

References

Ford Focus RS

Read our full review on the 2017 Ford Focus RS.

Read more Ford news.