PLEASE bring this car stateside!
 

Tell me this thing wouldn't be a blast to drive, no matter what kind of car you favor (I have a '96 Mustang Cobra Convertible that I adore):

http://www.rsportscars.com/eng/cars/focus_rs.asp

PLEASE BRING IT STATESIDE!

mm, all rally cars are soo nice. :)

make it as fast as you want. its still a focus. *puke*

Not a big fan of that body style... but it does get good mileage :).

I lke the interior. It's nice to see it with so much more power than usual.

With the popularity of AWD rockets like the EVO/STi/WRX there's actually a chance that it'll come here. The main problem is that the Focus SVT hasn't sold too well and Ford might be scared to bring an even more exclusive version of the Focus. All I've got to say is I'd seriously consider buying one of those things. Just as much as I'd consider buying any of the other AWD hotties.

I'm guessing that NONE of any manufacturers WRC homologation cars make it over to the states! The "World Rally Championship" seems to be primarily a european motorsport.

One reason is that they're relatively expensive compared to the cooking cars. How many US citizens would pay some $30,000+ for a Ford Focus? I do remember that Audi did send a few U-R Quattros to the US, & they didn't sell. It was the only market where there wasn't a six month waiting list for this car.

Another reason is that Ford, Subaru, Peugeot, GM etc.. only NEED to make & sell a few of the homologation cars to qualify for WRC & almost all homologation vehicles are sold at cost or even slight loss so why make more than the 5000 that you absolutely have to. You'll sell all 5000 in Europe without difficulty so there's no gain to sending any to a market where they're not really appreciated.

While the performance of the WRC homologation cars is nice, their real strength is their handling and agility which is not something that would be appreciated on most US roads.

In short, it's just not worth the manufacturers effort to try & sell WRC homologation cars in a country that doesn't follow or participate in the World Rally Championship. Cars such as the Subaru WRX and Focus RS are fielded to allow competition wins in a popular European motorsport and hence boost sales in the european market.

Mike.

Yeah but it just is not fair. I don't want a focus rally car but I would not mind having a Puget 206. I used to have a AWD talon, and I used it on roads that wold make awesome rally courses. Now I just need to get a WRC person to come to the middle of nowhere in IOWA!

American car that you can't buy in America.

Uh, yeah. European. Apart from the Pacific, Asian, and African raly drivers and fans.

The only people who don't "get" rallying are Yanks. Rallying's about as international as soccer.

its a shame that focuses are junk. bad quality

I'd much rather have an elise when it comes stateside... mmmmm /drool

The interior looks pretty cool but I am not a big fan of the compact stlyle cars. It does seem pretty quick though. It would probably be pretty fun to drive but I will be able to live without it.

I was watching that stupid import tuners show on speed channel, and I saw a rear engine RWD conversion on a focus. With a big old supercharer too.

It was sweet. Absolute sleeper DEMON!

so troo............I'll take an STi over that any day.

Sleeper or not, Focuses are still fugly.

now all US carmakers have to do is up the quality of their interiors

Screw that, import the Opel Speedster and the Holden Commodore SS!