Turns out the upcoming ST is not the hottest version of the new Ford Focus. There is a new Focus RS in the works with 380 hp!

380? So Ford must be developing a new kind of front differential, and it must be witchcraft to be able to handle all that power. Gunnar Herrmann, a senior official at Ford has confirmed in an interview with Drive that the car will indeed remain a front-wheel-drive hot hatch, but they are also developing a fancy new suspension to minimize the torque steer.

It would be great if they could make it rear wheel drive, but that would basically mean developing a whole new platform.

The power comes from a turbocharged 2.0 liter four-banger. We’re wondering how bog the turbos are that make that kinda power! The new Focus RS will arrive sometime in 2013 or 2014. Until then we are perfectly happy with the Focus ST.

“I think we stay with our two-wheel-drive strategy [for the new RS], which I think was well executed [for the previous version],” says Herrmann, Ford’s German vehicle line director for C-segment (small vehicle) platform.

“I think [more power for the next RS] is sustainable. With the limited edition RS500 [sold only in the UK] we went up to 350 horsepower [261kW] and some of our development units we have them up to 380hp [283kW]. And we even moved torque [upwards].

Source: Drive