Ford Fiesta RS “not necessary” – report
Design director shoots down rumours of more powerful baby hot hatch
Ford has shut down recent rumours it's working on a more powerful Fiesta RS, with the company's European design boss ruling out such a model in a new report out of Europe.
Speaking with Dutch publication AutoRAI, Amko Leenarts, design director for Ford of Europe, said: "The performance of the new Fiesta ST is already such a high level that a more powerful model is not necessary".
Power in the new Fiesta ST comes from a 1.5-litre Ecoboost three-cylinder turbo petrol, pumping out 147kW of power and 290Nm of torque – up 13kW and 50Nm over the previous-generation four-cylinder version.
Drive is sent exclusively to the front wheels via a six-speed manual, and Ford claims a 0-100km/h sprint of 6.7 seconds.
While the Ford executive doesn't 'believe' a more powerful version of the Fiesta is necessary, Autoblog argues things could change should Volkswagen choose to create a more hardcore version of the Polo GTI – based on comments made by the company in January that there is more performance potential as the "chassis can give more".
Considering it's no secret that Volkswagen is developing a T-Roc R using the 200+kW turbo engine and all-wheel drive setup from the Golf R and Audi S3, it's possible the related Polo could get the flagship R treatment in the near future as well.
Though a hotter Fiesta may not be on the cards right now, it's believed the Blue Oval's baby hot hatch could be getting a dual-clutch automatic variant very soon – but again, nothing has been confirmed.
Would you be interested in a Fiesta RS?
REVIEW: 2018 Ford Fiesta ST