After 23 years the Ford Focus ST is dead
With the demise of the Focus ST, fast Fords as we knew and loved them are no more
The Ford Focus ST is officially off sale, with order books for the stalwart hot hatch closed 23 years on from the introduction of the Mk1 Focus ST170. It’s the end of a beloved Fast Ford dynasty, with the Focus as a whole also set to bow out with production ending in November.
Almost poetically, 170 more Focus STs are set to be built at the factory, for distribution throughout the markets as dealer stock. The end of the Focus ST and the Focus in general doesn’t come as a shock. First-registration VED tax in the UK is a hurdle for non-hybrid performance cars, especially for lower-cost models with more budget-conscious buyers. Plus, cars are nowhere near as cheap to make, buy or indeed finance, as they once were. Perhaps seeing the writing on the wall, Ford announced the Fiesta and Focus would not be getting successors as far back as 2022 before concluding production of the former in July 2023.
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The ST badge itself lives on with the Puma ST. While Ford’s small crossover is more compelling than most, the hot version never thrilled like the Fiesta with which it shares fundamental underpinnings. Add to that the fact that the thrumming 1.5-litre three-cylinder and six-speed manual have made way for a 1-litre mild hybrid attached to a dual-clutch box, and you have an ST that’s a shadow of its former self.
The death of the Focus also marks the end of Ford production at the long-serving Saarlouis factory, near Germany’s western border. The facility has produced Ford cars since 1970, starting with the original Escort. Since then everything from the original Capri to every generation of Focus have emerged from those factory gates.
Launching originally in 2002, the Focus ST170 was a medium-heat alternative to the searing hot, slightly harsh Mk1 Focus RS. The Cosworth-fettled 167bhp 2-litre Duratec engine wasn’t the most effervescent of powerplants but attached to the already fabulous Mk1 Focus complete with a few choice chassis and suspension tweaks, it made for an incredibly compelling package.
‘Considering the engine is about as charismatic as the speaking clock, it’s amazing how quickly you’re in the zone, absorbed solely by the detail and quantity of feedback tingling through the steering and seat cushion,’ wrote evo’s co-founder and editor-at-large Richard Meaden, in a 2003 group test from issue 076 that pit the ST170 against the EP3 Honda Civic Type R and the then-new Renault Sport Clio 182 Cup.
‘In pure dynamic terms the Focus has the sweetest combination of neutrality and security, seasoned with a well-judged pinch of throttle adjustability.’
The Mk1 Focus ST might have been the sweetest of the lot, given that in its 2005 second-generation, the Focus ST took on a thuggish, weighty edge. Its 2.5-litre five-cylinder turbocharged engine went big on character happily, with 222bhp and 236lb ft to back it up. It was bigger, heavier and less delicate than its predecessor – more of a GT hot hatch – but still very well set-up and with good balance. This time it also shared its basic engine architecture with the Mk2 Focus RS that would follow. In this instance, the ST had you questioning whether you really needed the RS, rather than wondering why it wasn’t more like it.
The Mk3 of 2012 was a rare drop in form for Ford, especially off the back of the sublime Mk7 Fiesta ST. Unable to get its power down, the odd flashes of the kind of dynamism and response you’d hope for from an ST-badged Ford only made the lows more disappointing. Its 247bhp 2.3-litre four-cylinder engine, while potent enough to flummax the front end, lacked the character of its predecessor too. It was fast but nonetheless ineffective, though it was more practical, with an Estate version and diesel options returning to the lineup for the Mk3. The wild AWD Mk3 Focus RS added extra character, involvement and capability without eliminating entirely the ST’s freneticism, still with a rocky ride and a proclivity for torque steer.
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The Mk4 was a little more like it – more powerful still with 276bhp and 310lb ft but with a welcome reinjection of control and precision in the dynamics, as a reminder of how good a fast Focus can be. Even if it couldn’t quite match the Honda Civic Type R in any area, it was a cohesive whole of responsiveness, body control and balance. It was only improved with subsequent hopped-up Edition and Track Pack cars, adding focus (ha), capability and aggression to the mix for a genuinely compelling package that in a past era where hot hatches didn’t need 400bhp and AWD, would have warranted an RS badge.
It was never a class leader, the Focus ST. But the segment was always more interesting and diverse for its presence, just as the performance car world always feels healthier for the presence of proper fast Fords.
