Ford have announced the pricing of the Fiesta ST - £13,595, Zetec S - £11,595 and Zetec S TDCi - £12,495. They have also updated their Fiesta Sports Series website. All mention of the Fiesta RS Concept has vanished. Probably not a brilliant sign!

Ford have released a detailed press article with a lot of information on the Fiesta ST. No more info on the RS yet.

More images of the Zetec S and ST released today. The ST is still looking very smart, but suprise of the bunch is a picture of the ST with a huge stripe down the bonnet. Presumably an option...

Thanks to Rens Hoekema from the Fiestaclub.nl Crew for passing on some images taken in Belgium this week. The car is apparently a German Fiesta ST in final testing before production starts later this year.

The Paris Motorshow has started and Ford have gone and released a huge number of new images of the Fiesta ST. Also of interest is the Focus Vignale - very smart. If I was in the market for a hot hatch, the Fiesta ST would be getting my money. It looks fantastic. As it is, I already have what I consider the best money can buy, but that still isn't stopping me being tempted!

Ford have announced the full specification and performance figures for the Fiesta ST. Good news is that it is nice and light at 1137kg and has loads of torque - over 140lb/ft. The 0-60 figure is quoted as 7.9 but our calculations suggest that this figure is conservative. The insurance group of 13E is good considering the Focus ST170 offered the similar performance at group 15.

Thanks to Tone at UKFiestanetwork for this news. Up until now we had been expecting the ST to be available in only black, red and silver. It nows seems that performance blue will now be joining this list. I would imagine that as with the SportKa blue will be by far and away the most popular choice. We expect more details on the ST to be released soon as we are nearing it's target launch of November We can also now only be weeks away from finally seeing what the next Ford Focus will look like. The Focus will be unveiled at the Paris Motorshow in late September. We'll be following all of the developments at FocusCosworth.co.uk.

View the Photo...

Big scoop today guys - thanks to FordFiestaST.com visitors we bring you news of a Fiesta ST prototype that has been testing in Germany. We can't reveal the details of where the Fiesta appeared, but lets just say someone had a camera handy and caught some images before the car disappeared. The car is in silver and features a part-leather blue interior. Our photos are the first ever to show a silver Fiesta ST and also include details never seen before - such as under the bonnet. It's all looking rather good.

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AutoExpress have suggested that the Fiesta RS will produce at least 230bhp. This sounds like a lot to us - will a car as light as the Fiesta be able to cope with 230bhp through the front wheels? It also seems unlikely that they will be able to extract this much power from the Duratec 2.0 in naturally aspirated form, and a turbo would most likely push the cost of the car too high. However, we all expect that Ford's estimate of 180bhp will prove to be conservative. 200 horses sounds about right to us!

Anyone who still thinks that the Fiesta RS won't make production should note the updated interior and seats on the concept shown at the British Motorshow. Why continue developing a concept if it isn't destined for production?

Also, I have updated the specification page with all the latest info from Ford.

View the AutoExpress article...

The Fiesta RS made another appearance earlier this week at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. Big thanks to Jay who grabbed these great snaps for us. Although there is still no word on whether this beast has been signed off for production, we have noticed that the language Ford executives are using has shifted. We would be very suprised if there wasn't an official announcement within the next couple of months.

In other news, I did a quick sketch of how the next 3dr Focus could turn out. Check it out here. A full specification for the Fiesta ST and scans from the brochures should be up later in the week!

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This year's British Motorshow saw several new products from Ford such as the Fiesta Zetec S and Mondeo Black, but missed the one we had been hoping for - the new Ford Focus. This was a disappointment, but there was still plenty to see, including the stunning Fiesta ST and RS. The cars were slightly overshadowed by a huge Thunderbirds display which was great for kids, but really drew attention away from the new models on show.

At the show Ford released quite a lot of detail on the Fiesta ST - we'll get this info up in the next few days. Until then, we have a large number of images of the Fords on display.

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Derrick Kuzak, Vice-President of Product Development, Ford of Europe, has written a column for Autocar magazine, going into a lot of depth regarding future performance models. As you would expect, it confirms very little, but hints at a lot. The key suggestions the article makes are as follows:-

• Ford Fiesta RS will make production and will not be delayed.
• Future RS models, including the Fiesta RS will be limited production (i.e. a run of 4500 cars).
• Next generation Focus will include a new Focus RS model.
• Future fast Fords will be as powerful or more powerful than the competition.
• Cosworth branded model (Focus or perhaps Mondeo) could arrive in as little as a years time.
• Cosworth models would have engines developed by Cosworth Racing.

Read the full article...

Autocar have run a front page news story on the Fiesta RS. They agree with us that production is pretty much a certainity and the official announcement is not much more than a formality. No new facts were revealed, although Autocar seem sure that the Fiesta RS will be naturally aspirated. They go on to the suggest that the Fiesta RS will out handle the Focus RS; as a former Focus RS owner this is an exciting prospect.

It is suggested in the article that the main competitors will be the Clio 182 (obviously), the Civic Type-R (more straight line performance, but not so good around the corners), the Mini Cooper S and the Seat Ibiza Cupra. I don't think the Fiesta RS will have much trouble with that lot. Autocar think the RS will retail at around 16k, and the ST at around 12.5k in the UK. This seems a bit optimistic, but we'll keep our fingers crossed!

Nothing much happening at the moment. We've not heard any rumours in the last couple of weeks - No doubt within a month or two some definitive information will be made available on the Fiesta ST specification and pricing. I would also expect to see a "First Drive" of the Fiesta ST in Auto Express or Autocar Magazine before too long. Looks like Ford are gearing up for the British Motorshow - current rumour is that the Mk2 Focus will be making an appearence, along with a revised 2004 version of the WRC car.

You may have noticed that we have launched FordSites.com - at the moment the network consists of three sites, but it will grow in time. Finally, if you haven't already done so, get registered on the forum and get posting!

Autocar Magazine are the first to press with the Fiesta RS story, a whole week after we first broke the news. They draw comparisons with the Focus RS and suggest a price of around GBP 16k. They seem fairly convinced that a turbocharger is out of the question and a Limited Slip Diff is unlikely. We're not quite so sure. Some of the comments from Ford suggest that being an RS, a turbo will be included. And with a power output of at least 180bhp, we would have thought a limited slip diff is essential - all RS owners we have spoken to praise the diff, even if some parts of the motoring press have commented negatively about it. More...

Thanks to Hugh, we now have forums up and running! To discuss the Fiesta ST, RS or other fast Ford's with like minded enthusiasts, click here. Also worth checking out is the the image library - it's been updated with a large number of new images, including some great images from the Geneva motorshow.

Cheers,
Dave

An official press release from Ford with more details on the Fiesta RS.

Ford have announced the Fiesta RS and have released several photos of the car. Check out the photos here. More news soon!

The Fiesta ST gets it's first cover story with AutoExpress this week. The only really interesting thing in the story is the suggestion that a higher output version could follow later.

Autocar runs with a fairly simple presentation of the facts. They drop a few hints in the captions that a Fiesta RS could follow.

Ford have issued a press release detailing the forthcoming Fiesta ST150. This is the first time that Ford have officially discussed the ST and substantial details have been released.

In a suprise move, Ford have given The Sun newspaper an exclusive story on the new Fiesta ST. This will come as a big disapointment to the motoring press who completely missed this scoop. The article includes two pictures of the car.