The Ford Focus RS performance hatchback has been launched in South Africa and we have pricing details for you!

There's a tremendous amount of hype surrounding the latest performance offering from Ford and many would say that the Focus RS and BMW M2 are the two most exciting performance cars to arrive on our shores this year.

The Ford Focus RS launchedin South Africa this week and we were in attendance to give it a drive, so look out for our first drive impressions coming your way soon. Official pricing for the Ford Focus RS has been revealed and it's priced from R699 900 (February 2017). The RS will go up against some formidable competition in the form of theAudi RS3, Mercedes-AMG A45 and BMW M140i. Only 300 units of the Focus RS will be offered locally, which means that the RS will be a rare (but beautiful) sight on South African roads.

Options on the Focus RS include Recaro shell seats (R1 890), electric sunroof (R6 870) and metallicpaint (R750), RS blue Brembo calipers (R0) and gunmetal alloy wheels (R0), which when fitted, brings the overall cost to R709 410.

The Focus RS looks the part with an aggressive body kit, big wheels with Brembo anchors and big-bore exhaust tips at the rear. Let's not forget that vivid shade of blue paint!Powering the new Ford Focus RS is a 2.3-litre turbocharged 4-cylinder motor that packs an almighty punch (257 kW and 440 Nm of torque). Power reaches all four wheels through a six-speed manual gearbox. There's some clever technology associated with this powertrain as it features launch control as well as a drift mode, where all power is sent to the rear wheels for some sideways theatrics.

For more details about the performance and specification about the Ford Focus RS, click here.

Click here for the latest Ford Focus pricing in South Africa

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View our track test featuring the BMW M2, Audi RS3 Sportback, Mercedes-AMG A45 and Honda Civic Type-R here