FORD’S new high-performance small-car flagship, the Focus RS, will only make it into 315 garages in Australia and New Zealand, due to limited availability from Europe, where the next-generation Focus is about to be wheeled out.

Hauled by a cracking 224kW/440Nm five-cylinder turbocharged engine from the Volvo stable, the three-door RS largely overcomes the inhibitions of front-drive hot hatches to break new ground as a light, nimble and blisteringly fast road runner.