Ford is cancelling pending orders for the new Ford Focus RS hyper hatch and delaying production until next year, with the reason for the halt still unclear.
Anybody who ordered an RS that was scheduled to be built this year will now be delayed until next year in a move that’s sure to disappoint customers waiting on the most hyped car of the year.
According to emails obtained by The Truth About Cars, Ford is telling dealerships and buyers that they’ll receive 2017 models instead despite claiming it could build as many RS’ as people wanted.
'Planned factory shutdown'
Previous information obtained from dealerships claimed that Ford was having trouble sourcing the popular Recaro shell seat option, but the latest emails instead cite “economic turmoil” for the delay.
Ford produces the RS at its Saarlouis plant in Germany, but the plot thickened after Ford product rep Dan Jones claimed that it was part of a planned summer factory shutdown.
He said that demand for the Focus RS has exceeded all of Ford’s expectations, and so the orders scheduled for this year will be pushed back and given priority over others.
2016 orders given priority
Jones said that workers at the Saarlouis plant are given a three-week holiday over the summer, which will end on August 15th, and that production will restart after that date.
He stressed that customers “will experience almost no delay in delivery of their vehicle”, but all the same the news will naturally cause anxiety among those excitedly waiting for their new hot hatch.
One user on the Focurs.org forums said that his vehicle, which was planned to be built in August, will now be built in November, while another said they had theirs delayed from July to September.
Waiting lists over a year
However, a representative from Ford stated that build dates can shift forwards or backwards until the car is assigned a VIN, meaning that they could still receive their cars on time.
Here in the UK, the initial quota for the RS is already sold out, with waiting lists stretching back up to 14 months and Ford believed to be considering boosting UK allocation by 1,000 units.
