Let’s make the Honda Civic Type R funeral a joint one, as the Ford Focus ST has just joined the hot hatchback casualty list for not being clean enough for Europe. Like the British built Honda’s high revving 2.0-litre four pot, the Ford’s 2.5-litre turbo five-cylinder does not meet Euro 5 emission standards, which will come into force for all new cars in next year.
According to Autocar UK, who broke the news, other engines that are facing the chop for the same reason includes Alfa’s tuneful 3.2-litre V6, the Mazda RX-8’s rotary engine and the VW Group’s 5.0-litre V10 TDI engine. This will affect models like the Alfa Brera/Spider and the VW Touareg. I remember Wald selling the V10 TDI Touareg here a couple of years ago.
The Focus ST, which sits below the Focus RS in pecking order, will get a new engine at the upcoming Paris show. It’s likely that Ford will drop in a modern direct injection four-cylinder Ecoboost in there.
