Raise the bunting and ring out the bells. The Ford Focus RS is risen. At least, it will be, so the announcement says; albeit in suitably vague terms.

What motor? Ford’s people won’t say. But we have an idea. “Powering performance vehicles, such as the Fiesta ST and Focus ST, is Ford’s award-winning EcoBoost engine range,” is what they say.

The 2.3-litre version of the four-cylinder EcoBoost, as used in the latest Mustang, then. It’ll have to make more power than the previous five-pot RS because less wouldn’t be allowed by marketing people. Lighter, more powerful, more frugal; all by a measurable distance. That’s how these things go.

For my money, the 330bhp we estimate can’t be brought to bear on the front wheels without the RevoKnuckle front suspension, which will reduce torque steer, and a mechanical limited-slip differential, which will increase it again. 

At least, I’m assuming those things are a given. The best, powerful front-driven cars – by which I’m thinking the previous Focus RS and the Renault Mégane Trophy R – wouldn’t have it any other way. 

“To earn the RS badge, the vehicle has to be a no-compromise driver’s car,” says Ford. That means you have to find a way to put down the power without ripping the steering wheel from the driver’s hands, says I.

And while some will think it a shame the five-cylinder engine of the previous car has gone – and in many ways, it is – that the four-cylinder should prove measurably lighter will, I hope, compensate. The old RS was hard on its brakes and tyres. If this version is lighter and kinder on its consumables, so much the better. Less cause to stop driving it.