Continental to Equip the New Ford Focus RS with Sports Tyres

HANOVER, Germany - February 19, 2009: The new Ford Focus RS comes with ContiSportContact 3 tyres. With over 224 kW (305 hp), this is Ford's most powerful Focus so far, and to ensure its driving characteristics are both sporty and safe, it is to be fitted ex works with Continental sports tyres, size 235/35 ZR 19. Continental is the only tyre supplier for the Ford Focus RS.

With its highly sporty design and powerful engine, the new Ford Focus RS follows in the footsteps of Ford Europe's RS range of sports cars. Its technical details speak for themselves: over 300 hp (224 kW) accelerate the Ford Focus RS from 0 to 100 km/h in 5.9 seconds and the car's top speed is 263 km/h. Europe's leading tyre manufacturer, Continental, will be supplying ContiSportContact 3 tyres for all new Ford Focus RS models.

"The ContiSportContact 3 tyre truly meets the car's requirements" commented Lars Frick, automotive engineer for Ford tyres at Continental. "The Ford Focus RS needs tyres that support its sporty driving dynamics and transmit the performance of the very high-torque engine (440 newton metres) efficiently to the road. However, the emphasis was on safe driving characteristics and short braking distances, even on wet asphalt. At the same time, Ford expected the tyres to be sporty in design and they have performed very well in the driving dynamics tests carried out on the legendary North Loop of the Nürburgring."