No, not 100% sure. I suppose saying the ST line won't be hit at all isn't entirely right. I am, however, 100% sure the current versions of the Fiesta ST, Focus ST, and Focus RS are nearing or at their end. I suspect they'll be replaced with something, but I don't know for sure what. Hearing rumors the next-gen Focus ST will see the 2.3 EcoBoost with somewhere in the 400hp range. Which would be bonkers.
And until a manufacturer can guarantee absolute reliability in automotive electronics, self-driving cars are not going to be a mainstream thing. They'll be a publicity stunt that has tragic consequences when they fail out. Can you imagine the police report and fault assignment on that one? Think the manufacturers will be willing to take that on?
Good Lord I cannot wait until all the other morons watching YouTube on the interstate have the wheel taken from them. If I have to give up the wheel too, so be it.
Ever so many citizens of this republic think they ought to believe that the Universe is a monarchy, and therefore they are always at odds with the republic. -Alan Watts
I work for the company building the Paragon
I'm with Steve. The other thing is that this is market pull driven, and liability limited.
Google/waymo is already superhuman in driving performance. They'll be able to eliminate most edge cases using their current simulation infrastructure in a year or two. As soon as they add real world feedback, it's going to be over.
Google quietly developed their tpu processors and waymo uses a modified tensorflow. I believe that they are well on their way to being the operating system of self driving, licensing both hardware and software. They just showed power and cost equivalence to Nvidia.
I agree that the macro trend will be away from ownership, but there can also be a lot more specialization. It's interesting that people are loathe to separate the everyday use from the hobbyist use.
I am so going to be Will Smith in I, Robot...
400hp in a FWD focus ST will be silly and the torque steer near undriveable unless they do something nice like the previous generation focus RS's crazy suspension or mechanical LSD. This brake based torque vectoring thing totally turned me off on the focus ST.
Draws houses, doesn't own markers that aren't single tube designs, unapologetic AGD zealot.
Agreed. 300 HP would be the perfect amount in the ST.
Go crazy with the RS, though. By all means.
OlllllllO
I'm on board with that. Put out a 300hp ST, and the sky's the limit with an AWD RS model.
Alas, those decisions are made well above my pay grade. I'm just happy to start the month with a sale on the board.