There are concepts you know beforehand, no matter how marvelous they look, that are never going to roll their wheels on the road, but there others that are essentially production ready with minimal disguise previewed just months before the actual launch. The Fiesta ST Concept displayed at Ford’s stand at the Frankfurt Motor Show definitely belongs to the second category.

Ford states that “the possibility of a Fiesta ST joining the Focus ST would bring Ford performance to drivers in to major segments.” Come on, stop pretending: the Fiesta ST is ready to enter production tomorrow morning, if needed. We’ve even spied it testing at the Nordschleife.

The hottest Fiesta has been visually enhanced by the addition of the large honeycomb trapezoidal grille with the red ST badge, the sportier front bumper and the rear-end diffuser that incorporates the twin exhausts. The body kit along with the 17-inch wheels allude to the Fiesta WRC rally car, as per Ford’s intention to exploit its racing activities.

A 1.6-liter turbocharged 4-cylinder EcoBoost engine with direct injection and twin variable valve timing powers the Fiesta ST. It has an output of 180 HP and 240Nm (177 lb-ft) of torque. According to Ford, the 0-100 km/h (0-62 mph) sprint takes less than 7.0 seconds and top speed exceeds 220 km/h (135 mph).

Power is transmitted to the front wheels through a manual six-speed gearbox which along with the engine’s inherent characteristics, enables the Fiesta ST to deliver less than 140 g/km of CO2 emissions.

“The Fiesta has a rich history of high-performance cars so a new ST model is a logical next step” said Ford’s vice president for global product development, Derrick Kuzack. In addition, the press release mentions hot Fiestas of the past like the XR2, RS1800 and RS Turbo, as well as the previous generation ST.

There you have it: when a company starts talking about CO2 emissions and past glories, you know the production version isn’t far away. Our take is that we’ll see the production version in six months’ time at the Geneva Motor Show.

PHOTO GALLERY