Helping traction and handling will be some very special 19-inch wheels plus a completely reworked suspension system - new dampers, springs, anti-roll bars - that lower the car to improve aerodynamic downforce and sucker it down onto the road. The brakes will also be significantly upgraded for sure.

While the company claims that the final design has yet to be signed off, the first teaser picture of the car released at the WRC celebration dinner last December shows that it's going to be a very long way from modestly styled. It might not have the rally car's four-wheel drive, but it'll have plenty of the mud-slinger's styling cues.

The deep front airdam will be complemented by some muscular wheelarches and a rally-style rear wing to give the car some serious visual attitude. Expect none of it to be there for show. The whale-tailed Escort RS Cosworth was the only production car to generate positive downforce when it was built in 1992 and the new car builds on everything that car started.

And it's not just the exterior that gets new clothes. The interior will be swathed in a unique RS trim that, initial reports suggest, will mix proper rally style functionality without compromising comfort on the most important rally stage of all - the one to and from the office in the morning.

But as valve-bouncingly exciting as the rest of the car sounds, it's the price of the Focus RS that could be the real shocker. In the same way that the ST has captured the lion's share of the hot hatch market in the UK through its addictive low price/high performance mix, the RS is expected to undercut the opposition significantly.

Figures as low as £21,000 have been mentioned but expect something nearer £23,000 by the time the car hits the dealerships in mid 2009.

At that price it could kill the competition before it even turns a wheel, so expect the new Focus RS to sell out fast. And start talking nicely to your insurance agent now.

Check out Top Gear's guide to the RS family tree