2019 Ford Focus ST photos surface

The increasingly vigilant users of the internet have brought forward a new set of pictures of a yet-to-be released car, this time the next Ford Focus ST.

Ford's front-drive Focus hot hatch is seen in a warehouse wearing its hero yellow, with revised exterior and interior design features visible.

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Most notably, the front grille follows the new design language and looks like the old one has essentially been flipped upside down. Surrounding that, softer body lines continue on to become part of a more rounded car, with fewer sharp angles.

Though no badging can be seen on the car's body, the Recaro seats with ST ‘badging' give away that this is Ford's next GTI rival.

Better still, we spy a manual gear shift.

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The dash and infotainment equipment is also updated, with a screen protruding from the dash tablet-style, and a more sleek and simple layout for the buttons and dials.

This isn't the first we've seen of the new ST, footage of it testing in camo at the Nurburgring has been around for more than a month now, but this is the first undisguised ST we've seen.

If Ford is to move with the hot hatch game, we expect to see the previous generation's performance topped. That means more than 184kW/360Nm an extra 15kW would see it placed on par with the Hyundai i30 N, and likely priced quite similarly.

It would be surprising to see the ST arrive with no limited-slip differential, given the trend of LSDs becoming standard, and the power of most hot hatches topping 200kW.

Rumours even suggest the ST could cop a de-tuned version of the Mustang EcoBoost’s 2.3-litre unit, but we’ll wait to find out from Ford before we call that confirmed.