It’s rather hard to pick fault with the new Ford Fiesta ST. The powerplant is more interesting than the one in the old ST, the rear axle is endlessly playful, and there’s stacks of grip from the front boots. It’s astonishingly capable, amazingly communicative, and quite frankly, we can’t say enough good things about it.

With that in mind, a Fiesta RS (imagined above by X-Tomi Design) just seems a bit, well…needless, wouldn’t you say? We’re not averse to the idea of such a thing though, and rumour has it Ford is indeed cooking up an even faster Fiesta.

At the launch of the ST in France, Motoring.com.au asked Ford Performance boss Leo Roeks about the possibility of a Fiesta RS. “I can’t tell you, but I’m very busy,” was his answer, albeit with - Motoring says - “with a broad grin” slapped across his face.