Hennessey is preparing a 405bhp Ford Focus RS

It's called the 'HPE400', and as the name sort-of suggests, will come with 405bhp. This, hot hatch fans, is a Hennessey Performance tuned Ford Focus RS.

Yup, the American tuner - responsible for the Venom, numerous Mustangs and Corvettes and Vipers and even the Honda NSX - has turned his hand to the year's hottest hot hatch (and Top Gear's Car of the Year 2016).

At this early stage, we've only been given a few preliminary details. Things like a new engine management system, high flow air filter, stainless steel exhaust with an electronic dump valve, and lots of Hennessey badging. That little lot all adds up to the aforementioned 405bhp (up from 345bhp) and a whopping 425lb ft of torque. No word on performance timing, but for your Internet forum biddings, the standard Focus RS will go from 0-62mph in 4.7s and run on to a top speed of 165mph. Plenty, in any case. This new version - assuming you can get those manual gearchanges right - should make it even quicker.

There's also the promise of deeper upgrades coming in the future for the RS; stuff like new induction systems, intercoolers, better exhausts, upgrades to the turbo, wheels and even the tyres.

Ford's official tuner of course - that's Mountune - already offers an upgrade to the RS that hits 370bhp and drops the 0-62mph time down to 4.5s. Would either of these packs tempt you? Or is the 'standard', 345bhp Focus RS swift enough out of the box?

While you deliberate on such an important matter, have a watch of the video below. It's a TG drag race between the Focus RS, Mercedes-AMG A45 and Volkswagen Golf R...

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