This (sarcastic) comment from Autoblog says it all:
Oh heck yeah. If Ford would only have released a $30,000 Focus, they would be dominating the subcompact car market right now.
Nice car and all, but no one in this country is going to buy a $30,000 Ford Focus. The market for cars like this is pretty thin, and filled with names like WRX, EVO, MazdaSpeed, GTI, Mini Cooper, etc.
The SVT Focus didn't sell well and was gone after three years, and that car cost a shade over $20,000. The RS is an expensive car in Europe and would be substantially more pricey than the current Focus.
I'd like to see these harder core enthusiast cars on the market, but right now I'd rather see Ford focus (heh) on building the best quality cars and trucks possible and selling them for a profit. Spending millions to federalize a car that has a very narrow niche appeal seems a waste of money to me, at least in the current economic times.