March 25, 2015. Clarkson + Focus RS = A glass case of emotion

 

A glass case of emotion, thats what I feel like I’m in right now. First, I found out the Ford Focus RS is coming to America, and second, Jeremy Clarkson gets fired. Seriously!

The Good

I’m aware that Ford first unveiled the mighty Focus RS in Geneva last month, but I happen to not have a worldwide publication as employer, and Life is Poppin’/Drives With Girls isn’t big enough to afford a full ride to Switzerland… Yet. So what can a little guy do? Hope!

The waters parted, the skies opened, and the Dearborn gods smiled upon me — Ford is bringing the Focus RS to the 2015 New York International Auto Show (NYIAS) for it’s North American debut.

The Ford Focus RS features a 2.4-liter EcoBoost (turbo) delivering “well in excess” of 315 horsepower, although official figures haven’t been released. The RS will also feature a tailored Brembo braking system, dynamic torque-vectoring All-Wheel-Drive system, as well as an industry-first Drift Mode. So it sounds like I’ll be “Ken Block-ing” my way to Kroger on milk runs!

I seriously cannot wait until I get behind the wheel of this bad boy.

The Bad

Jeremy Clarkson was fired from the BBC.

The Ugly

Top Gear is most likely dead as we know it. Like Chris Harris said earlier today, all modern-day car journalists owe a bit to Jeremy Clarkson for everything he has done for the industry. The way I see it, I always thought it would be cool to drive cars, and review cars, and write about them. But I never thought it would be something I could grow to have passion and love for.

He made it cool, but more than anything — he made it mainstream. People know Top Gear, people know the Stig, people know Clarkson. A little bit of the allure that comes with the job died today, and while someone at Motor Trend could laugh at me for saying that, given the fact I’m new at this, I feel like people know what I do, or what I aspire to do because of Top Gear and Clarkson. Granted, not all car journalists get to race McLaren P1’s around Spa surrounded by film helicopters, or attempt to beat bullet trains in Pagani Zondas. But I think we all wish to appeal to a broad audience like Top Gear did. In fact, 40% of Top Gear’s audience was female, which is incredible, and even kids aged 7 to 11 played a big role in their demographics. Talk about ushering a new generation of gear-heads. Isn’t that what really matters? To me, it is.

 

 Top Gear crew and I during the filming of the U.S Holiday special in NYC.

Check out some Top Gear Stats from the BBC Advertising website

•Guinness Book of Records holder for most watched factual program in the world

•Sold to 214 territories worldwide

•Over three million YouTube subscribers

•Over 19 million Facebook fans

•Over one million Twitter followers

• Top Gear Magazine global circulation: 1.67 million

•Over 4 million unique users on topgear.com every month

•Half a billion page views in the last year

•Over 8.9 million downloads of Top Gear game apps

•Over 1.5 million visitors to Top Gear Live

As someone that is used to writing website analytics for sponsorships, advertising, media work, etc. These figures are just mind-boggling. Over 4 MILLION unique page visitors to topgear.com is beyond comprehension. You know what else is mind-boggling? The revenue, $225 million per year.

As James May said today, they worked well as a package. What’s next? Who knows.