Ford’s European arm has announced the Dutch market launch of the Focus X Road special edition model that was first seen this past April at the AutoRAI motorshow in Amsterdam. Built in a limited run of only 300 unit all of which are destined for The Netherlands, the ‘tough’ looking Focus Station Wagon is priced from €25,175 or at today’s exchange rates, $35,800.

This “aero” look influenced Fords worldwide; the 1983 Ford Thunderbird in North America introduced similar rounded, flowing lines, and some other new Fords of the time adopted the look. The aerodynamic features of the Sierra were developed from those first seen in the Escort Mark III — the “Aeroback” bootlid stump was proved to reduce the drag coefficient of the bodyshell significantly, which was a class leading 0.34 at its launch,[1] though not as good as the 0.22 of the visually similar Ford Probe III concept car of the previous year.

The aerodynamic styling of the Sierra would later be seen in North America’s equally revolutionary Ford Taurus.

It was designed by Uwe Bahnsen, Robert Lutz and Patrick le Quément. The code used during development was “Project Toni”.

Released on 21 September 1982, it replaced the Ford Cortina and Ford Taunus. Its aerodynamic styling was ahead of its time but many conservative buyers did not take fondly to the styling.