Ford Files 'RS200' Trademark in Europe, Bringing Back Historic Name

But what—if any—car would Ford put the historic badge on?

Our friendly office trademark-hunter has found a pair of surprising applications once more. Ford filed for two trademarks with the EUIPO earlier this month: " RS200" and " Ford RS200." The name was last seen on a legendary, purpose-built rally car of the 1980s. Naturally, the filings kicked off a healthy amount of curiosity and speculation here at AutoGuide.

The original RS200 was a limited-production homologation special, a mid-engined, all-wheel drive built right at the end of the Group B era, exactly 40 years ago. Needless to say, there isn't anything in the current Ford lineup that matches that description, and it seems unlikely the brand would stay true to the spirit and build a new model solely to compete in motorsport. So we have a few more ideas, starting with the sub-compact Puma crossover.

The current M-Sport Ford World Rally Team vehicle is the Puma Rally1. It runs a 1.6-liter turbo-four with a plug-in hybrid power assist. Meanwhile, the hottest roadgoing Puma ST produces 200 hp from a 1.5-liter three-cylinder—and sends it all to the front wheels. A hotter RS model, adding an cylinder for the right displacement, and cramming an AWD setup underneath, could give the Blue Oval a powerful rival to the Toyota GR Yaris.

Another, slightly more left-field what-if: a chopped and restyled sports car built on top of the Mustang Mach-E platform. The platform is overdue for some leverage into other models, and it would have the benefit of plenty of easy power and electronic AWD. The "200" portion of the name wouldn't make much sense this way, however.

Is that a crazy idea? Maybe, but Ford once bolted two Taurus V6s together to make a V12 for Aston Martin... around the same time it made another V12 based on the Mustang V8 architecture, but with the addition of four turbochargers. These things happen.

Another, less exciting rationale exists as well: Ford is simply applying to maintain ownership of a classic badge. It's a move we've seen plenty of times before from other automakers. Sorry to be the wet blanket here, honest.

Whatever the reason for the filing, we'll be keeping an eye out for any relevant model. C'mon Ford—do something fun.

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