Ford's new hybrid-powered Puma rally car has been revealed in full for the first time as part of the celebrations for its Craiova Assembly Plant in Romania building its one millionth vehicle.
Previously seen only in prototype form at the 2021 Goodwood Festival of Speed, the M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1 marks Ford’s first foray into electrified motorsport globally and is set to make its competitive debut at the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) season-opening Monte Carlo Rally in January 2022.
The Puma road car is built at Craiova for global markets, including New Zealand.
The launch film, called Ford Puma Hybrid Rally1 Gatecrashes the Party sees the Puma Rally1 car brought to life in a lightning storm and going straight into some precision driving around the Craiova assembly facility. With apologies to Ken Block's Gymkhana series perhaps, which featured Ford vehicles and sponsorship from 2010-18.
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For the new film, the Puma Rally1 was driven by M-Sport Ford WRT driver Adrien Fourmaux, using ramps and rigs developed by Ford engineers based at the facility. Ford colleagues also calibrated assembly robots for the film.
To view all Ford Puma models listed on DRIVEN, click here
Every actor featuring in the film is a Ford employee, including Craiova plant manager and president of Ford Romania, Jo Payne.
New regulations for the top tier Rally1 (formerly WRC) machines have simplified their design and introduced hybrid power for the first time.
The M‑Sport Puma Rally1 car follows in the footsteps of the Fiesta WRC car, which secured three WRC titles following its introduction in 2017.
The Puma introduces a next-generation hybrid powertrain that captures energy during braking and coasting and stores it in a 3.9kWh battery, before using it to supplement the championship-winning performance of the turbocharged 1.6-litre EcoBoost petrol engine with repeated boosts of up to three seconds from a 100kW electric motor.
The M‑Sport Ford Puma Rally1 can also use its electrified powertrain to travel through towns, cities, service parks and chosen sections between stages using pure-electric power. The battery pack can be recharged using an external power source at the dedicated service points between stages, with a recharge taking approximately 25 minutes. Weighing 95kg, the hybrid system is liquid and air‑cooled and housed in a "ballistic-strength" casing to resist the impact of debris and g-forces in the event of an accident.
Rallye Monte-Carlo (20-23 January) organisers say they have received a bumper entry for the winter fixture in the French Alps, although the list will not be finalised until January 10.
But confirmed for the top Rally1 category are the Puma Rally1, Toyota Gazoo Racing Yaris Rally1 and Hyundai Motorsport i20 N Rally1.
