Ford Focus RS X is wild

The Ford Focus RS hot hatch is about as close as you're going to get to a road-going rally car. It makes more noise than an aggressive possum on a hot night and its all-wheel drive system is one of the best in the business.

But what if you wanted to tackle the Dakar Rally, for instance? Well, this fantasy creation from CGI maestro Rain Prisk shows one such possibility.

Featuring a jacked-up ride height that would make a Ford F-150 Raptor blanche, desert dueler tyres, mild front bash plate, a row of LED lights and a red recovery hook, this computer-generated render could almost be a starter for the Finke Desert Race.

With power coming from the Ford Focus RS's 2.3-litre turbo four-cylinder mill – the high-output Ford Focus Heritage Edition motor – with around 275kW and 500Nm, this go-anywhere Ford Focus RS would have enough chutzpah to get airborne cresting sand dunes.

The next-generation 2020 Ford Focus RS is due to rear its head next year and is tipped to be powered by 300kW/570Nm version of the 2.3-litre turbo-petrol mill, aided by a 48-volt mild hybrid setup. With Mercedes-AMG-rivalling power, perhaps this creation would be better off with even more mumbo?

The wheel arches of the off-road creation have been extended and enlarged to fit the chunkified tyres, with the rear wheel wells and most of the rear bumper hacked off to accommodate the new footwear.

Chances of Ford's RS hot house building something like this? Nil. But sometimes it's nice to dream.

This is not the first time we've seen radical off-road renders of performance cars either. Who could forget the Ford Mustang Raptor – or Rapstang – and the ballistic Bugatti Chiron?