Group S

Group S was the class planned to replace the Group B cars. FISA was planning Group S because they wanted a class to allow manufacturers to develop futuristic, prototype cars. The homologation requirement for Group S was only ten cars, but the cars were limited to 300 horsepower. Oddly, these rules are very similar to today's WRC class, which has a maximum of 300 horsepower and requires 20 copies.

Group S never got off the ground, though. When Henri Toivonen died, FISA hastily cancelled plans for Group S, leaving the interested manufacturers stuck with prototypes that could never be driven. The Group A cars became the flagship cars for the manufacturers left in rallying following the death of Group B. The cancellation of Group S wasn't really necessary, since the cars were restricted to 300 horsepower, but FISA cancelled it anyways.

Not much is known about Group S because Group S never got the chance to compete in the World Rally Championship. The class would have been very interesting to watch because it was aimed towards futuristic cars. Some of the prototypes being developed looked very interesting. Lancia's prototype, called the ECV, looked like the S4 except it was red and it was smaller. Audi announced that they were planning a Group S car called the 002 Quattro. Ford also stated that the RS200 was to be developed into a Group S competitor. Group S would have been an interesting class to watch as it developed.