by Mike Thomas
The European Ford Fiesta.
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DEARBORN, Feb. 15, 2008 -- One Ford, indeed.
Ford of Europe is introducing the all-new Fiesta at the Geneva Motor Show March 6–16 (press preview March 4), and Ford is announcing that Fiesta is the name for the company's B-car worldwide.
Fiesta is the production version of the Verve Concept Car. With varying bodystyles to appeal to each territory, each Verve Concept was the hit of last year's Frankfurt and Guangzhou auto shows and this year's North American International Auto Show.
Designed and developed in Europe for sale in Europe, Asia, South Africa, Australia and the Americas between 2008 and 2010, the Fiesta is the first major product of Ford's new global product development process.
"With the all-new Fiesta, we want to create a world standard for small car quality, design and comfort in a vehicle that is as exciting to drive as it is to look at," said Alan Mulally, Ford Motor Company President and CEO.
"We believe this all-new model will attract a whole new generation of small-car buyers, whether they are in Britain, Spain, China or California. The new Ford Fiesta will set the standard for delivering to our customers products they really want and value while taking advantage of our wonderful global resources."
Joe Bakaj, vice president of Product Development, Ford of Europe, added, "For Ford, this is truly a world premiere. More than ever, we're leveraging our global product development expertise, and this car sets the scene for future great products for customers around the world that are already being developed."
The Fiesta debuted in 1976 and since has become an extremely popular small car, selling 378,220 units in Europe last year, second only to the best-selling Focus. The name Fiesta is being retained to take advantage of the model's brand recognition.
"This new car embodies the very essence of Fiesta -- fun, vitality and emotion," said John Fleming, president and CEO, Ford of Europe. "We know there isn't a better name for the new model, and we have over 30 years of investment in the Fiesta brand to consider."
Ford of Europe's designers stayed true to the Verve Concept's kinetic design. The new Fiesta goes for a sporty style with its cab-forward shape, sweeping roofline and arched wheel wells. The front end's sculpted hood and wings along with kinetic design's signature trapezoidal grille and bold new headlights creates a broad-shouldered stance.
Inside, the Fiesta retains one of the Verve Concept's most striking features -- the futuristic, mobile phone-inspired, human-machine interface technology of the instrument panel centre stack. Small cars typically use a flat, upright centre stack in order to package a large radio. Fiesta designers, however, separated the key audio components with the aim of creating shapes that were more functional and aesthetically pleasing. The result is an instrument panel that looks like the controls on a cell phone.
The centre stack also includes Ford's Human Machine Interface (HMI) system which follows the centre stack contours to frame a large-screen display and control panel with key buttons for audio, in-car phone and vehicle settings. The Fiesta also incorporates the Verve Concept's lozenge shaped array of large twist dials for the heating and ventilation systems.
Underneath, the new Fiesta makes extensive use of ultra-high-strength steels to not only create an extremely safe body structure, but also makes the Fiesta actually weigh less than the current model.
"Staying small and resisting weight gains were key objectives of the new Fiesta development process," said Joerg Beyer, Fiesta Chief Carline Engineer. "We've been absolutely committed to keeping Fiesta a compact car and having a razor-sharp focus on cutting weight. That really pays off when it comes to fuel economy and CO2 emissions."
Fuel economy also blends with power with a new Duratec 1.6-litre Ti-VCT engine that provides 15 PS (14.79 hp) more power than the outgoing engine without boosting fuel usage. Still available in Europe will be the 1.25-litre and 1.4-liter gasoline engines and the 1.4-liter and 1.6-liter diesel engines. Fiesta will be offered with Ford Durashift 5-speed manual transmission or the Durashift 4-speed automatic transmission (available with 1.4-litre Duratec gasoline engine).
Also new to Fiesta is the Ford Easyfuel capless refuelling system, Electric-Power Assist Steering and the Intelligent Protection System of safety technologies that includes a driver's knee airbag.
Later in 2008, Ford of Europe will introduce a lower CO2 emissions version of the Fiesta in the Ford ECOnetic range.
European production of the new Fiesta commences in the autumn of 2008 at the company's Cologne plant in Germany. Later, as production ramps up, the Valencia Assembly Plant will bring additional Fiesta capacity on line in 2009.
