New Fiesta: Ford brings the small car party to America

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stanchfi
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New Fiesta: Ford brings the small car party to America

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From http://www.automobilemag.com/ August, 2007

-James
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New Fiesta

Post by IFHP »

Note to Ford --

Please get a clue. Leave the Fiesta name on the car. Do the 4-door notchback thing if you must, but don't deny us the 3 and 5 door hactcbacks! And while your at it, why not develop a Federal Fiesta ST too.
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Post by stanchfi »

U.S. automakers seem to have it stuck in their heads, that we hate hatchbacks. I have no idea why this is. The main excuse I hear for people driving SUVs is that they need the room. Maybe if we were offered more hatchbacks we'd buy them. Last I heard the Pontiac Vibe/ Toyota Matrix is selling well, and everybody I know who has one loves it.


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Fiesta/Verve from China?

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So the new Fiesta may be based on the new Verve concept car. According to the attached article, Ford is considering building the North American spec version in China.

http://www.autosavant.net/2007/09/bye-b ... china.html

I have ethical and political problems with Ford, or anybody else, exporting cars from China. In my opinion China is a tyrannical state whose unfair and exploitative labor and trade practices are hurting both workers and consumers elsewhere. If Ford brings the Verve in from China I will have to, regretfully, avoid it (as a new car).

Never say “never” though, so maybe I would own one (in theory) as a vintage car or when the situation with China improves.
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Post by stanchfi »

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I like Homer Simpson's quote about China, after learning his son joined the army

Marge: Homer our son joined the army!
Homer: Yeah big deal. By the time Bart is eighteen we're gonna control the world… We're China right?

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Fiesta/Verve

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The Fiesta/Verve we get will be a car on a Japanese platform (Mazda), with European styling, built in either China, Brazil or Mexico.

Is it really a "European" Ford? Its getting harder and harder to say. Maybe we should just call it an "International" Ford?

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Verve Sedan

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Here is a November 2007 link to more information on the seadn version of the Verve/Fiesta.

http://news.windingroad.com/countriesma ... more-11325
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The Verve at the Detroit Auto Show

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FORD REVEALS SMALL-CAR VISION FOR NORTH AMERICA
Press Release 1/13/08

New Ford Verve small car concept showcases the style, technology, premium materials and more substantial content that will set it apart from other offerings when Ford’s new small cars go on sale in North America in 2010.

Four-door Verve is designed to appeal to “Millennials,” the fastest-growing segment of the population, as well as their parents – with sophisticated technology and expressive design demanded by globally savvy customers.

A European three-door Verve concept also is being displayed at the North American International Auto Show to test North American reaction to an alternative bodystyle.

In the U.S., small-car sales are predicted to increase by more than 25 percent through 2012. Small cars and crossovers are the only vehicles with projected near-term growth in the U.S.

DETROIT, Jan. 13, 2008 – Ford Motor Company is revealing the Verve, a concept vehicle that makes clear the vision for the new small cars Ford soon will introduce in North America.

The Verve is bold and sophisticated – to help it clearly stand out from other small cars on the road. Ford is building on decades of small car leadership in Europe as it develops new small cars for North America to appeal to increasingly savvy customers who value technology, design and fuel efficiency.

Both four- and three-door Verve body styles are being unveiled at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, as curtain-raisers to a new global family of small cars set to debut in Europe and Asia beginning later this year and in North America in 2010. The four-door is the basis for the production vehicle that will be sold in North America. The European three-door is being shown to test market reaction to the bodystyle – as a possible additional small car for the North American market.

The Verve concept has been developed with Ford’s new global product development strategy that better leverages the company’s global strengths. Globally, Ford is building on its European small-car expertise to stake a bigger claim in this critically important segment. Ford’s celebrated small car lineup in Europe includes such top-sellers as the Ford Focus, Fiesta and Ka.

“We’re looking at every aspect of what’s defined Ford as a small-car leader in Europe and working to build on this expertise in driving dynamics and design across a global family of Ford cars that are as exciting to drive as they are to look at,” said Derrick Kuzak, Ford’s group vice president, Global Product Development.

“The Verve concept family provides a vision for a new world standard for quality, design and comfort in the small car segment,” Kuzak added. “These concepts demonstrate how leveraging our global strengths can yield attractive benefits for our customers in markets around the world.”

Those benefits include a bold, modern, design along with sophisticated electronics, premium materials, surprising functional space and a fuel-efficient 4-cylinder engine – all previously unseen in this segment.

Small Car Popularity Skyrockets in North America
Momentum in small-car sales is outpacing overall industry growth worldwide. Globally, small car sales have grown from 23 million units in 2002 to an estimated 38 million in 2012. That’s nearly 45 percent of the total expected 85-million unit industry, a level never before achieved. In the U.S., sales of small cars likely will grow by 800,000, or 25 percent – to a record 3.4 million units by 2012.

In fact, small cars and crossovers are the only vehicles with projected near-term growth in the U.S.

Driving the growth in the U.S. market is a group of young people aged 13 to 28 years – dubbed “Millennials.” Today, this group stands 1.7 billion strong worldwide and will represent 28 percent of the total U.S. population by 2010.

As a group, Millennials embrace eco-friendliness, stay in constant touch using modern technology and demand best-in-class products from around the world. This group will grow from representing 19 percent of the driving public in 2004 to amassing 28 percent in 2010.

Every day, 11,000 Millennials in the U.S. come of driving age. When it’s time to buy their first car, nearly half of this group shops the small-car segment.

“Millennials will be the defining group of customers in the future, driving all types of consumer trends,” said Jim Farley, Ford’s group vice president, Marketing and Communications. “Ford’s European-based cars are a great fit for this generation of drivers, who have grown up with the Internet and mobile phones as necessities, not luxuries – believing that bigger isn’t necessarily better, precision is everything and technology rules.”

Verve Redefines Small-Car Segment
The Verve concept demonstrates that largesse is no longer the price of admission for a delivering a premium driving experience.

“The Ford global design team remembered, not so fondly, the econo-boxes of the 1970s and created the Verve concept as a vision of just how good a small car can be,” said J Mays, Ford’s group vice president of Design and chief creative officer. “Verve aims to ‘right’ North American buyers’ earlier small-car experiences by offering a product that changes customers’ views of small cars from ‘cheap’ to chic – and from affordable to desirable.”

The Verve concept is built off of a design architecture flexible enough to yield three distinctive vehicles that are each recognizably Ford. The flexible design architecture also allows Ford to adapt quickly to rapidly changing customer tastes and will help the company enter new markets utilizing regionally tailored products off of a common platform.

The North American Verve sedan, painted in Rouge Red, has been modified slightly from its European and Asian counterparts – most notably in its front fascia.

Designers created a bold, three-bar graphic with a Ford blue oval in the upper grille opening and downsized the lower, inverted trapezoidal grille. Two unique LED side markers flank the front fascia.

What carries through all three global concepts are Verve’s sophisticated design language and its inspiration: A modern world of fashion and cosmetics, echoed in the Verve’s rich colors and distinctive, high quality materials.

The hood sculpture is toned and athletic but not overtly muscular. This form language combines with the more pronounced, rearward-stretching headlamps to give the face of the Ford Verve concept a friendly, open and inviting personality. The prominent headlamps feature two projector beams and a light-emitting diode (LED) array.

From the side view, the concept looks energetic and purposeful. Its profile is emphasized by the pillarless side window shape and the upper contour that mirrors the body’s curving upper contour line.
This extends rearward from the angular A-pillar to marry the sculpted, semi-high-mounted, LED tail lamps sculpted to become part of the fullness of the body shape. These elements blend cohesively together and support the vehicle’s panoramic glass roof.

The 18-inch, 12-spoke, two-piece alloy wheel design lends even more drama to the car, punctuated with a subtle sidewall stripe that complements the rich body color.

Other accents on the vehicle include a discreet chrome bar in the door handles and similar use of brushed aluminum on the lower grille surround, the rear license plate surround and on the lower edge of the front fog lamps.

Technologically Inspired
Verve’s unique architecture embraces key electronic systems such as navigation, a dynamic sound system and in-car phone controls. Aesthetically, the Verve interior follows the curves and contours of the instrument panel shape.

Functionally, the center stack design decouples traditional elements of the entertainment system – the screen, control elements and the electronics. Separating these features allowed designers to position controls for optimal ergonomic positioning in a design that resembles the logic of a mobile phone.

The center console includes a tray for a mobile phone or MP3 player as well as a large bin for a purse near the handbrake. The center stack is a unique combination of sculpture, colors, materials and jewelry-like brightwork.

The concept’s climate controls, highlighted in a lozenge shape at the midpoint of the center stack, feature large twist dials that were inspired by the sculpture found in high-quality power showers.
The primary gauges – speedometer and tachometer – are uniquely framed by binocular-shaped, short tunnels of brightwork that complement the center stack and contrast the rich interior colors like a fashion accessory.

Ford Verve concept’s steering wheel is another work of sculpture. Its center section, sculpted of soft-feel material and framed in brightwork, provides a rich tactile and visual centerpiece for the Ford oval.

“Customers in this segment demand the best,” says Mays. “While young in age, they are sophisticated, globally connected and demand the best the world has to offer, be it consumer electronics, fashion or automobiles. The Verve concept shows people that when it comes to style and sophistication, Ford can compete – and even outshine – the best in the business.”

Ford: European Small-Car Know-How
Driven by a new global product development system that leverages Ford’s global strengths, Ford designers in Dunton, England, and Cologne, Germany, developed the common small-car platform based on the converging tastes of global consumers.

Ford maintains small-car leadership in Europe with vehicles set apart by their world-class driving dynamics and dynamic designs.

With more than five million vehicles produced in Europe since it was launched in 1998, the Ford Focus is one of the only vehicles in the world to be named “Car of the Year” both in Europe and in North America. It is Ford’s perennial top seller in Europe and, in 2007, was Europe’s top-selling car in its class.

The Ford Fiesta – which is smaller than the Focus – debuted in 1976, and it has sold more than 12 million units in Europe.

The iconic Ford Ka redefined the small city car sector in Europe with its eye-catching and enduring design and fun-to-drive character when it was introduced more than 11 years ago. Sales remain strong – with more than 1 million cars sold.

The European Ford Fusion – introduced in 2002 – increased its sales by approximately 19 percent in 2007 versus the previous year and remains in the European top three sellers in its segment.

“We’re known in Europe for uniquely executed small cars, and this is the perfect time to bring this expertise to buyers in North America,” Kuzak said.

The Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company, a global automotive industry leader based in Dearborn, Mich., manufactures or distributes automobiles in 200 markets across six continents. With about 250,000 employees and about 100 plants worldwide, the company’s core and affiliated automotive brands include Ford, Jaguar, Land Rover, Lincoln, Mercury, Volvo and Mazda. The company provides financial services through Ford Motor Credit Company. For more information regarding Ford’s products, please visit http://www.ford.com.
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Reactions to the Verve

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Reactions to the Verve from the Detroit Auto Show.

http://autoshows.ford.com/207/2008/01/1 ... e2%80%99s/
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Its A Fiesta!

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Fiesta name to return to N.A. on Ford small car

Richard Truett
Automotive News
February 14, 2008 - 1:29 pm ET

DETROIT -- The Fiesta, one of Ford Motor Co.'s best-known global nameplates, is returning to North America in 2010.

Ford said today that the Fiesta name will be used on its new global small car in all markets. Since the car was launched in 1974, more than 12 million Fiestas have been sold.

The European-made Fiesta was offered in the United States from 1978 to 1980 before being replaced by the Escort, but the car stayed in production in Europe and was sold in other markets.

Ford says the new Fiesta will look much like the swoopy, stylish Verve concept car shown last month at the Detroit auto show. The production version of the Fiesta will debut next month at the Geneva auto show. European sales will start in the fall with three- and five-door hatchbacks.

Ford will not say what body styles the United States will get, but a wedgy two-door sport coupe and a four-door sedan were shown at the Detroit show. Ford plans to build the car in as many as four plants around the world and has identified two: Valencia, Spain, and Cologne, Germany.

At the Beijing auto show in April, Ford will announce its Asian production plans. The company is not saying where the North American Fiesta will be built, but Mexico or South America are possible locations.

There's also no word yet on what engine will power the North American model.

" The new Ford Fiesta captures every aspect of what's defined Ford as a small-car leader in Europe and builds on it in terms of driving dynamics and design," said Mark Fields, Ford's president of the Americas.

Ford seems to be positioning the Fiesta as a premium small car that could compete with the Mini Cooper and the Smart car.

Said Ford CEO Alan Mulally in a statement: " 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."
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Fiesta or Verve?

Post by IFHP »

February 18, 2008

After going back and forth, Ford has decided to keep the Fiesta name for the North American spec version of its new "B" car. The other possiblity was "Verve."

http://news.windingroad.com/etc/fords-g ... more-14687
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Will North America get the Fiesta hatchback?

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Will North America get the Fiesta Hatchback?

March, 5 2008

http://news.windingroad.com/body-styles ... ck-for-us/
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New Fiesta to be built in Mexico

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Our new Fiesta will be built in Mexico starting in early 2010.

http://media.ford.com/article_display.c ... e_id=28337
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Post by IFHP »

I saw my first 2011 Fiesta on the road in late August and my second and third (plus a Mazda 2) this week. Before long they will no doubt be a common sight, but not yet. I can remember 11 years ago when the first US Focuses were turning my head.

I still think it was too bad that James wasn't selected for the "Fiesta Movement" campaign, but it sounds like it would have been a real work out.
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Post by fjkghia »

I have got a 2008 1.4 Fiesta Zetec over here, I hate to say it but I'm not too keen on the "new" shape Fiesta. Had the choice of buying one of the last previous model or wait and have one of the new ones. I don't like the lack of rear glass area and I think the dash board looks like Transformer! Don't know what I'm gonna do when it is time to change this one! This is Fiesta number 5 for me, so I think I will have to keep it for a while!!
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