Ford Fiesta 2009 News

Scheduled to go on sale here towards the middle of 2013, the Ford Fiesta range will kick off with the tiny 1.0-litre turbocharged three-cylinder EcoBoost engine that claimed the World Engine of the Year award a few months ago. “We’ve confirmed the three-cylinder turbo for the Fiesta,” Ford spokesman Neil McDonald says. “Originally it was going to be the EcoSport SUV  but Fiesta will beat it to market by several months. The turbocharged engine is offered in two levels -- 74kW/170Nm and 92kW/200Nm – but there’s no indication yet of whether we will get both. “It’s a little bit early to talk what the engine line-up will be,” McDonald says, although agreeing there would have to be consideration of whether the local market would go for two 1.0-litre versions or would expect to see a larger unit in the upper spec cars. The leaked official images show the main styling changes are focused on the nose, which gets the Aston Martin-flavoured grille shape -- already worn by the overseas Ford Fusion (Mondeo) – set off with a new front bumper and headlight clusters featuring LED running lights. McDonald says it’s also too early to discuss whether price and specification levels will change markedly from the current range, which opens with the $16,990 CL and tops out at the $23,490 Zetec – or whether they will be joined by the Fiesta ST seen overseas. “There’s been a Fiesta ST concept vehicle shown in Europe but we haven’t confirmed it for here,” he says. “For the rest of the range, it’s too far out to talk about price, but we plan to remain competitive. The Fiesta has been doing quite well -- around the 700 per month. It’s been a pretty strong seller for us.” While the release of fresh metal can often mean extra demand that constrains supply of some imported cars, McDonald points out Asian production means it won’t be a problem for the Fiesta. “Our vehicles are built in Thailand so I don’t think supply is going to be an issue,” he says.  

A street version of its Fiesta RS World Rally Championship weapon for 2011 is "under consideration'' - the first sign that the Blue Oval is prepared to rekindle memories of the XR4 edition of the early 2000s. "We would love a high-performance Fiesta,'' says Ford Australia's general marketing manager David Katic.  "We're looking at al opportunities (the WRC car can bring)." He describes the XR4 as a "great car''.  But no-one at Ford Australia is talking about timing, pricing or even the name. It is possible it could wear the ST moniker to share with the hot Focus hatch that is also a possible for Australia. The talk in Europe about a hot Fiesta is stronger. Spy shots show a three-door hatch with twin exhausts and an intercooler peeking through the front bumper inlets. It is believed that adding the turbocharger and intercooler to the 1.6-litre engine will produce up to 130kW. That should be sufficient for a 0-100km/h time of about six seconds. The hot Fiesta would be built in Europe, alongside the ECOnetic diesel. Other Fiesta models for Australia are now made in Thailand.

Ford has switched the source of its Fiesta hatch and new sedan to the shared Ford/Mazda factory in Rayong. But Ford Australia marketing general manager David Katic is coy about speculation over the future supplier of Australian Focus variants. "We haven't said anything about Focus and we're not going to," he says. But the Blue Oval is building a new $500-million factory adjacent to its AAT Rayong plant to build Focus for the Asia-Pacific region, which would logically include Australia. Currently the Focus models sold in Australia are shipped from Pretoria in South Africa - although it was planned to build them at Broadmeadows until those plans were canned last year. "We've had some supply issues with Focus out of South Africa, and that high variation of Focus sales is a result of that," Ratic says. "If you speak to our dealers about that they would say they just need to get some more... we haven't been able to get consistent supply, we're hoping to get some consistency," he says. The company is getting cost and tax gains from bringing the Fiesta into Australia from Thailand and would benefit from a similar price break with a Focus sourced from the same region. The company is keen to increase its small car slice of the market, starting with cutting order turnaround times and increased supply to get more cars to consumers. "We're at the stage where our dealers can't aggressively market the Fiesta product because they haven't got them - our dealers will be able to carry more stock. They are desperate for more stock because they see people come through the showroom door every day looking for a car quickly, the dealers are excited because they know what it means for supply for them," he says. "We're changing sources but they haven't just taken the European car and started building it here, they've improved it and we're confident that we're getting a better car with more features and we'll do even better," he says. The Ford small car hero, Fiesta Econetic, remains a European sourced vehicle but is expected to receive some of the spec upgrades of the Thai-built Fiesta later this year. Katic says the frugal diesel has made big changes to the Ford brand image and the brand was looking at ways to expand the Econetic. "We did some research just after we launched that car, people were saying that they had no idea Ford had this sort of capability when it comes to green, that's why we see the Econetic tag as a powerful thing going forward," he says. "We're looking at strong, fuel-saving technologies across the range, however we get there, Econetic or something else ... the Fiesta has told us there is a strong market there for us."

Ford Australia decided to pass on the LPG-powered baby car to concentrate on Econetic, the fuel-efficiency sub-brand it will eventually migrate throughout its showroom models. The Econetic Fiesta is already tested and confirmed as Australia's most fuel-efficient new car - even topping the Toyota Prius hybrid - and demand is so strong that Ford cannot get sufficient stocks, even though the car is relatively costly at $24,990. The president of Ford Australia, Marin Burela, was part of the original Fiesta development team in Europe before returning home for the top job and knows all the detail on the LPG program. "I'm very familiar with the Fiesta LPG. At the time of developing Fiesta, I was adamant that we had to deliver Econetic and LPG derivatives," Burela says.  "The LPG was specifically targeted for Italy, the Netherlands - not as strong - as well as potential in the UK and a few in Germany. All of this was driven by the infrastructure that was available in Europe to support LPG and the fact that the Italian market has accepted LPG as a very viable and competitive alternative fuel."  But he says it was easy to go down the Econetic road in Australia, leaving LPG for the Falcon. "In Australia we elected to go for the Econetic derivative as our fuel leader. The strategy has worked extremely well with demand for the vehicle exceeding supply."  Despite the potential for a gas-powered baby car, Burela says the Fiesta is not currently on the shopping list. "At this stage we have no plans to introduce a LPG derivative," he says.  "However, as always  . . .  you never say never in our business. As we continue to evolve our plans we will continue to watch this space.  "The market will tell us if there is any potential for a LPG derivative in the future."

Congratulations Ford Falcon

Congratulations to the winner, 2009 People's Choice Best First Car: Ford Fiesta.

It is the Ford Fiesta ECOnetic, which re-set the economy benchmark this year at just 3.7L/100km - that is 76.3 miles-per-gallon in pre-decimal currency - and also produces just 98 grams of carbon for

The Mercedes-Benz E Class is good, the Ford Fiesta is better, but the Golf is best of all from more than 100 new cars that landed in Australia over the past year.

The baby of the Ford family faces the compact heroes of Japan and Korea but comes up trumps in the light-car class.

The latest round of official crash tests has given five-star occupant protection ratings to some of the most fuel-frugal small cars sold in Australia, the Mini Cooper diesel, the Ford Fiesta ECOnetic diesel, the Volvo C30 diesel and the Toyota Prius hybrid.On the Global Green Challenge, a 3150km drive from Darwin to Adelaide and with driving in Adelaide last month, the Ford Fiesta ECOnetic averaged just 3.13 litres/100km fuel consumption and the Mini diesel was not far behind.  Transport Department director of road safety, Martin Small, said yesterday (Tuesday 17) the crash test results showed that new-car buyers could save fuel and still get five-star safety."These ratings show that manufacturers can make a range of fuel efficient vehicles which do not compromise safety," Mr Small said.  Other vehicles to score five stars in these tests are the new Subaru Liberty Exiga and the latest Hyundai Sante Fe with four-cylinder engine.  The only car in this round of tests not to get the full five stars is the Honda City sedan which managed four stars.RAA (SA) technical services manager Mark Borlace said this was because that model Honda did not have electronic stability control, a requirement since 2008 before five stars could be awarded.  "It makes the lack of ESC for the Honda City disappointing," Mr Borlace said."All of these five-star models include head-protecting side airbags or curtains, anti-lock brakes with electronic brake distribution and electronic stability control as standard," he said. "And it is pleasing to see the results apply to all models in the various ranges, not just luxury-specified vehicles."In separate testing for pedestrian protection, the Honda City, Subaru Exiga and Fiesta achieved three out of a maximum four stars. The upgraded Sante Fe, previously scoring zero, this time got one star.