The Ford Fiesta is a front wheel drive subcompact Subcompact car is a North American term used to describe automobiles whose class size is smaller than that of a compact car, usually not exceeding 165 inches in length), but larger than a microcar. According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), a passenger car is classified as subcompact if it has between 85 cubic feet (2,407/supermini car A supermini is a British car classification term that describes automobiles larger than a city car but smaller than a small family car. This car class is also known as the B-segment across Europe, and as Subcompact in North America manufactured and marketed by the Ford Motor Company The Ford Motor Company is an American multinational corporation based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury brands, Ford also owns Volvo Cars in Sweden, and a small stake in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in the UK. Ford' and built in Europe, Brazil Brazil (pronounced /brəˈzɪl/ ; Portuguese: Brasil, IPA: [bɾaˈziw]), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: República Federativa do Brasil, listen (help·info)), is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population. It is the only Portuguese-speaking, Argentina The Argentine claims in Antarctica along with the Falkland Islands, South Georgia, and the South Sandwich Islands (administered by the United Kingdom) shown in light green, Mexico, Venezuela Venezuela (pronounced /ˌvɛnɨˈzweɪlə/ ; Spanish: [beneˈswela]), officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (Spanish: República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It is a continental mainland with numerous islands located off its coastline in the Caribbean Sea. The republic is, China, India and South Africa. The model is marketed worldwide, including Japan, Australasia Australasia is a region of Oceania: Australia, New Zealand, the island of New Guinea, and neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term was coined by Charles de Brosses in Histoire des navigations aux terres australes . He derived it from the Latin for "south of Asia" and differentiated the area from Polynesia (to the east) and the and the Americas The Americas, or America, are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World, comprising the continents of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions. The plural form the Americas is often used in English, as the singular America is ambiguous: America is more commonly used to refer to the United States.
By 2010, the sixth-generation (Mark VI)[1] Fiesta had been introduced worldwide, including in the United States and Canada — making it the first Fiesta model to be sold in North America since 1980.
The Fiesta has sold over twelve million units since 1976.[1]
History
In the early 1970s, European demand from consumers for small cars was rising. Even Ford's smallest model, the Escort, was a conventional front-engined, rear wheel drive In automotive design the automobile layout describes where on the vehicle the engine and drive wheels are found. Many different combinations of engine location and driven wheels are found in practice, and the location of each is dependent on the application the vehicle will be used for. Factors influencing the design choice include cost, car; yet competitors were launching smaller, front wheel drive cars, like the Fiat 127 The Fiat 127 is a supermini produced by the Italian automaker Fiat between 1971 and 1983. It was introduced in 1971 as the replacement for the Fiat 850. Production of the 127 in Italy ended in 1983 following the introduction of its replacement, the Fiat Uno and the Peugeot 104. The effects of the 1973 energy crisis The 1973 oil crisis started on October 17, 1973, when the members of Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries or the OAPEC proclaimed an oil embargo "in response to the U.S. decision to re-supply the Israeli military during the Yom Kippur war." OAPEC declared it would no longer ship oil to the United States and other countries were also increasing demand for smaller cars. BMC The British Motor Corporation was a UK vehicle company, formed by the merger of the Austin Motor Company and the Nuffield Organisation (parent of the Morris car company, MG, Riley and Wolseley) in 1952. Basically, it was the predecessor of British Leyland (which had since merged into British Leyland British Leyland was a vehicle manufacturing company formed in the United Kingdom in 1968 as British Leyland Motor Corporation Ltd . It was partly nationalised in 1975 with the government creating a new holding company called British Leyland Ltd which became BL Ltd (later BL plc) in 1978. It incorporated much of the British owned motor vehicle) had entered the mini-car market with its Mini The Mini is a small car that was made by the British Motor Corporation and its successors from 1959 until 2000. The original is considered a British icon of the 1960s, and its space-saving front-wheel-drive layout (that allowed 80% of the area of the car's floorpan to be used for passengers and luggage) influenced a generation of car-makers. The in 1959, while the Rootes Group had launched the ultimately less successful Hillman Imp The Hillman Imp is a compact, rear-engined saloon car that was manufactured under the Hillman marque by the Rootes Group from 1963 to 1976. A small van, the Commer Imp, was introduced in November 1965 and an estate version, using most of the same panels but with side windows behind the b-pillar, known as the Hillman Husky was produced from 1967 in 1963, but times had moved on and people looking for small cars now wanted practical hatchbacks instead of conventional sedans. GM General Motors Company, also known as GM, is a United States-based automaker with headquarters in Detroit, Michigan. GM manufactures cars and trucks in 34 countries, recently employed 244,500 people around the world, and sells and services vehicles in some 140 countries. By sales, GM ranked as the largest US automaker and the world's second had entered the modern supermini market with its conventional Opel Kadett The Opel Kadett was a small family car produced by the German automobile manufacturer Opel between 1937 and 1940, and then again from 1962 until 1991, when it was replaced by the Opel Astra, (branded in the UK as the Vauxhall Astra MK3) City/Vauxhall Chevette The Chevette was a model of car manufactured by Vauxhall in the UK from 1975 to 1984. It was Vauxhall's version of the family of small "T-Cars" from Vauxhall's parent General Motors ; the family included the Opel Kadett in Germany, the Isuzu Gemini in Japan, the Holden Gemini in Australia, the Chevrolet Chevette in the United States, three-door hatchback twins early in 1975.
The original plans for the "Bobcat" was actually signed off by Henry Ford Henry Ford II , commonly known as "HF2" and "Hank the Deuce", was the son of Edsel Ford and grandson of Henry Ford. He was president of the Ford Motor Company from 1945 to 1960, chairman of the board and chief executive officer (CEO) from 1960 to 1979, and chairman for several months thereafter on 15 September 1972, more than a year before the Arab-Israeli War Badr – Budapest – Lahtzanit – Ofira – 1st Hermon – Marsa Talamat – Valley of Tears – Doogman 5 – Latakia – 2nd Hermon – Baltim – Sinai – Mansoura – Chinese Farm – 3rd Hermon – Suez and the oil price surge The 1973 oil crisis started in October 1973, when the members of Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries or the OAPEC proclaimed an oil embargo "in response to the U.S. decision to re-supply the Israeli military" during the Yom Kippur war; it lasted until March 1974. . With the US actions seen as initiating the oil embargo and that it triggered, so the project is best seen as a response to competitors than as a direct response to the oil crisis.[2] The plans specified a desire that the new car cost US$100 less to produce than the Ford Escort.[3] In addition, the car was to have a wheelbase longer than that of the Fiat 127, but with overall length shorter than that of Ford's Escort. The final proposal was put together by Tom Tjaarda at Ghia Carrozzeria Ghia SpA is one of the most famous Italian automobile design and coachbuilding firms, established by Giacinto Ghia and Gariglio as Carrozzeria Ghia & Gariglio, located at 4 Corso Valentino in Turin.
Bobcat was approved in autumn 1973, with Ford's engineering centres in Cologne and Dunton (Essex) collaborating. Customer clinics were held across Europe, targeting female buyers in particular.
Ford estimated that 500,000 Fiestas a year would be produced, and built an all-new factory near Valencia, Spain Valencia is the capital and most populous city of the Autonomous Community of Valencia and the third largest city in Spain, with a population of 810,064 in 2008. It is the 22nd-most populous municipality in the European Union and 35th-most populous urban area in the European Union with a population of 1,175,000 or 1,564,145. 1,705,742 or 2,300,000; a transaxle factory near Bordeaux, France Bordeaux (in Gascon: Bordèu) is a port city on the Garonne River in southwest France, with one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area at a 2008 estimate. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture of the Gironde department. Its inhabitants are called Bordelais; factory extensions for the assembly plants in Dagenham, Essex, and Saarlouis, Germany. Final assembly also took place in Valencia.[4]
Codenames
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When Ford of Europe began to design the car, the design proposals were named Iris, Beta, The Deutschlander (from Ford's Cologne studios), Mini-Mite, and the Blue Car (from Ghia). Codenames for the Fiesta prototype included Torino, but it became Project Bobcat.
The shortlisted names for the new car designed by the project Bobcat team (headed by Mr Trevor Erskine) were Amigo, Bambi, Bebe, Bravo, Bolero, Cherie, Tempo, Chico, Fiesta, Forito, Metro, Pony and Sierra. Despite more board votes for "Bravo", Henry Ford II Henry Ford II , commonly known as "HF2" and "Hank the Deuce", was the son of Edsel Ford and grandson of Henry Ford. He was president of the Ford Motor Company from 1945 to 1960, chairman of the board and chief executive officer (CEO) from 1960 to 1979, and chairman for several months thereafter personally overruled them and named the car "Fiesta". Several of the shortlisted names were later used on other cars, including "Sierra The Ford Sierra is a large family car built by Ford Europe from 1982 until 1993. It was designed by Uwe Bahnsen, Robert Lutz and Patrick le Quément. The code used during development was "Project Toni"", which was introduced on the Cortina The Cortina was Ford's mass-market mid-sized car and sold extremely well, making it very common on British roads. It was also Britain's best-selling car of the 1970s. It was eventually replaced in 1982 by the Ford Sierra. In other markets, particularly Asia and Australasia, it was replaced by the Mazda 626-based Ford Telstar, though Ford New replacement in 1982, and Tempo which was used on a Ford small car in the United States market. Ironically the "Metro" nameplate was introduced by rival manufacturer British Leyland British Leyland was a vehicle manufacturing company formed in the United Kingdom in 1968 as British Leyland Motor Corporation Ltd . It was partly nationalised in 1975 with the government creating a new holding company called British Leyland Ltd which became BL Ltd (later BL plc) in 1978. It incorporated much of the British owned motor vehicle for the similar-sized Austin Metro The Metro is a supermini car that was produced by the Austin Rover Group division of British Leyland and its successors. It was launched in 1980 as the Austin mini Metro. It was intended to complement the Mini, and was developed under the codename LC8 in 1980.
The name Fiesta belonged to General Motors General Motors Company, also known as GM, is a United States-based automaker with headquarters in Detroit, Michigan. GM manufactures cars and trucks in 34 countries, recently employed 244,500 people around the world, and sells and services vehicles in some 140 countries. By sales, GM ranked as the largest US automaker and the world's second at the time; however, it was freely given for Ford to use on their new B-class car. After years of speculation by the motoring press about Ford's new car, it was subject to a succession of carefully crafted press leaks from the end of 1975. A Fiesta was on display at the Le Mans 24 Hour Race in June 1976, and the car was launched and on sale in France and Germany in September 1976: to the frustration of UK dealerships righthand drive versions only began to appear in the UK in January 1977.[5]
Sat, 10 Jul 2010 21:53:24 GMT+00:00
Economic Times A segment which has seen cars like Honda City, which has always been people's favourite; Suzuki SX4, the butch man amongst the crowd; Ford Fiesta , ...
