Celebrating the Fiesta range

By ALASTAIR SLOANE

The Ford Fiesta has been among Europe's top 10 bestselling cars for more than 18 years - and now it's coming here, says motoring editor ALASTAIR SLOANE

This item appeared in the Good Oil in November last year: "Mention the much-praised new Fiesta to executives at Ford New Zealand and they get a faraway look in their eyes and say things like, 'Great if we could get it here.' It largely depends on Ford Australia. If it wants the small Fiesta - and its president Geoff Polites says it does - New Zealand will more than likely get it. That was how things worked with the Focus range, due here in March."

Nearly 12 months on and things have panned out: the Focus arrived last March and the Fiesta is on its way.

Ford New Zealand confirmed this week that the car will arrive here about April/May next year from the factory in Cologne, Germany.

There will be two body styles and three variants: five-door standard model, three-door Zetec and five-door Ghia.

"Fiesta represents all that is best in contemporary German small-car design and engineering," said Fiesta brand manager, Matthew Carman.

"Since the first Fiesta more than 27 years ago, more than 10 million have been built.

"It has been among the top 10 bestselling European cars for more than 18 years, and has been in the top three bestselling cars in Britain for 20 years."

The models New Zealand and Australia will get were unveiled at yesterday's opening of the Sydney motor show.

The range will be powered by a 1.6-litre Duratec all-alloy four-cylinder engine, producing 74kW at 6000rpm and peak torque of 146Nm at 4000rpm, and mated to a five-speed manual or four-speed automatic.

Standard features will include remote central locking, power steering, power front windows, power-adjustable mirrors, in-dash CD player, dual front airbags, colour-coded front and rear bumpers and 15-inch steel wheels.

The Zetec will be offered as a three-door vehicle only and will be better equipped, with air-conditioning, steering column-mounted audio controls, front fog lamps, anti-lock ABS brakes and 15-inch alloy wheels. The top-range five-door gets front map lights and a six-disc in-dash CD player as standard. Side and curtain airbags will be optional.

No word on prices yet, although Ford will have to make the Fiesta competitive.

The smaller car segment occupies more than 20 per cent of the market.

The Fiesta project began in the early 1970s and was codenamed "Bobcat" at Ford Europe. Henry Ford II unveiled the Fiesta name and the car in December 1975.

The first Fiesta was built in 1976 at two Ford plants: Cologne and Dunton, Britain. It was the first Ford built using the space-saving east-west engine/front-drive layout and came when 20 per cent of car sales in Europe's leading markets were going to women.

It was launched in Europe in May 1976, powered by a 1-litre engine and weighing just 700kg. Two years and eight months later, in January 1979, the one-millionth Fiesta was built.