- The all-new Ford Fiesta features an expressive, vibrant design, with sharp reflexes
and a global track record that will redefine U.S. small car customers’ expectations - Fiesta offers 15 class-exclusive features, adding luxury and convenience usually found
in vehicles at significantly higher price points - Fiesta delivers projected best-in-class highway fuel economy of up to 40 mpg, with
a responsive 1.6-liter DOHC I-4 engine, advanced PowerShift six-speed automatic transmission and Electric Power Assist Steering (EPAS) - Designed to be versatile, personal and adaptable, Fiesta is expected to deliver best-in-class safety, convenience and connectivity with segment-exclusive SYNC® voice-activated communications system, an expressive color palette and available graphics
Ford’s hot-selling new Fiesta will deliver more than just great looks and top fuel economy in its segment when it goes on sale in North America in summer 2010. The 2011 Fiesta – available in four- and five-door body styles – also will set a new small car benchmark for safety, connectivity and powertrain technology.
In fact, Fiesta will offer North American buyers a stylish new choice of 15 class-exclusive features and projected highway fuel economy of up to 40 mpg, besting the Honda Fit, Nissan Versa, Toyota Yaris and Corolla.
“Customers are savvy. They want expressive cars that deliver not just great fuel economy, but also high quality, new technologies and a fun driving experience,” said Mark Fields, Ford president of The Americas. “We plan to answer the call with Fiesta – an all-new vehicle in North America we hope will set a new standard for small cars.”
Fiesta is the next milestone under the ONE Ford plan to design and develop vehicles that meet the differing needs, wants and expectations of customers around the world. Nearly 700,000 Fiestas have been sold to customers in Europe and Asia, since launch.
When developing the new Fiesta, Ford conducted extensive global customer research. Findings clearly indicated a desire for style topped customer lists everywhere in the world. In Europe, across North America and in the Asia Pacific region, customers are looking for a distinctively designed small car that offers world-class quality, convenience, comfort and connectivity.
“Fiesta was developed with customers, not just for them,” said Derrick Kuzak, group vice president for Global Product Development. “Fuel economy, spirited performance and efficient use of space are universal desires across global markets – and Fiesta delivers.”
Kinetics and aesthetics
Kinetic design imparts a sense of movement – even while standing still – harmonizing character elements to reflect global Ford identity, enabling Fiesta to project an air of confidence, style and individuality. Fiesta targets a youthful “design-progressive” mind-set, a consumer group that values style and diversity.
“These influential, prospective Fiesta customers relate to the design philosophy of ‘energy in motion’ because it reflects their personal outlook and lifestyle,” said Kevin George, Fiesta design manager.
Up front, Fiesta sports the global Ford face, centering the blue oval badge on the grille over the signature inverted trapezoid lower grille opening. These subtle cues engender familiarity across the portfolio, providing aesthetic linkage between the distinctive new Taurus, the fuel-efficient midsize Fusion and the bold Fiesta.
Adding eyes to the Fiesta face are sweeping, elongated headlamps that frame and connect the hood to muscular, sculpted front fenders. Available in sporty five-door hatchback or four-door sedan body styles, Fiesta provides ample space for occupants and their gear.
At the rear of the car, many design elements merge, including the chamfered liftgate glass, the low roofline sweeping into a spoiler, and dramatic taillamps with honeycomb detailing mounted high in the five-door’s corners. Muscular rear quarter panels, wrapped tightly, draw the eye to the wheels and Fiesta’s confident stance.
The Fiesta design is further enhanced with a choice of nine vivid new colors. From Bright Magenta through Lime Squeeze to Blue Flame, Fiesta’s broad color palette – more available colors than any segment competitors – instills vibrant individuality.
Inside Fiesta
Fiesta is as dramatic on the inside as it is on the outside. Boldly sculpted surfaces, contrasting colors and comfortable, supportive materials make the interior as individual as the driver. The instrument panel centerstack – focal point of the new Fiesta interior – was designed to feel as useful and familiar as the keypad on a mobile phone.
The North American Fiesta features first-row bucket seats with a 60/40 split second-row seat. Cloth or leather seating surfaces vary by trim level offering comfort, style and individuality. High series Fiestas also offer leather with sporty contrast accent color piping.
Soft, sculptured surfaces and the centerstack layout provide the Fiesta with a sense of harmony. Intuitive switchgear placement, comfort zone seating and available ambient lighting allow a driver to maximize the mood with seven complementary colors – switchable among three levels of intensity – for interior accent lighting.
And Fiesta keeps it green; 25 percent of volume-series SE seat fabric inserts are comprised of recycled content.
Fun, with fuel efficiency
Fiesta’s flowing sculpted hood covers a 1.6-liter DOHC I-4 engine with 120 horsepower at 6,350 rpm and 112 ft.-lb. of torque at 5,000 rpm. Spirited performance and fuel efficiency are signature attributes, with Fiesta delivering projected best-in-class highway fuel economy of up to 40 mpg.
Fiesta’s advanced 1.6-liter engine features Twin Independent Variable Camshaft Timing (Ti-VCT) allowing it to be downsized for fuel economy while continuously optimizing camshaft phasing for throttle response, performance and flexibility.
Big results from a small package are possible with several new technologies in this new global engine, including an advanced new front end accessory drive (FEAD) belt with stretchy dynamics to improve the engine’s thermal dynamics. The elasticity in this new drive belt eliminates the need for a belt tensioner and contributes to overall fuel economy.
Fiesta features a standard five-speed manual transaxle with gear ratios selected to offer spirited off-the-line performance and exceptional fuel economy for drivers who desire three pedals and a stick shift to maximize the driving experience.
Specially tuned front struts, bushings, dampers, stabilizer bars and a rear twist-beam axle keep Fiesta sure-footed and firmly planted. Sporty, European driving dynamics prevail.
Automatically game-changing
An available all-new North American industry-exclusive PowerShift six-speed automatic transmission combines the responsive performance and fuel economy of a manual with the convenience of a traditional automatic in one advanced, dual dry-clutch package.
“Fuel economy leaders have traditionally been manual-shift models,” said Piero Aversa, team leader for transmissions. “Fiesta changes the game by offering an advanced PowerShift six-speed automatic that delivers maximum fuel economy.”
Twin internal clutches keep the PowerShift in constant mesh, always optimizing for maximum responsiveness or fuel efficiency, depending on input received from the driver’s foot on the accelerator pedal.
This “dry” transmission operates with sealed internal lubrication, reducing internal friction and adding to Fiesta fuel economy. The lack of pumps and hoses reduces under-hood complexity, saves weight and also contributes to fuel efficiency. It requires no regular maintenance.
PowerShift has been proven in Ford’s European market and will redefine North American small car segment expectations for responsive shifting and fuel efficiency.
Power steering conserves fuel
For confidence-inspiring on-road dynamics, Fiesta features Electric Power Assist Steering (EPAS), which reduces complexity while saving weight and fuel. This advanced system is speed-sensitive – providing optimized assist based on speed, cornering forces and acceleration
or deceleration.
Ford is aggressively moving to EPAS across its product lineup. The system already is available in several Ford, Lincoln and Mercury nameplates, and by 2013 nearly 90 percent of Ford’s lineup will offer this fuel-saving technology.
EPAS also includes Pull-Drift Compensation to help Fiesta track true regardless of road crown or side wind conditions. In addition, Active Nibble Cancellation helps detect and compensate for tire balance irregularity. Both features – enabled by EPAS – are class exclusives.
Strength, safety, quality and quiet
More than 50 percent of Fiesta’s welded body structure is made from high-strength steel, with ultra-strong boron steel used in several critical areas. This rigid body shell contributes to Fiesta’s confident road-holding, best-in-class occupant safety and quiet composure.
Fiesta safety is enhanced by an array of features including dual-stage first-row airbags, a class-exclusive driver’s knee airbag, side airbags and side curtain airbags. AdvanceTrac® with ESC (Electronic Stability Control) is standard on Fiesta, along with seat belt pretensioners and rear door child safety locks.
Tested and proven on virtually every continent where a car can be driven, Fiesta arrives with confirmed quality and customer readiness.
“For North America, the global Fiesta was tweaked, not redesigned or redeveloped,” said Steve Pintar, chief engineer. “We built on the success of the European Fiesta and are really proud of how little has changed.”
Fiesta NVH (noise, vibration and harshness) control is taken to a new level of quiet for this segment, helped in part by a specially laminated, class-exclusive windshield that was chosen to help absorb and contain noise. Engine noise is subdued by a hood blanket, with enhanced door seals keeping wind noise minimized.
Special padding behind the instrument panel and foam baffles mounted inside the pillars keeps Fiesta quiet. Even the headliner material was specified for its sound-deadening qualities.
Much of Fiesta’s sound-absorbent materials are comprised of recycled content, helping to conserve resources as it preserves peace and quiet. In addition, Fiesta aerodynamics contributes to both NVH control and fuel efficiency.
Features and functionality
Fiesta offers customers a number of standard and available features that increase convenience and add connectivity. Among them is Ford SYNC, integrating a driver’s mobile phone with Fiesta’s onboard, voice-activated communications and entertainment system.
Fiesta also offers keyless entry and push button start, a feature unique within the segment. Drivers of all sizes can adjust the tilt-and-telescoping steering wheel to suit their individual preferences. Reflecting Fiesta’s versatility and adaptability, adjustable cup holders can accommodate Red Bull cans and Big Gulps along with every container size in between.
Fiesta also features Ford’s Easy Fuel® Capless Fuel-Filler System, a North American industry- exclusive, as standard equipment.
Fiesta Movement and Chapter 2
The initial Fiesta Movement began in April 2009 and put European-spec Fiestas in the hands of 100 social media-activist Fiesta agents. They tweeted, blogged and posted pictures and videos to chronicle their assigned cultural, charitable and adventuresome missions.
Agents accumulated more than 1.5 million miles, feeding content to their individual networks, generating more than 6.2 million YouTube views, more than 750,000 Flickr views and more than 4 million Twitter impressions. The Fiesta Movement also set a Guinness World Record for the most attendees at a tweetup during the Fiesta Movement Awards Celebration in West Hollywood. This unprecedented event brought together 1,149 Fiesta Movement agents and Twitter friends.
Fiesta Movement Chapter 2, which kicked off in March 2010, consists of 20 teams of two agents each. Still rooted in social media, Chapter 2 will bring Fiesta Movement agent-generated content to new media platforms and localized audiences.
Fiesta sales success
Fiesta is continuing its sales momentum as Europe’s No. 2-selling car and Ford of Europe’s top-selling vehicle, helping to increase its share in the 19 main markets there. Close to 700,000 Fiestas have been sold around the world since the car was launched in late 2008.
In Europe, the Fiesta name has long been synonymous with outstanding drive quality, design and value. It’s winning enthusiastic media reviews in Asia.
More than 10,000 orders have been placed by customers. The all-new Ford Fiesta will offer North American consumers a stylish, fuel-efficient alternative when it goes on sale this summer. It will be built at Ford’s Cuautitlan assembly plant in Mexico.
APR