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The Ford Fiesta is a mid-class compact car designed by the Ford Motor Company in Europe, and also manufactured in Brazil, Mexico, China, India and South Africa. It is now marketed worldwide, including Japan and Australasia, but not North America.
The Fiesta was originally introduced in 1976 as Ford Europe's answer to the growing "supermini" segment which had been spearheaded by the likes of the Fiat 127 and the Volkswagen Polo. It was also a breakthrough for Ford as it was its first truly successful front wheel drive car. It was also the first new Ford car since the Ford Granada five years earlier. The first generation Fiesta was also a "world car", being briefly sold in the United States until 1979 where it was called a sub-compact car. Mechanically, the Fiesta followed tradition, with an end-on 4 speed transaxle mounted to a new version of the Ford Kent overhead valve engine christened "Valencia", after the Spanish factory where the Fiesta was produced. Fiestas were also produced in Ford's plants in Dagenham, England and Cologne, Germany. The Fiesta was a runaway success overnight, and sales had soon topped 1 million. The car was available with 950cc, 1.1 and 1.3 petrol engines. In 1980, a sporting derivative had been introduced known as the XR2, which featured a 1.6 litre engine rather than the feeble 1.1 litre unit which moved its lesser brothers. Black plastic trim was added on the exterior and interior, and the car looked exciting. In a stroke, Ford had created a cult car so beloved of boy racers throughout the 1980s. But with a four-speed gearbox and just 84bhp initially, the performance of these early models was disappointing.
The second generation Mk2 appeared in 1983. Essentially a facelift of the previous car, it featured a smooth Sierra-style nose, and an all-new interior. Mechanically there was little change, except for the inclusion of the Escort's CVH engine in place of the Valencia motor in the 1.3 models and the XR2. The Austin Metro looked similar to this model
The Ford Fiesta was regularly a top-selling car in Britain throughout the 1980s and was also popular in Europe. But towards the end of the decade it was getting left behind by more modern rivals like the Fiat Uno and Peugeot 205.
Introduced in 1989, the third generation Fiesta was a comprehensive reskin of the old car with an all-new bodyshell built on top of the existing floorpan. This addressed one of the Fiesta's most serious shortcoming - the lack of a five-door derivative. However, apart from the long awaited addition of fuel injection to the XR2 (thus creating the XR2i) and a new version of the Valencia engine christened HCS (available in 1.0 and 1.1 litre), the old running gear remained, and the car was still uninspiring to drive compared to its rivals. It didn't deter Europe's small car buyers, the Mk3 Fiesta sold a million inside 2 years, but the motoring press still weren't impressed. The real star of the new Fiesta range, however, was the RS Turbo. It had a turbocharged version of the XR2i engine and could touch 130mph.
Specification on the Fiesta range was much improved for the 1990s, with top of the range versions getting antilock brakes, twin airbags, electric windows and central locking. A 1.8 diesel engine from the larger Escort was also added to the Fiesta range.
1992 saw the famous XR2 title dropped and the 'Si' badge in its place. The RS Turbo was also discarded, although the new hot Fiesta was the RS1800 – which shared its engine with the Escort XR3i.
The inclusion of the Zetec engine in 1992, and an injection of safety features from the Ford Mondeo in 1994 kept the metal moving.
In 1995, things changed dramatically with the fourth generation car. Ford cashed in on the Mondeo's success and spread some of that car's excellence onto its baby. The Mk4 Fiesta was given the all-new Zetec-SE engine, thoroughly reworked the Valencia engine into the Endura-E, and was given an all new chassis and suspension design. At a stroke the flabby handling became nimble and entertaining and the Fiesta was all of a sudden the enthusiast's choice. This version was notable for being avalible in purple, which is an unusual color for a car.
In Brazil, a pick-up version of the Mk4 Fiesta was introduced, known as the Ford Pampa which was also sold in South Africa as the Ford Bantam.
This version of Fiesta was also sold by Mazda, badged as the Mazda 121 in Europe and the Mazda Soho in South Africa, although this model was eventually dropped in the UK. In the US, Ford had already sold the Mazda 121 as the Ford Festiva, while restyled versions of Mazda's 323 and 626 were sold in Asia and Australasia as the Ford Laser and Ford Telstar.
The 1.0 and 1.1 HCS engines were dropped along with the 1.6 and 1.8 units. The 1.3 and 1.4 petrol and 1.8 diesel units continued. A new 1.25-litre 16-valve Zetec engine was added to the Fiesta range and it set new standards for small car engine refinement.
The facelift of the Mk3 bodyshell didn't work as well as the new engineering - the "fish-face" front end always a subject of controversy. A Focus-inspired restyle in 2000 was an attempt to address this problem. This saw the launch of the Ford Ikon, which was a four-door Fiesta sedan designed for India, where Ford was now producing cars in a joint venture with Mahindra. The Ikon was also introduced in other developing countries, such as South Africa, Mexico and China, where sedans are preferred to hatchbacks.
At the end of 2001, Ford stopped making cars at Dagenham (although engine production continued; Escort production had already ceased at Halewood the year before) and it was the first time in more than 80 years that Ford cars had not been made in Britain, although production of the Transit van continued at the company's Southampton facility.
In 2002 the fifth-generation car was unveiled. This was for the first time, a completely clean sheet design, with no genetic links to the 1976 original. Brand new engines from Ford's new Duratec family were under the hood, the styling was heavily inspired by the larger Focus. It has been sold in the Finesse, LX, Zetec, Ghia, Black and Limited Edition variants.
Engines available include 1.3, 1.4, 1.6 petrol and 1.4 TDCi (A diesel engine sourced from Peugeot). By the end of 2004 Ford hope to have a 2.0l petrol 150PS engine and a 1.6TDCi engine available. The 2.0 litre petrol model will only be available in the New Fiesta ST version, borrowed from the Mondeo.
The Ford Fiesta ST is the performance variant of the new fiesta, capable of speeds of up to 130mph and hopes to relive the success of the XR2. To differ it from the standard Fiesta it will also have many visual enchancements, including 17" alloy wheels. It will soon go on sale in late 2004.
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