Filed under: Economy, Sedans/Saloons, Plants/Manufacturing, Hatchbacks, Ford
Ford eyeing Mexico for Fiesta production
Ford has been teasing us with a US-bound Fiesta for years, and the Blue Oval has only said that the well-executed B-car would be built in North America. With time to start producing Fiestas running short, Ford appears ready to publicly announce where the vehicle will be built, and it looks like the Fiesta will be made south of the border. The extremely low cost of labor in Mexico makes building inexpensive economy cars there a no-brainer, and Ford's Cuatitlan plant already builds the current Euro Fiesta and a Fiesta-based vehicle for the Mexico/Brazil markets.
The Fiesta is scheduled to appear Stateside by 2010, but with the radical shift towards smaller, more efficient vehicles, we wouldn't be surprised if Ford bumped up that timeline.
[Source: Detroit News]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Avinash machado 9:08AM (5/30/2008)
Looks far better than the Yaris,Fit,Versa, and Aveo. Could very well end up being the best selling small car in the US.
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Jared 9:16AM (5/30/2008)
Agreed. And if did 40 mpg, I'd buy one today.
Tragedy 9:27AM (5/30/2008)
Remove the "Ford" emblem and perhaps you'd be correct. I doubt this little car, no matter how cool it is, will reassure the buying public into buying an American car when they think (keyword is 'think') a lesser-cool more expensive Honda will be better in the long run.
Ligor 9:30AM (5/30/2008)
it will be the best looking little car in the US market for sure,
and i'd buy one if it averaged 36mpg the day it comes out
psarhjinian 10:06AM (5/30/2008)
It'd need to manage at least one of the following three things:
* Be more versatile than the Fit (unlikely; there's nothing like the Fit's floorplan in the Fiesta's design. I'd expect versatility on par with the Yaris hatch at most)
* Be more economical than the Yaris (possible, if tricky; the Yaris is very lightweight and the 1.5 VVTLi is a good engine in terms of frugality. Ford has some competitive European powerplants that, hopefully, could make the leap)
* Be cheaper than the Aveo, Accent or Rio (got, I hope not, as the Koreans' bargain-basement price is achieved through engineering that's at between one two generations behind in terms of engineering)
* Be bigger than the Versa.
Looks aren't that important in this market--everything is essentially a dorkbox on wheels--but value and functionality are. Ford has to have a reason for people to pick this car over it's competition, and looks or driving excitement won't cut it.
Duders 10:34AM (5/30/2008)
At least until the fiat 500 comes out. ;P
Vintage 9:15AM (5/30/2008)
Well duh, it's the FIESTA. Where else would they make it?
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Avinash machado 9:23AM (5/30/2008)
What about Spain?
Thomas 9:29AM (5/30/2008)
Korea?
Kotse 9:50AM (5/30/2008)
...where all has "siesta".
Torrent 9:47AM (5/30/2008)
Somewhere else that has tacos.
Chris 9:33AM (5/30/2008)
I have an 07 fusion, the car has been really great, very high quality, no problems to speak of. I'd feel comfortable sticking with ford and getting one of these or a new focus once my lease expires. It's really not true that American vehicles are any less than the Japanese these days.
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Alex 9:33AM (5/30/2008)
Dear Ford;
The sooner the better.
k, thx.
-Alex
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MLB 9:41AM (5/30/2008)
I don't give a sh*t where you build it - just get it to the US market ASAP.
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DesiAuto 9:45AM (5/30/2008)
This is a much better looking small car than any offered by toyota, honda and gm.
I am sure Ford will find a way to make it look ugly before it hits US market.
If they offer what's in the picture above and if it gets 35+ MPG, it will do quite well.
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gstillmilkman 9:53AM (5/30/2008)
This car looks great and will finally give Ford some muscle in the sub-compact fight. I still hate the name though.
I'm waiting for some of these hacky Ford dealerships to come out with things like, "We're having a Fiesta fiesta! Free gift cards to Taco Bell with every test drive!" And the salesmen will be wearing sombreros, that kind of stuff.
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psarhjinian 10:08AM (5/30/2008)
They do need to drop the name. "Fiesta" has negative equity in North America as the original wasn't that good, and the Festiva and Aspire only sullied the waters further.
The proposed name for the Focus (Ikon) would work well. If they're really stuck, though, the brain trust that revived Taurus could also reanimate "Escort".
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Jared 10:27AM (5/30/2008)
I disagree. I think the Fiesta name is mostly unknown in the US.
Only us older gearheads remember the old Ford Fiesta. It was only imported to the US from 1978 - 1980. Most of the target market weren't even born by the time Ford quit selling the car in the US.
psarhjinian 11:17AM (5/30/2008)
It's not the name "Fiesta" per se, but the closeness of said to "Festiva" and the images that inspires. What springs to my mind, and likely to many other consumers, is the two-box Kia rebadge of ill repute.
That aside, Fiesta just isn't a good name for this market. In Europe it works because there's positive brand equity for the product. Here, there's nothing, and the name "Fiesta" just doesn't strike me as a good starting point. The same applies to the Kuga: good product, but that name won't fly here.
Ken Stamper 2:21PM (5/30/2008)
I don't think "Fiesta" has any equity, negative or positive really- remember, this is a car that will be marketed mostly to the 18-34 crowd. None of those people are going to remember the original. It's not as if the original was an infamously bad car (like the Pinto).
Also, gotta disagree strongly on the looks/performance thing not being important- pretty much everyone I know (who are roughly between 22-32 yrs old) like small hatchbacks IF they are well-done- I think the "dorkbox on wheels" stereotype of small hatches is dying. My buddy bought a Fit and he gets nothing but positive comments on it from people I know because we all think it looks cool (same for another friend who has a Mini Cooper). But then, he lives in Portland. Maybe in the deep south/midwest you still have to have an F-150 or whatever to be cool.