Another New Ford Fiesta Look

We’ve been following the progress of the new Ford Fiesta for months as it has been transformed from the Verve concept cars to the Fiesta production versions. We saw two-door and four-door hatchbacks in Geneva earlier this year and this week in China, Ford unveiled a more angular looking four-door hatchback which is scheduled to go on sale in Asia.

The U.S. is still expected to get a sedan version of the Fiesta to go on sale in 2010, with a design aimed at U.S. audiences. The very slight variation between the European and Asian design makes us hopeful that the U.S. version will be as aggressively styled as its overseas counterparts. Take a look at the new Fiesta below as well as the European four-door hatchback and let us know which one you like better.

More Fiesta News

Comments

I read somewhere that this is almost a foot smaller than a Honda Fit. Do you have any mpg estimates on this?

Ziggy,
we don't even know what will power it in the U.S. I'd expect similar figures to the fit, yaris, scion xd etc.

I'll be the first to admit that I goofed and thought of the Festiva at first. I think they should go small 1.4l turbo 4 or something of the like since they are getting ready to go turbo crazy.

Probably the 1.5L that's going to be available in the Mazda2. There is also a 1.3 and a 1.4 that we probably won't see in the U.S.

Screw the sedan - they should bring over the hatch.

no hatch for the states? even when Ford has a hit they somehow figure out how to screw it up.

I agree. I want the hatch, not the sedan. I've got a Focus ZX5 currently, and when it's time to replace it, I'll be finding another hatchback. You can't argue with the utility vs. a sedan.

FORD:

Bring the hatchback here, please!

The sedan? Thumbs down!!

Peace!!!<-AladdinSane--

very small sedans tend to look somewhat silly. Compare the Yaris sedan and hatch or the previous Echo and previous European Yaris hatch. There are more examples: Aveo, Rio and Accent. However, small sedans also make very little sense. They have significantly less space and are less practical. Europeans figured this out a long time ago.

Ford will bring the Fiesta many years late (it should have launched the current version when the Fit and Yaris came to market). Maybe I can excuse that, but have they not noticed that every other small car is offered as a hatch (Aveo, Fit, Yaris, Rio, Accent). Why would Ford not offer both? They just discontinued the Focus hatch and introduced the classic unpractical American coupe instead. I guess I should not be surprised.

You are right about a hatch having more utility/storage than a sedan, but many sedans have much better visibility than a hatch. See last years Focus as an example. I can see lots of people buying bigger if they need a lot of cargo space. I would much rather have good over the shoulder visibility. What good is a small, good handling, and quick in city traffic car, if you have to hesitate before changing lanes to make sure no one is there.

Big mirrors help the visibility. That and technology is becoming affordable so blind spot monitors could be installed. Or just a convex mirror attachment!

How hard can visibility be in a hatch? It's a Ford Fiesta! It's not that big! The rear glass is at the very back of the car and most hatches don't have thick roof pillars. Look at the size of an Aveo sedan's C-pillar compared to a hatch. The sedan's is huge. Besides, people buy "larger hatches" like SUV's, and never seem to think twice about the view behind them.

I agree with Toe that the sedan versions of small cars never look right. They look like obviously trunkated versions of the hatches and are longer, not as easy to manueevr, have small trunk space, and typically not as much head room in the rear because of arched roof.

Please Ford, bring the hatches instead!

Small sedans look super silly....I hate them so much! Speaking of Toyota Yaris, who buys the sedan over the hatch? People with really bad taste.
Just ship over the euro version of fiesta,there is no need to modify engines or anything!

The reason people buy the sedan Yaris I think is because the hatch is only offered as a 3 door. We don't get the 5 door hatch Yaris the rest of the world gets.

Many people can get by with a small car but still need back doors to get kids in etc. With the Yaris, Toyota treated us all like fools and makes us buy the sedan for that convenience.

Nobody buys the Yaris Sedan for looks, do they? the hatch is cute, the sedan is a carbunkle...