|
|
Official Press Release Information Below
News Release - Family Favourite Hits 20
WARLEY, 23 July, 1996 - The Ford Fiesta celebrates its 20th anniversary this month. The UK's top-selling small car for the past 12 years, it is also internationally popular, with more than nine million sold to date in 50 countries around the world.
Fiesta Facts
- Fiesta is currently the number one-selling car in Britain, accounting for no less than 7.3 per cent of the entire car market so far this year.
- Since it went on sale in the UK in 1977, British customers have bought well over 2.1 million Fiestas.
- In 1995 Ford sold 129,574 Fiestas in Britain - that's 14,534 more than the total number of Japanese badged cars and 40,708 more than German cars sold in the UK over the same period.
- The Fiesta was one of only two of 70 vehicles to pass an independent security test carried out by What Car? Magazine. After the Fiesta resisted a sustained attempt to break into it for over two minutes - and its immobiliser systems then foiled all efforts to start the vehicle in under five minutes - What Car? Concluded that the Fiesta is "a thief's nightmare."
- Developments in engine technology mean that 20 of the latest Fiestas emit no more pollutants than a single example of the original 1976 model.
- The Ford Fiesta is the first car many people drive - over a million driving lessons have been given in Fiestas.
- Production of the Fiesta at Dagenham started in 1977 which last year celebrated its two millionth Fiesta. The Essex facility is Ford's leading manufacturing plant for the new Fiesta.
- This year, with the help of Dagenham engineers, Ford's Sao Bernardo plant in Brazil began Fiesta production - and from 1998 Fiesta will also be manufactured in India.
Top of the class
Fiesta sits firmly at the top of the 'B' class small family car segment of the UK market which, in 1976, accounted for 13.8 per cent of British car sales. Today the size of the segment has more than doubled to 28.5 per cent.
The majority of buyers in this class are married and have children living at home. About one in three cars from the 'B' segment are purchased by families already owning one or two cars.
Another third are bought by single men and women under 45 - and overall almost half the purchases in the UK small car segment are made by women.
A success from the start
Before it was launched in 1976, the Economist Intelligence Unit predicted that the Fiesta would be one of the major developments of the decade. When 'Motor' magazine first tested a Fiesta it said: "Ford has invested more money in the Fiesta than in any other car in the company's history, and it shows."
Ford's aim had been to build a small car with the lowest costs of ownership in its class. Launched against such rivals as the Mini, the Renault 5, VW Polo and Fiat 127, the Fiesta was an immediate success. Initially introduced on the continent, the car was particularly popular in Italy - one dealer sold seven Fiestas to seven brothers.
The original Fiesta range contained four models - the Base, L, sporty S and luxurious Ghia. Over the next eight years Ford continually revised the range, introducing the GL and replacing the base model with the Popular and Popular Plus in 1980. It responded to the demands for an even sportier version by first introducing the 1300 Supersport with a 75 bhp Kent engine, in January 1981, and then at the end of the year by the high-performance XR2.
Changing faces
1983 saw the first Fiesta bodystyle revisions, with low-drag front panel, new tailgate and rear lamp cluster, moulded plastic bumpers, and a choice of 950cc and llOOcc economy engines or optional 1300cc or 1600cc advanced VCH engines, combined with a new five-speed gearbox.
Six months later the super-economy Fiesta 1600 Diesel was added to the range, offering up to 74.3 mpg at a constant 56 mpg, and a new version of the XR2, using the 1.6-litre CVH engine, also became available. Fiesta took the number one spot in the UK sales charts, with 10.1 per cent of the total British market.
In 1986 a lean-burn, 1.4-litre engine replaced the 1300cc unit, offering improved economy, greater performance and lower emissions levels.
In May, 1987, Ford's revolutionary, continuously-variable automatic transmission (CTX) entered low volume production and was offered on Fiesta 1.1 models.
Going from strength to strength
Ford announced a new 13 - model Fiesta range in 1989. It offered three and five-door bodystyles, SCS anti-lock braking option and a revised engine range. The new lean-burn HCS (High Compression Swirl) engines had been developed at a cost of over £55 million and offered significant increases in power, torque and fuel economy.
In the same year, CTX transmission entered high volume production at the Ford Bordeaux transmission plant and became available with the 1.4-litre Fiesta power unit. In 1992 the XR2i and RS 1800 were introduced, powered by a potent new 1.8-litre 16-valve engine, purpose-designed for catalyst operation.
Building on Success
When the latest generation of Fiestas were launched in 1995, Richard Parry-Jones, Vice President, Ford Small/Medium Vehicle Centre, said; "We set out to produce a car which is more efficient, more comfortable, safer, and which also provides an unrivalled driving experience for a group of customers whose expectations have gone beyond basic transportation."
These expectations have been more than fulfilled by the new Fiestas which, with a new 16-valve alloy engine, fresh styling with completely new panels and re-engineered suspension, steering and brakes, combine outstanding levels of quality, comfort and refinement with comprehensive improvements to vehicle dynamics.
Standards of occupant protection and vehicle security are the best available in the small car class, while the all-new interior offers levels of luxury undreamed of in a small car 20 year ago. For example, a Fiesta buyer of 1976 couldn't have specified leather upholstery and air conditioning for his or her new car - they were offered only in larger, more expensive car ranges. Today they're readily available for the Fiesta Ghia - which even offers the option of a cooled glovebox.
The Zetec-SE engine has set exceptional standards of refinement, operating efficiency and durability for small cars in Europe and provides many features normally associated with powertrains in more expensive models. The 75 PS 1.25-litre unit introduced in 1995 has been joined this year by the 90PS 1.4-litre engine. A reduced-emission version of the previous 60PS 1.3-litre HCS and 60PS 1.3-litre HCS petrol is also available, together with the 60PS naturally aspirated 1.8-litre diesel engines.
The new Fiesta range comes in four variants - the entry level Encore, higher-specification LX, sporty Si and elegant Ghia - each of which has been developed as an individual package to suit the needs and tastes of the diverse groups of Fiesta customers.
The Ghia is available as a five-door model, while the other three series are offered with either three-door or five-door bodies.
Including the Fiesta Classic, which retains the pre-1995 bodystyling, the Ford Fiesta range now offers 20 variants with four trim levels and five engine/transmission options - the widest-ever choice of affordable vehicles bearing the famous Fiesta name.
ISSUED BY THE PRESS OFFICE - FORD MOTOR COMPANY LIMITED
– ENDS –
|
|
|
