Indian Autos blog

The marketeers at Ford Brazil have scratched their heads, realized that sporty and Fiesta go hand in hand and presented a nicely kitted-up edition of the Ford Fiesta in Brazil.

Yes, the Figo is sold as the Fiesta in Brazil and it looks a little odd for Indian taste. The Fiesta Storm edition includes a rear spoiler, rear and side protectors, tinted windows, roof-mounted luggage carrier and body decals. This is an aesthetic makeover and there are no changes present under the bonnet. The Fiesta Storm can be bought with 1L or a 1.6L petrol engine.

Ford has launched the Fiesta Metal Special Edition with plenty of enhancements to talk about. The power of the 1.6-liter petrol engine has been upped from 120PS to 134PS and 0-100kph comes up in 8.7 seconds. Ford have lowered ride height, chromed the exhaust tips, appointed the interiors with black leather seats stitched with silver thread and thrown in stainless steel scuff plates.

Only 1,000 models of the Metal Special Edition are going to be produced making it a rare breed. I can guess your reaction when you observe the sticker on it that has 12.75 lakh rupees written on it!

Even if the title sums up the topic, aren’t you interested to know the best selling European car? Did you guess?

Yes it is the Volkswagen Golf that India isn’t getting anytime soon. The sedan variant based on the Golf, Jetta, is however available. When we visited Volkswagen’s Chakan plant last year, we spotted a Golf with European number plates inside the premises. Since then, our readers have seen silver color Golfs in and around Pune.

The Volkswagen Polo, with sales up by 1.2 per cent in October (compared to October 2010) is the second best selling European car followed by the Ford Fiesta came in third for 2011 selling 26,533 units.

In the current market ecosystem, petrol cars are a dying species. Price difference between petrol and diesel rose from 11 rupees to almost 30 rupees in less than two years. People feared the worst was yet to come and literally stopped buying petrol cars.

How did the industry react to this paradigm shift in the customer’s mind?

1) General Motors placed a diesel car in the B segment which stimulated sales and doubled volumes in what otherwise was seen as an endangered model. The Beat is the lone diesel model in its category.

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Ford India is unveiling a car on the 7th of November. The preparations for the media event are underway and there are strong signals that this isn’t going to serve as stage or launchpad for the second of the eight products Ford has promised by mid-decade.

Is it a variant of an existing model. Could it be the Fiesta AT? Or is it a new variant of the Ford Figo after assessing the stiffening competition?

Earlier it was believed that the AT model did not feature in Ford India’s 2011 business plan. Given the slow start of the Fiesta manuals, could Ford have changed its mind?

Ford India isn’t willing to share the details yet, but stay tuned for further updates.

14th July was when Ford launched the all new Fiesta in India and in since then Ford has received a little over 1,000 bookings for the car. This is neither segment first nor groundbreaking, keeping in mind the competitor cars sell many thousand units a month. The new Fluidic Verna, the VW Vento and the price cut Honda City are clocking much higher numbers. The Verna accumulated 20,000 bookings within weeks of launch and the City, after a price slash, fought back to claim the territory leadership.

However there are obvious reasons for the dull sales figures. The Fiesta is priced well over the competition and the top end variant cost over 12 lac rupees on road. Let’s not forget that the Ford offers some segment firsts like Voice Controls and Retractable ORVM’s but the common belief is the Fiesta brand can’t demand more than a City or the German Vento.

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The cycle of Fiesta hatch spyshot/spy video -> Internet rumor -> intense forum/comment box speculation -> Ford warding off questions has started again. AutoBILD/Carwale.com carries a report that Ford is planning to introduce the Fiesta hatchback in India next year.

If we visit our archives, we can show you an IndianAutosBlog.com exclusive video of the Fiesta hatch testing in Chennai. Ford wasn’t interested in answering questions related to their next seven products by mid-decade but they did tell us that B- C- and CD-Platforms were heading to India. The Fiesta hatchback is based on the B-Platform.

Ford is quite surprised by the response the Fiesta hatch has generated among netizens and enthusiasts in India. Ford is worried about the confused positioning the hatch’ introduction will create in India. They are satisfied with the Fiesta Classic sitting between the Figo and Fiesta and concluded that the Figo was the hatch they wanted to sell.

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Sources have told IndianAutosBlog.com that Ford India is working on two platforms – BV2 and BV3. These are spin-offs from the B-Platform which underpin the Fiesta siblings. One of these two derivatives will form the foundation for the Ford Fiesta SUV, a successor to the EcoSport sold in South America. The interesting part is Ford India will be interested in selling this product.

Codenamed B515, similarities between the hatch and the SUV are easy to spot, but expect a “coupeish SUV” outline on this trendy fellow. Ford could keep the length under four meters to lower the price point. Under the hood, the new Fiesta’s 1.5 turbocharged CRDI could feature along with the 1.0-liter 3cyl EcoBoost that Ford announced recently.

If the EcoSport can be positioned say between the Classic and the Fiesta, Ford will have another killer product in its lineup.