Ford India has just notified us that the launch of the automatic transmission variant of the Fiesta is held on the 28th of this month in New Delhi.
Video of the Ford Fiesta Powershift's controls
Read our review of the Ford Fiesta Automatic Transmission
The Fiesta Powershift is the first dual clutch transmission in the affordable segments of the Indian car market. We drove it last year in Goa and were taken aback by how much driver engagement is on offer despite the absence of a clutch, paddle shifters, gear toggles or a gear lever. Ford cancelled all these as it believes in having purity in the purpose of an AT car - let the car do the driving.
Ford has fine-tuned the Powershift to make it compatible to Indian driving conditions. Officials told us that the fuel economy of the AT will be about the same as the Fiesta MT due to the additional gear (6-speed) and the dual clutch technology. Unfortunately the One Ford global policy does not permit Ford to develop a diesel automatic as it will find very few takers outside India where petrol engines are mainstay.
Ford has not talked about introducing the 1-liter Ecoboost petrol engine on the Fiesta yet. Perhaps they have reserved it for the next generation model or will introduce at a better time when the market is favorable for petrol cars.
Around 10% of Fiesta's main competitor, the Honda City, is sold as AT variants.
