New Fiesta is Aussie 'invention'

A new small car developed primarily by Ford Australia's engineering team and set to launch in India today.

The product of a team of Ford Australia, Ford India, and European designers and engineers, the car wears the Fiesta nameplate and will be sold on the sub-continent. According to Ford Australia it is set to revolutionise the Indian market and position Ford to compete more aggressively when it launches in November this year.

"The new Ford Fiesta was developed using the disciplines of Ford's global shared technologies," said Ford Australia Vice President of Product Development Trevor Worthington.

"Designers and engineers in Australia worked in very close concert with their colleagues in India and Europe. Importantly, this truly global car was thoroughly researched and developed with the needs and wants of Indian consumers at front of mind."

Ford says the new Ford Fiesta features distinctive exterior styling, contemporary interiors and a host of class leading technologies, including a choice of either a Duratec petrol or Duratorq TDCi diesel engine. Development of the car commenced in February 2002. Though based on the European Fiesta platform, the car has been comprehensively revamped for India's unique safety and legislative requirements. Engines too have been re-engineered for the market's fuel and performance requirements.

"The reveal of the new Fiesta is an exciting time for the product development team at Ford Australia," said Worthington.

"The team targeted class-leading attributes of package, dynamics and styling, based on an existing architecture, and fine-tuned with the expertise we developed on Falcon and Territory. Once further details of the new Fiesta are revealed closer to its launch in November, the team's achievement of these attributes will be confirmed."

Equally importantly for Ford Australia, the additional design and engineering work required for the Fiesta and other projects allows a better spread of resources for the company.

"Great design and engineering staff are hard to find," said Worthington. "When you do find them, they can be hard to retain because the cyclical nature of this industry... Projects such as the new Fiesta mean that the talent we have developed through work on Falcon and Territory can be further developed and deployed across other projects.