When the Ford Motor Company launched the first Fiesta a quarter of a century ago, their investment was then the biggest outlay ever made by the company, to build the smallest car they had ever produced. It was over $1 billion.
Now, as Ford gets ready to launch the next generation of Fiesta, a car expected to be as right for its time and its future as was the original, some 10 million have been built, Fiesta has been among the top ten European sellers for 18 years, segment best seller in Europe three times, and in the top three best selling cars in Britain for 20 years.
It has also been Ireland’s favourite car for many years since it was first rolled out.
So what’s been the secret of the car that started out as the ‘Bobcat’ project? Well, Fiesta was the right car at the right time, targeting female drivers when a fifth of buyers in Europe were women. It didn’t break ground in the industry by being front drive and transverse - Mini had started that, and the Fiesta came into a market where Renault and VW already had a strong foothold with their 5 and Polo respectively.
It was competitively priced, a positive which balanced out low enough horsepower on the 1-litre entry model. And if you popped for the ‘Ghia’ spec with its 1.1-litre, you got a level of luxury never before seen in the segment.
It was the lightest car in the class, with the largest load room. It looked good, and from inside you had a good look all round because outside visibility was great. And for its time, it had a relative crash behaviour to cars in very much larger segments. That wasn’t a selling point, though ... only Volvo sold safety, and then to the sniggers of the industry.
And it even had an advanced radiator grille design which shifted airflow in different ways at different speeds. We didn’t pay much attention to that at the time, but it was pointing the way to the future for everyone. And Ford had it patented.
The removable glass sunroof option (it didn’t slide) was actually a cheap way of letting ultra-violet in, and shouldn’t be claimed as a plus, but it survived in Fiesta for much longer than we deserved.
Still, Fiesta picked up awards and sold great. And got the UK Design Council’s award in 1978 for ‘exemplary contribution to the reduction of running and maintenance costs’. It was presented by Prince Philip, who would know about these things.
It took less than three years for the one-millionth Fiesta to be built. And for a 155PS version of the car to take 10th place in the Monte Carlo Rally in January 1979. Which was translated into a 75PS version in the showrooms for the wannabees road rallyists. Super S later begat XR2, with 84PS.
Just over 58 months after launch, the two millionth Fiesta rolled off the assembly line. This was a European production record. By the time it had been freshened up, inside and out, in 1982, it had been the best-selling car in its class in Britain and Germany every year since its launch.
The second generation Fiesta was launched in autumn of 1983. Rounder in shape, better aerodynamics, improved fuel consumption thanks in part to the addition of a fifth gear, all contributed to boosting a model that in any terms had made a unique mark in the European car market.
This was the generation which also added a diesel 1.6-litre engine option, the first in its class to provide an oil-burner. It allowed Fiesta to become one of the most economical vehicles in the world. In February 1984, the car hit the three million mark. The provision of a constantly variable transmission system, dubbed CTX, was another innovation during the life of this version.
Five years later, a slightly larger but considerably smoother range of Fiestas was launched at the Geneva Motor Show in February 1989 after three million kilometers of testing. An anti-lock braking system was offered as an option, as were two new ‘lean-burn’ engines. By the end of the year, 5.25 million Fiestas had been sold since its first launch.
Sporty options were still being provided, such as the RS Turbo in 1990 that became the 130PS RS1800i in 1992.
Safety was now also a selling point, and the Fiesta was fitted with driver’s airbag as standard from 1994 model year. The passenger bag was an option, but standard also was side impact protection, pre-tensioning seatbelts, and anti-dive front seats. Because of its longevity as a model, the Fiesta is itself an industry timeline in safety in small cars.
The introduction of the 1995 Fiesta family gave us new Zetec engines, including the Yamaha-designed 1.25-litre, a more rounded style, state-of-art ABS and EBD, and traction control in certain versions. A year later, dual airbags became standard.
The current face of Fiesta was unveiled at Frankfurt in 1999, and side airbags and better ABS came online. Aircon became standard in some markets. As we drive towards the next generation, the lead model is the 1.6-litre Fiesta Sport 103PS.
In the meantime, the platform has spawned the superb Puma coupe and the Ka mini car, not to mention the various sport versions produced both by the manufacturer and private developers.
Where are we heading from next month? Well, we’ll see very soon in Frankfurt. IrishCar.Com will be there for the pre-launch launch and also for the full show. But whatever we see, the original market which Fiesta was born into has changed mightily, and it will indeed be interesting to see what the blue oval intends to do with one of its longest-running and best-loved brands.
August 2001
by Brian Byrne