SCOOP: New Hot Ford Fiesta ST Caught Testing in Five-Door Trim

The last time we had news about the upcoming Fiesta ST was back in September 2010 when our spies snagged a three-door prototype in Germany. Now, we have some fresh pictures of the five-door version of the hottest Fiesta undergoing tests at the Nurburgring racetrack without much camouflage. Read more »

Ford Calls Rally Fans to Vote on Their Favorite Roof Livery for the Fiesta WRC

The Blue Oval’s rally team is reaching out to its fans through Facebook and asking them to choose a unique roof artwork the Fiesta RS WRCs driven by Jari-Matti Latvala, Mikko Hirvonen and Khalid Al Qassimi at next month’s Rally Finland, which runs from July 28-30, 2011.

“Up until now the Ford Abu Dhabi Team Fiesta RS WRCs have simply featured the Ford logo,” said Will May, Motorsport Marketing Manager for Ford of Europe. “So we’re inviting our Facebook followers to vote for one of several designs we’ve developed under one theme – which is ‘the food that fuels you’."

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Ford’s Smallest Production Engine Ever: The New 1.0-liter EcoBoost Three-Cylinder Gasoline Unit

It took the Ford Motor Company a very long time to jump aboard the turbocharged engine bandwagon for mainstream, non-sport models, but now the Detroit automaker is going full speed ahead with the presentation of a full range of force-fed gasoline powerplants. Ford latest offering is a new 1.0-liter EcoBoost engine, the company’s first three-cylinder unit and its smallest production engine ever.

Designed by the engineering team at Ford’s Dunton Technical Centre in the U.K., the 1.0-liter EcoBoost engine promises to deliver performance of a larger four-cylinder unit with even higher fuel economy. It employs all EcoBoost technologies, such as turbocharging, direct injection and twin independent variable camshaft timing (Ti-VCT).

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Ford’s Cologne Plant Celebrates Production of One Million New Fiestas in 33 Months

The festivities over the new Fiesta continue at Ford with the production of the one-millionth current generation model at the company’s central European plant in Cologne, Germany. The production milestone comes less than two months after Ford announced that European sales of the new Fiesta reached the 1 million mark in the beginning of March, 2011. Current global sales of the new Fiesta stand at 1,350,000 unit since its introduction in October 2008. Read more »

After Tsunami, American Automakers Looking for Home Turf Sales Boost

According to CNN’s Fortune and simple, cold-hearted business logic, now is the prime time for American manufacturers to take advantage of recent catastrophic events and pounce on their home market's consumers. A lack of Japanese parts (or entire vehicles), in conjunction with a strong yen and ever-improving American small cars, has given Ford, GM, and Chrysler a potential sales pick-me-up as we stroll into the summer months.

Two of the three factors which will help American manufacturers' sales stem directly from the tsunami in Japan a month ago: factory shutdowns have limited parts/vehicle availability, while the yen gained value as the Japanese are expected to repurchase some currency for disaster mitigation.

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Ford Planning Fiesta Minivan Concept for Geneva Show, Production Model with Sliding Doors to Follow in 2012

Ford is getting ready to premiere a concept version of a Fiesta-based small minivan at the upcoming Geneva Salon next March. The design study will act as a pilot for the production vehicle that will follow in early 2012 and will replace the current generation of the European market Fusion, which is based on the previous Fiesta.

The news comes from a Ford source in Europe who told Automotive News that production of the Fiesta MPV will begin by the end of next year at Ford's factory in Craiova, Romania. A Ford of Europe spokesman essentially confirmed the news by telling the publication that “It is a B-segment vehicle and will go into full production early in 2012.”

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