Ford is bringing the Fiesta back to the US of A (AP via Yahoo!). Lke the Fusion, this American car will be Hecho en Mexico. Looks like UAW President Big Ron Gettlefinger didn't get far with his argument that Ford's U.S. plants are "competitive enough that the automaker could make money building its smallest cars in the U.S." Somehow I don't think the recent "independent" strike actions at multiple UAW factories bolstered his argument much. The last time Ford sold Fiestas in the homeland they were made in Germany, imported from 1978 through 1980. Almost nobody bought them, in part because Ford dealers didn't have a clue about selling the silly little things. Although a flop at home, worldwide the Fiesta has been a perennial best selling sub-compact. This latest version will go on sale in Europe, China and other markets before making it's way back home. Assuming gas prices stay high, the new Fiesta should find a strong welcome at your local Blue Oval dealer. The question is, what is taking so long? Why is China in on the initial roll out while the world's largest car market (yes that's still us) has to wait another two years?
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Probably more like one year. The Fiesta is a 2010 model, which would maybe appear in the late summer of 2009.
If the MPG is right on this car it will be the first Ford I’ve considered buying in a long time.
Of course they’re going to Hecho it en Mexico, it’s called the Fiesta!
Don’t know where you took geography but Mexico is in North America (and always has been)
Foolish – You got that right:)
Juniper:
Verdad. Text amended.
I’m all in favor of building cars in the US, but Mexico has a population of 103 million or so, about a third of the USA. If people don’t have jobs in Mexico, where are they going to go?
Ford should build the Fiesta in Mexico, but bring the Fusion clan back to the US.
As fuel prices rise, will people still buy Big 2.8 cars just because their Big 2.8 cars? I have family members that have done so out of brand loyalty to the point where they were crazy, but those were the days of cheap gas. Now combine expensive fuel with cheap cars, and the smart thing to do seems to go buy a Honda or Toyota.
And as exciting as Fiesta sounds and even that it’s not UAW built, it will probably still be a cheap car that can’t compete against a Civic. Good luck Ford!
The Fiesta won’t compete against the Civic. It is a B-class car. (Most Civics I see on the dealer’s lot have a sticker price between $19-22,000.)
This is the European Fiesta, which is an excellent car. If Ford can keep that goodness intact when it begins producing the car in Mexico, it will be a BIG winner for Ford. Producing it in Mexico lowers cost, which means that Ford can sell a better car at a competitive price. The Fusion/Milan/MKZ trio show that Ford can produce a quality product in Mexico.
No doubt Ford dealers are eagerly waiting for this car.
As for the original Fiesta – it was an excellent car, but it wasn’t available with an automatic transmission. That, and with the debut of the Escort for 1981, are what killed it in the U.S.
Why the wait? Because Ford was originally going to send us a POS B-car from Brazil – a totally different car. When even Ford realized it would be a flop, Ford NA decided they wanted this Fiesta, but since Ford of Europe was already into the engineering, they had to back track to make the car meet US crash tests etc. Hence the delay.
Thanks for the explanation dwford. Hopefully Mr. Boeing will keep Ford out of such blunders in the future. My money is still on Ford to be the last man standing, but I’m nervous about the wager!
Making parts in the US, shipping them to Mexico for assembly and shipping the finished cars back to the US for sale makes economic sense only as long as shipping costs are low. At some point, due to high fuel prices, the cost of shipping will outweigh the savings of Mexican assembly. I would then expect to see production moved back to the US.
“Making parts in the US, shipping them to Mexico”
Parts production has been moving to Mexico as well. American Axle, for example, is closing several US factories and expanding in Mexico. Monterey, Mexico based Nemak is now one of the world’s largest suppliers of aluminum heads and engine blocks. Dana, Delphi, Champion Labs and many other major automotive component makers also have large Mexican factories. Don’t expect fuel costs to push auto factories back north of the border.
One detail has been missed. The plant in Mexico is already building a version of the Fiesta for the Brazilian and Mexican markets. It is a logical no brainer decision. Do the engineering and changes for the US market and build it. Everyone wants everything immediately, but it does take time, especially to do it right.
The UAW has made it very unprofitable for American automakers to assemble compact cars at home. One point this website beats on them constantly about is the amount of money they spend and bleed.
Like it or not having the car assembled in Mexico is one way of solving that problem. At least Mexico is part of North America and isn’t China (where a whole ton of our goods comes from American companies and otherwise) not to mention the millions of Mexicans in the US doing work for us and building other things for us like houses and communities.
For some reason Ford is building some unique models for Brazil. They just launched a Ford Ka there that has nothing to do with the original or the next gen one coming to Europe soon. They have that tiny Fusion suv thing that they almost brought here also.
There was an article in the Detroit News back in January where they were walking around the governor of Detroit to see the Ford Fiesta, and she was thrilled about it, but sad it wouldn’t be built in Michigan. Gettelfinger’s reply was something like “we tried to make it work, but we couldn’t unless we worked for free” The UAW has known about this for a long time, before contract negotiations even finished. However, Wayne is scheduled to get new product in 2010 – the C1-2 Focus. The C1-2 Escape will be built in Kansas City. So, there will still be small cars built here.
There is talk of setting up overflow capacity in the U.S. Hermosillo, Wayne, Kansas City and Oakville are bursting at the seems. If tooling can be placed in underutilized facilities like Louisville or AAI, there will be opportunities for the UAW to get more work. However, Ford has to be sure that their gains in those vehicles are permanent and not passing.
Of note, Ford has retooled several engine, stamping and transmission plants in the U.S. recently, and that trend is continuing. It’s not all about assembly. Ford has more than a dozen factories in the U.S. where there is no final assembly at all that are run by UAW labor.
I always see workers sleeping on the side of the freeway (Highway 15 through Hermosillo) in bunches of brand new Ford Fusions with the plastic still on the cars. It should be called the Ford Siesta.
Also gas is way cheaper (2.60 gallon regular and about 2.30 gallon deisel)here in Mexico than in the U.S. Maybe the shipping trucks should just fuel up before crossing the border.
It’s official.
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080530/ford_fiesta.html?.v=3
“Ford Motor Co. plans to build its new Fiesta subcompact at a factory near Mexico City for sale in the U.S., the company said Friday. Ford plans to retool its Cuautitlan Assembly Plant from large-truck to small-car production as it moves to shift its factories from trucks toward more fuel-efficient vehicles, the company said.”
It is a red letter day in modern Ford history when one of the F150 factories is retooled to make Fiestas.
There’s just been a press release from Ford confirming the Euro Fiesta will be sold as-is in the US and assembled in Mexico. I’m looking forward to seeing more worldly Ford products in the US thinks to Mulally’s One World, One Ford vision.
Even if the Fiesta arrives here in late 2009 as a 2010 model, it’s not soon enough. I wish some reporter would interrogate Mullaly why Ford didn’t put Fiesta on the US market two years ago. My guess is it wasn’t because the headlights would have to be changed, but that they were protecting domestic operations from competition that would take projects from US R&D facilities and leave more UAW workers with nothing to do.
BTW, it sure would be nice if auto stylists would concede that box-shaped cars are more accommodating to occupants and cargo than are egg-shaped vehicles.
I think the original Fiesta was manufactured in Spain.
DWFORD:
The new Ka in Brazil is “unique” ’cause it’s cheap. It’s based on the platform of the Fiesta circa 1990, at least in the front part, but the back part is more like the Ka which is from about 95. They use the suspension from that old Fiesta, the transmission from the SUV thingy you mentioned (called an EcoSport and in reality just a simple Fiesta hatch with a more robust design on stilts).
It’s a FranKAstein of cheap bin parts. It’s also selling relatively well. Though I bet someone at Ford lost his job. This is because its increased sales have come mostly out of its bigger (and more expensive and profitable) brother’s share (LOL and shaking head). The old Ka sold about 3000 units a month and the Fiesta 9000. Now the Ka is up to 7000 units a month (and maybe they are increasing production to keep up with demand) but big brother Fiesta is down to the old Ka’s 3000 a month. Don’t see any conquest sales for them then!
FromBrazil:
….and they almost brought those 2 here to the US. Even Mark Fields figured out that was a bad idea.
Ford really needs to drop the name “Fiesta” for this car. It makes it sounds about as safe to drive as a Mexican birthday pinata.