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Archive for July 23rd, 2009

Ford Fiesta – All Car History Volume 7

Ford Fiesta

The Ford Fiesta is one of Britain’s alltime favourite cars. A supermini the Fiesta has been around for more than 30 years. One of the secrets of the Fiesta’s success is its superb reliability record.

Todays Fiesta looks good and is a really comfortable place to be whether youre in the front or the back. There is much more legroom headroom and boot space than youd expect from a small three or fivedoor hatchback. Hightech options include Bluetooth satellite navigation and voice control. A soft touch dashboard adds to the luxurious feel of the Fiestas interior.

FORD FIESTA HISTORY

Launched in the summer of 1976 the Ford Fiesta has been the bestselling supermini in Britain for almost all of its life as well as one of the top three bestsellers in all categories for the vast majority of those years. In fact the Fiesta is one of the most successful European small cars ever.

Over its history more than 11 million Fiestas have been built and sold around the world through seven distinct generations.

TYPES

There have been many variations of the Fiesta since its introduction in 1976 and a wide range of Ford Fiesta models are currently available. The Fiesta Studio is wellequipped while the Fiesta Style takes the specification higher. Moving up the range the Fiesta Zetec Climate is a sporty version whilst the Fiesta Ghia is the most luxurious option. And the Fiesta ST is directly inspired by the ultimate performance Fiesta the Super 1600 Rally Car.

DID YOU KNOW?

• The fuel crisis of 1973 caused Ford to look at producing a car which had a wheelbase longer than the Fiat 127 but with overall length shorter than the Ford Escort. The codename for the new car was Project Bobcat. The final name choice came down to either Bravo or Fiesta. Even though General Motors Oldsmobile division had already sold a model named the Fiesta Henry Ford II however decided to go with his gut instinct that Fiesta was the right name to go for.
• Less than three years after its first launch one million Fiestas had been built the car had won a Design Council award and a German Car of the Year award and a competition version had achieved 10th place in the Monte Carlo Rally The Fiesta was What Car’s Best Used Supermini for 2006.

About the writer:  Auto Trader World of Cars