Fiesta pencilled in for Sydney

The Australian International Motor Show in Sydney will be the venue for the local public debut of Ford's important new light car, the Fiesta.

Ford has already revealed the new car to a small contingent of Australian journalists during a two-day drive session in Italy, but the company is keeping its cards close to the chest until the Sydney event, when it will reveal pricing and specification details for the locally-delivered models.

We can tell you now that the new Fiesta, powered by a 1.6-litre petrol four-cylinder engine, will initially be available with a manual five-speed transmission only. An automatic transmission will follow three months subsequently and is expected to be driven by a 1.4-litre engine.

In other markets, the Fiesta will be sold with a diesel engine, but there are no plans to provide Aussie consumers with that option. The 1.6-litre petrol engine features variable valve timing and develops approximately 88kW of power at 6000rpm.

According to European press information provided by Ford, this engine is only available in the Fiesta Sport (Fiesta Zetec in Australia), but it's likely to be the default engine for all manual variants in this country.

Notwithstanding some region-specific differences, the three levels of trim for the new Fiesta (base CL, mid-range LX and high-grade Zetec) will equate to foreign market grades Ambiente, Trend and Sport. Other market versions include Ghia and Titanium, but Australian consumers will not see those models here.

CL and Zetec models will be sold in two different bodystyle variants, three- and five-door hatchbacks. For the LX grade, the five-door hatchback will be the sole bodystyle.

Despite being larger than the previous model Fiesta, the new car is actually 40kg lighter, thanks to increased use of high-strength steels in the car's construction (up to 55 per cent of the body structure). The new car is not only stronger for its weight generally, it's also more rigid, torsionally. That has given Ford the opportunity to find more of a balance in the Fiesta's suspension tuning, manifested as a compliant ride and a high standard of roadholding.

The suspension comprises MacPherson struts at the front and a torsion beam at the rear. Surprisingly, the rear brakes are drums, which is slightly at odds with the ventilated discs up front. Steering is a rack-and-pinion system, electrically-assisted, with the servo powering the column rather than the rack.

The Fiesta has been styled for optimum effect (more here), with Ford's Kinetic Design school of design taking centre stage outside and inside, the fascia has been styled to mimic mobile phone design.

Initially, the Fiesta for Australia will be sourced from Ford's Cologne plant in Germany, but from late 2009, production will subsequently switch to the Ford/Mazda joint venture plant, Auto-Alliance Thailand at Rayong, to the south-east of Thai capital, Phuket (more here).

At present, the current Fiesta, in LX three-door form is priced from $15,990. With the new car, the LX grade will effectively move up the ladder, underpinned by the entry-level CL. Given that the new car packs more features and improved engineering and design, allied to the fact that Ford will be wary of eroding resale values for the light car, we would expect the CL grade to kick off at roughly the same price point as the current base-grade model.

Among the features likely to find their way into the Aussie-spec Fiestas (in higher grades or as options, at the very least), are Bluetooth and iPod integration.

We'll have more information for you concerning the new Fiesta next month and watch out for our drive impressions in coming days.

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