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Joshua Dowling19 Nov 2011
NEWS

LA MOTOR SHOW: Ford turns up temperature in hot hatch race

Look out VW Polo GTI, here comes Ford Fiesta ST

Ford has shown it is serious about making a big impact in the hot hatch market – unveiling a five-door version of its Fiesta ST at the Los Angeles Motor Show.

The three-door turbo terror was shown at Frankfurt – but proving that Ford is serious about its ‘One Ford’ strategy it saved the unveiling of the five-door version of the exact same car for a show debut on home soil.

Let’s hope Ford is serious enough about the ‘One Ford’ strategy to bring its pint-sized tearaway Down Under…

The five-door Fiesta ST gets the same 1.6 turbo engine as the three-door – and that means it gets 135kW and 240Nm of grunt.

Sadly, it is also a six-speed manual-only proposition for now whereas the Volkswagen Polo GTI – sold out for 12 months in Australia – has an automated twin-clutch only.

If Ford decides to bring the Fiesta ST to Australia (fingers crossed) it will need to sharpen its pencils. The Polo GTI starts at just $27,790 in three-door form and $28,990 in five-door form.

If we assume that the VW’s high-tech transmission is worth at least $2000, then Ford needs to get the Fiesta ST three-door here for a retail price equal to or less than $25,790. Good luck with that…

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Written byJoshua Dowling
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