Written on Tuesday, November 18th, 2008 at 9:45am by Alan Bedenko | 12 Comments

Congratulations, Ford

The upcoming Ford Fiesta sedan, unveiled yesterday in China, doesn’t suck!

fiesta1.JPG

fiesta2.JPG

Ford will be selling this car worldwide, (although Europe gets the hatch – not the sedan. Hopefully, we’ll get the hatch, too), including the United States. Our version will be built in Mexico.

“Launching the all-new Fiesta sedan to the world in China signals the importance of China and the Asian region in Ford’s global strategy, ” said John Parker, executive vice president, Asia Pacific and Africa, Ford Motor Company. “This is a sophisticated small car. Design combines with advanced technology to deliver very high levels of refinement, safety and class-leading fuel efficiency. This new Fiesta proves Ford’s leadership in small car design and development.”

The European Fiesta was sold in the US between 1978 – 1980 in the wake of that decade’s second fuel crisis. The current iteration was the subject of this Business Week article that asked why the US couldn’t have a 65 MPG Ford diesel, THXBAI. (I turned it into a LOLcar)

I’m just happy to see that Ford is committed to selling modern, economical passenger cars in the United States that don’t have those chrome slats on the front.

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12 Comments

  1. The Producer says:
    November 18, 2008 at 11:26 am

    I see 3 problems here:

    1. It’s a Ford

    2. It’s cockroach with wheels, aye carumba! Fiesta!

    3. If China is an important market for them they had better start building bicycles

    -P

  2. Carboy says:
    November 18, 2008 at 12:07 pm

    I see three problems here:

    1) you’re an idiot; Fords are near the top of auto reliability ratings. Its not 1997 anymore.

    2) you’re still an idiot, its a Ford Edge scaled down to bite size and looks like the Honda and Toyota equivalents except better.

    3) You’re an ignorant idiot, China is the second fastest growing auto market; 80% of Chinese don’t live in cities.

  3. STEEL says:
    November 18, 2008 at 1:18 pm

    You really like this? It has Fail written all over it.

  4. Mike Miller says:
    November 18, 2008 at 1:34 pm

    It looks very Japanese to me.

  5. buffalomom says:
    November 18, 2008 at 2:23 pm

    I think the US’s biggest upcoming export is labor. Straight out of Dearborn. The times they are a changin’.

  6. Buffalopundit says:
    November 18, 2008 at 2:33 pm

    The only domestic competitor to the high-MPG Toyota Yaris is the Chevy Aveo, which is Korean and not my favorite car. This thing looks modern, and I dare say better than most of the domestic design shite coming out of Ford domestically. One thing’s for sure – I will like the hatch much more than this. I can’t really stand small cars with trunks.

  7. Ward says:
    November 18, 2008 at 2:33 pm

    Clearly the design was pirated from here:
    http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Suppository_size_adults.jpg

  8. mike says:
    November 18, 2008 at 3:15 pm

    I dont think joe sixpack is going to like this car, gas is cheap again!! looks like a lead ballon!

  9. Adam K. says:
    November 19, 2008 at 12:41 am

    Ford to unveil 2 hybrid CARS today…

  10. Mike Miller says:
    November 19, 2008 at 6:55 am

    Alan, I really miss your car posts. You should do more of them! Like, what’s your opinion on the ridiculous “German Engineered” VW Routan (clone of Dodge Voyager)? Even the name is a dyslexic version of a minivan VW produced a couple years ago, VW Touran. I rented a 5-speed version of it while in Germany 4 years ago. It was a true VW, with nice interior, good gas mileage, the ability to keep up at 100 MPH on the Autobahn. Granted, it was smaller than our minivans, but I certainly wasn’t embarrassed to drive it, and that’s not like me and minivans at all!

  11. The Producer says:
    November 20, 2008 at 1:59 am

    Hey Carboy,

    1. Your dad works for ford

    2. You still live with your dad

    3. You have never had a girlfriend, but you do have a 1985 ford mustang

    good for you!

  12. Carl says:
    November 21, 2008 at 4:31 am

    The reason that this looks great is that it was not designed by fords design studios in the united states, but its studios in Europe. The line up for ford in Europe is completely different than the crap that we get here, and their cars are consistently voted the best looking, most reliable, and best built cars sold in Europe.

    If only they could do that here, they might not be in risk of going out of business.

    http://www.ford.co.uk
    http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5938956962500913616