Ford Fiesta Facelifted expected to Launch in June

Ford Fiesta Facelift Preview

The Ford Fiesta is the American automaker’s C-Segment fighter for quite some time now. What we now call the Ford Classic was the original Fiesta that came to India in 2004 and was a major success for the American automaker during its entire run. It introduced the completely new car in 2009 for the Indian market with much anticipation. However, despite having a well-built package, the car did not do well due to an error in the pricing policy. Ford is expected to introduce a facelifted version which it displayed at the 2014 Auto Expo.

Exterior

The 2014 Ford Fiesta gets a similar fascia to that of the Ford EcoSport which in turn is in line with the American automaker’s family face and one Ford global programme. Its most striking feature is the Kinetic design Aston Martin-Esque grille which is now a standard feature across all its models. The revisions to the fascia now includes sharper headlights that flow to the back of the hood, changed housing for the fog lamps and obviously a new bumper.

The side profile of the 2014 Ford Fiesta remains the same as before but now includes two revised designs for the wheels and consequently the wheel covers. It still retains its characteristic flared wheels arches, forward leaning stance as well as aerodynamic creases running along the side.

The rear profile now gets some minor modifications in the form of a revised number plate holder, a rear bumper which has now been fitted with a chrome strip to give a premium appeal and finally a modified tail lamp cluster.

Interior

The facelifted Fiesta remains the same as the outgoing model in terms of the interiors so this means fabric seats, leather- wrapped steering wheel reverse parking sensors, climate control (the last three being applicable for Trend and Titanium), airbags and ABS with EBD. However, what’s new on this model are the rain sensing wipers, push button start, ambient lighting and Ford’s patented SYNC technology which made its Indian debut with the EcoSport compact crossover.

Engines and gearbox and variants

The Ford Fiesta in its current avatar is offered with two engines and three gearbox options. The petrol is a 1.5-litre unit that produces 108bhp and 140Nm of torque while the diesel is also a 1.5-litre unit that produces 89bhp and 204Nm of torque. The petrol is offered with a five-speed manual gearbox or a six-speed dual clutch automatic while the oil burner is offered with a five-speed manual. However, the latest brochure from the American automaker reveals that it will only offer the 1.5-litre diesel engine for the Fiesta. It is likely that such a step has been taken due to poor demand for the petrol models. If Ford launches only the diesel engined variants then we expect that they will introduce a base Ambiente diesel variant along with Style and Titanium+ variants.

Price and competition

We are expecting that Ford will price the facelifted Fiesta in the range of Rs 7.5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh but may price it even lower if it is only going to produce diesel models for the domestic market. It competes with the Honda City, Renault Scala, Nissan Sunny, VW Vento and the Skoda Rapid in the C-Segment sedan category. In terms of price it also competes with the Renault Duster and Nissan Terrano.