It may be the longest ramp up to a model introduction in automotive history.
Ford introduces its new Fiesta to European markets in 2008, and tells us it will be Ford’s first “global car” — with “regionalized” versions to be sold in every market, well, across the globe.
As per the plan, in 2009 Asia became the next region to receive its Fiesta.
Our continent’s version is unveiled at the Los Angeles auto show today, with production cars slated to hit the ground next summer, as 2011 models.
Small Car, Big Opportunity
This type of delayed rollout is due to the fact that Ford’s new global strategy and its processes were not yet in place when the Fiesta was originally conceived in Europe. Getting it to conform to differing regional standards and tastes involved some backtracking that won’t be part of future global initiatives.
They also had to come up with a whole new Fiesta model — the four-door sedan — and to configure a plant in Mexico to build our North American models.
Finally, Ford said opportunities to appeal to the Millennium generation (currently 15 to 30 year-olds) in North America don’t come around that often; it wanted to get everything right, particularly the retail and ownership experience.
To that end, Ford felt it needed to dialogue with these potential customers before launching the car, and subsequently created social media efforts, like the Fiesta Movement, where 100 social media mavens were each given a Euro Fiesta for six months. They chronicled their experiences to other like-minded social media types, in their own creative social media ways. They spread the word on Fiesta and Ford got valuable feedback.
Styling
Lots of people are familiar with the Euro Fiesta hatch, and its signature bigger-than-life wide-mouth grille.
The new North American 5-door hatch retains much of that big grille look, but the 4-door goes to a smaller grille and three grille bars to give it more resemblance to other Ford sedans, like the new Taurus.
Unlike the Euro hatch, our models have no fog lights; just a (optional) LED pipe around the park lights.
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Ford introduces its new Fiesta to European markets in 2008, and tells us it will be Ford’s first “global car” — with “regionalized” versions to be sold in every market, well, across the globe.
As per the plan, in 2009 Asia became the next region to receive its Fiesta.
Our continent’s version is unveiled at the Los Angeles auto show today, with production cars slated to hit the ground next summer, as 2011 models.
Small Car, Big Opportunity
This type of delayed rollout is due to the fact that Ford’s new global strategy and its processes were not yet in place when the Fiesta was originally conceived in Europe. Getting it to conform to differing regional standards and tastes involved some backtracking that won’t be part of future global initiatives.
They also had to come up with a whole new Fiesta model — the four-door sedan — and to configure a plant in Mexico to build our North American models.
Finally, Ford said opportunities to appeal to the Millennium generation (currently 15 to 30 year-olds) in North America don’t come around that often; it wanted to get everything right, particularly the retail and ownership experience.
To that end, Ford felt it needed to dialogue with these potential customers before launching the car, and subsequently created social media efforts, like the Fiesta Movement, where 100 social media mavens were each given a Euro Fiesta for six months. They chronicled their experiences to other like-minded social media types, in their own creative social media ways. They spread the word on Fiesta and Ford got valuable feedback.
Styling
Lots of people are familiar with the Euro Fiesta hatch, and its signature bigger-than-life wide-mouth grille.
The new North American 5-door hatch retains much of that big grille look, but the 4-door goes to a smaller grille and three grille bars to give it more resemblance to other Ford sedans, like the new Taurus.
Unlike the Euro hatch, our models have no fog lights; just a (optional) LED pipe around the park lights.
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