Ford Fiesta's journey to North America

Special to the Star

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Sep 12, 2008

In late 2002, Derrick Kuzak, product development chief for Ford of Europe, and his second-in-command, Marin Burela, walked apprehensively into a meeting with Ford's top management in Gothenberg, Sweden.

They had a plan for a new way to develop the next-generation Fiesta, a so-called B-segment car, the size of vehicle that sells all over the world – except in North America.

Rather than develop a car for one market, as previous Fiestas had been for Europe, and adapt it for others, they'd start from scratch with an appreciation of what different markets wanted.

Kuzak and Burela had reason to be skeptical about getting approval for this project. It smacked of "world car,'' which had only moderate success with Escort in the '80s, bombed entirely with the first-generation Mondeo/Contour/Mystique in the mid-'90s, and started promisingly but faded fast with our current Focus.

To what now seems their considerable surprise, Kuzak and Burela got their way. The new Fiesta (and the Mazda2, already in production) has been developed using this approach, which is consistent with new CEO Alan Mulally's concept of "One Ford.''

Canada has long been a potentially receptive market for B-segment cars, but trying to "safety'' them wouldn't be worth it for the number we could sell. So unless the U.S. came on board, Fiesta had little chance for us.

Problem is the Fiesta had always only been offered in two- and four-door hatchback body styles for Europe. The Asian markets are, however, as obtuse as we are, so a four-door notchback Fiesta sedan was planned for them.

So that was going to be the only model we got, Ford saying for the record that there was "no market'' for a hatchback in North America in this segment.

Ummm, right. That's why Chevrolet, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Nissan, Suzuki and Toyota all offer hatchbacks in this segment in North America.

Ford tossed the Verve concept car – pretty much the European two-door hatchback Fiesta, minus the crossbar across the large-mouth bass grill opening needed in the production version for crash resistance – into last January's Detroit auto show to gauge response.

It was such a hit that a four-door hatch has been added to our Fiesta mix.

Many changes will be required to make Fiesta right for us when it arrives in mid- to late-2010. The Canadian-American 8 km/h front bumper standard necessitates a slightly longer front overhang and a different hood. Different American tastes will probably compromise some of Fiesta's cute and clever interior.

Every North American journo at this press event pleaded with Ford not to dumb down the suspension to cater to tubby Yankee tushes.

The plan is to "tailor" the cars to each individual market, but that's what they said about Contour and Mystique too, and look what happened to them.

Ford also has to hope that the current fuel price situation is not yet another temporary hiatus in the traditional American love affair with big thirsty vehicles. What irony that would be, as a pickup truck plant in Mexico is being converted to Fiesta production for North America.

Kuzak thinks the switch in the market is in fact structural and permanent.

"Ford is going from about a 50 per cent dependence on large vehicles now, to 39 per cent in 2013,'' he said. "Ford will still be a bit `larger' overall than the industry, because we will continue to sell F-Series in large numbers for a long, long time."

The final challenge for Kuzak's team will be to find a price point that will attract customers young and old, yet provide some profit.

Will Fiesta succeed?

I think it has a shot. It will depend on how our American friends take to it.

Toronto Star