Fiesta set for April launch

FORD has confirmed April as the on-sale date for its new light car contender the Fiesta.

Ford Australia president Geoff Polites showed off the car and revealed the timing at a major dealer meeting in Melbourne last Wednesday night.

The date means the new generation European-built lightweight hatchback will have about two months to embed itself into the market before the all-new Territory cross-over wagon goes on-sale in June.

Ford has purposely separated the two cars because of its experience with Focus and BA Falcon. Those two appeared in dealerships last September and Ford is convinced the hype surrounding the BA stifled early publicity for the small car, as well as distracting dealer support.

The Focus is only now hitting the 1300 sales per month numbers that it forecast for the three, four and five-door range.

Ford is determined not to make the same mistake twice.

"Fiesta is April," confirmed Mr Polites. "That will give it a couple of months before we launch Territory." But he also said Ford was not expecting huge sales from its latest European addition, because it will not compete at the bargain basement end of the category.

Instead it will take on the likes of the Holden Barina, Mazda2 and Honda Jazz further up the price scale.

"I don't think it is huge volumes, maybe 400 a month," Mr Polites said.

"There is a lot of competition in that market and we are not going to be a bottom feeder, and while it is going to be the best product in the market, that market is somewhat price sensitive.

"We are going to be toward the upper end of the spectrum, not toward the other end of the spectrum I would expect." Ford was once a volume player in the light car segment with the South Korean-built Festiva, but after that disappeared off the market in 2000 it was replaced by the distinctive but slow selling three-door only, manual-only Ka out of Europe.

But the Ka is now in the final throes of its run-out here, leaving Ford without a light car contender until next April.

Ford has only confirmed that the Fiesta will come in three and five-door varieties, but has yet to reveal engine and transmission line-ups, or equipment levels.

Indeed, the car shown to the dealers in Melbourne had its doors locked so they could not inspect the interior too closely.

"You'll have to wait and see, but it will be a very comprehensive model line-up, reflecting everyone's aspirations for a B-car," said Mr Polites.

A model that will not come initially but is on Ford's radar is the ST150 hot hatch, the little brother to the Focus ST170 already sold here.

* One small car that won't be coming for Ford is the high-performance Focus RS, which has been ruled out because of it would be too expensive, probably ending up between $50,000 and $60,000.

"We don't have any plans to bring that in here," said Ford Australia director of product and business planning Don Pearce.

"We have taken a look at it, but from a business proposition it would have ended up being priced too high for the Australian market." Mr Pearce said ADR regulations, crash testing, exchange rates and limited availability spelt the end of the 160kW three-door rocket.

* Ford has named its forthcoming hi-ride Falcon utility the RTV, or Rugged Terrain Vehicle. Its codename during development was Brolga. You be the judge.