Ford Fiesta
The Ford Fiesta is a supermini car that was marketed by Ford from 1976 to 2023 over seven generations. Over the years, the Fiesta has mainly been developed and manufactured by Ford's European operations, and had been positioned below the Escort.
Ford sold over 15 million Fiestas from 1976 to July 2011, making it one of the best-selling Ford nameplates behind the Escort and the F-Series. It has been manufactured in the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela, Mexico, Taiwan, China, India, Thailand, and South Africa.
The Fiesta was discontinued in 2023, after over 22 million units had been made. The final Ford Fiesta rolled off the production line on 7 July 2023. On 10th December 2025, Ford announced a return of the Fiesta in 2028 as an EV in partnership with Renault.
Development
The Fiesta was originally designed by the project "Bobcat" team headed by Trevor Erskine and approved for development by Henry Ford II in September 1972, shortly after the launch of two comparable cars – the Fiat 127 and Renault 5. More than a decade earlier, Ford had decided against producing a new small car to rival BMC's Mini, as the production cost was deemed too high, but the 1973 oil crisis caused a rise in the already growing demand for smaller cars, and the runaway success of the Fiat 127 and Renault 5 was what ultimately convinced Ford to enter the B-segment. In Europe, Ford's arch rival General Motors attempted to address the market need by developing a small hatchback version of its "T-car", which emerged as the 1975 Opel Kadett City and Vauxhall Chevette, but being rear wheel drive, these were not true "superminis" in that they could not deliver the required space efficiency that a transverse engined, front wheel drive package could achieve, this therefore would be template followed by the Fiesta.The Fiesta was an all new car in the supermini segment, and was the smallest car yet made by Ford. Development targets indicated a production cost US$100 less than the current Escort. The car was to have a wheelbase longer than that of the Fiat 127, but with overall length shorter than that of Ford's Escort. The final proposal was developed by Tom Tjaarda at Ghia, overseen by Ford of Europe's then chief stylist Uwe Bahnsen. The project was approved for production in late 1973, with Ford's engineering centres in Cologne and Dunton collaborating.
Ford estimated that 500,000 Fiestas a year would be produced, and built a new factory near Valencia, Spain; factory extensions for the assembly plants in Dagenham, UK. Final assembly also took place in Valencia. As the Fiesta would be Ford's first transverse engined car, a new transaxle was required and a factory near Bordeaux, France was built for this purpose. Since it was known by 1975 that this transmission unit would also be used in the larger Escort when it switched to front wheel drive for its third generation in 1980, enough upward capacity was built into the Bordeaux plant to meet this need.
After years of speculation by the motoring press about Ford's new car, it was subject to a succession of carefully crafted press leaks from the end of 1975. A Fiesta was on display at the Le Mans 24 Hour Race in June 1976, and the car went on sale in France and Germany in September 1976; to the frustration of UK dealerships, right-hand drive versions only began to appear in January 1977. Its initial competitors in Europe, apart from the Fiat 127 and Renault 5, included the Volkswagen Polo and Vauxhall Chevette. Chrysler UK were also about to launch the Sunbeam by this stage, and British Leyland was working on a new supermini, which was launched as the Austin Metro in 1980.
The name "Fiesta" belonged to General Motors when the car was designed, used as a trim level on Oldsmobile station wagons, and was freely given for Ford to use on their new B-class car. Ford's marketing team had preferred the name "Bravo", but Henry Ford II chose "Fiesta". Ford did end up using the "Bravo" name on a limited edition of the Fiesta Mark I in the early 1980s.
First generation (1976)
The Fiesta was initially available in Europe with the Valencia Straight-four engine with high- and low-compression options, and engines and in Base, Popular, Popular Plus, L, GL, Ghia, and S trim levels, as well as a van. The US Mark I Fiesta was built at Cologne Body & Assembly, but to slightly different specifications; US models were Base, Decor, Sport, and Ghia, with the Ghia having the highest level of trim. These trim levels changed very little in the Fiesta's three-year run in the US, from 1978 to 1980. All US models featured the more powerful engine, which was the older "Crossflow" version of the Kent rather than the Valencia, fitted with a catalytic converter and air pump to satisfy strict emission regulations, energy-absorbing bumpers, side-marker lamps, round sealed-beam headlamps, and improved crash dynamics and fuel system integrity, as well as optional air conditioning. In the US market, the North American Ford Escort replaced both the Fiesta and the compact Pinto in 1981.A sporting derivative was offered in Europe for the 1980 model year, using the Kent Crossflow engine, effectively to test the market for the similar XR2 introduced a year later, which featured a 1.6-litre version of the same engine. Black plastic trim was added to the exterior and interior. The small, square headlights were replaced with larger circular ones, with the front indicators being moved into the bumper to accommodate the change.
Minor revisions appeared across the range in late 1981, with larger bumpers to meet crash-worthiness regulations and other small improvements in a bid to maintain showroom appeal ahead of the forthcoming second generation.
Second generation (1983)
The Fiesta Mark II appeared in August 1983 with a revised front end and interior, and a bootlid mirroring the swage lines from the sides of the car. The 1.3 L OHV engine was dropped, being replaced in 1984 by a compound valve-angle hemispherical combustion chamber powerplant of similar capacity, itself superseded by the lean burn 1.4 L two years later. The 957 and 1,117 cc Kent/Valencia engines continued with only slight alterations and for the first time a Fiesta diesel was produced with a 1,600 cc engine adapted from the Escort.The new CTX continuously variable transmission, also fitted in the Fiat Uno, eventually appeared early in 1987 on 1.1 L models only.
The Mk2 Fiesta core range was made up of these model variants; Popular, Popular Plus, L, Ghia, 1.4S, and finally, the XR2.
The second-generation Fiesta featured a different dashboard on the lower-series trim levels compared to the more expensive variants.
The XR2 model was thoroughly updated with a larger body kit. It also featured a 1.6 L CVH engine as previously seen in the Ford Escort XR3, and five-speed gearbox, rather than the four-speed gearbox, which had been used on the previous XR2 and on the rest of the Fiesta range. The engine was replaced by a lean-burn variant in 1986, which featured a revised cylinder head and carburettor; it was significantly cleaner from an environmental viewpoint, but was slightly less powerful as a result.
A truly "hot" Fiesta was never produced by the factory to avoid impacting sales of performance Ford Escort variants, but many aftermarket conversions were available, such as that by the English firm Turbo Technics boosting power to. Ford appreciated the high quality of this conversion, and was keen to look after its customers; the installation was undertaken by approved fitting centres and all the warranties remained valid after.
The facelifted Fiesta, facing competition from the Austin Metro, Fiat Uno, Nissan Micra, Peugeot 205, Toyota Starlet, Vauxhall Nova, and Volkswagen Polo, was one of the UK's top superminis. In its best-ever year, 1987, over 150,000 Fiesta models were sold in the UK, though it finished second in the sales charts to the Ford Escort. It was available in Japan, sold at Ford/Mazda dealerships called Autorama; it complied with Japanese government dimension regulations, and the engine displacement was in the more favourable Japanese road tax bracket, which helped sales.
Third generation (BE13; 1989)
The third-generation Fiesta Mark III, codenamed BE-13, was unveiled at the end of 1988 and officially went on sale in February 1989. The car was based on a new platform, ditching the old car's rear beam axle for a semi-independent torsion beam arrangement, and looked radically different, addressing the principal weakness of the previous generation – the lack of a five-door version, which was by then available in its major rivals such as the Fiat Uno, Peugeot 205 and 106, and Opel Corsa/Vauxhall Nova. The other main change was to the running gear – the improved high-compression swirl version of the Kent/Valencia powerplant. The CVH units from the second generation were carried over largely unmodified. The diesel engine was enlarged to a 1.8 L capacity.The first sports model was the 1.6S CVH 90BHP which had a twin choke Weber carburettor with no CAT and was still on sale until August 1991. It was replaced by the fuel injection XR2i.
The sports-model XR2i was launched in August 1989 with an eight-valve CVH engine with. This was the first Fiesta to have a fuel-injected engine. This was then replaced by a Zetec 16-valve version in 1992, which also had the RS Turbo being supplanted by the RS1800, as the CVH engine was being phased out. The RS1800 shared its 1.8-litre Zetec fuel-injected engine with the version of the then-current Ford Escort XR3i, and had a top speed of. The XR2i name was also dropped in early 1994, and the insurance-friendly "Si" badge appeared in its place on a slightly less sporty-looking model with either the 1.4 L PTE or the 1.6 L Zetec engine.
With the introduction of the successor Mark IV, the Mark III was built and sold at the same time. To distinguish the car, trim levels were revised, and it was marketed as the "Fiesta Classic". This version continued until production finally ceased in 1997.