Ford Introduces One Small Car for a World of Markets
By BILL VLASIC
Published: February 15, 2008
DETROIT — This time, the Ford Motor Company is keeping it simple — one car with one name for every market in the world.
Ford unveiled its new Fiesta small car on Thursday. It goes on sale in Europe this fall, with introductions in Asia, Australia, and North and South America to follow.
The Fiesta nameplate has been a Ford fixture in Europe for more than 30 years, but has not been used in the United States market since 1980.
Selling the same high-volume vehicle around the world has given a competitive advantage to the Japanese manufacturers Toyota and Honda.
After losing more than $15 billion over the last two years, Ford is planning to follow the Toyota model and cut costs by selling what is essentially the same car in different markets.
“It is absolutely imperative that Ford globalize product development in order to compete with the Toyotas and Hondas of the world,” said John A. Casesa, managing partner of the Casesa Shapiro Group consulting firm.
The Fiesta was shown as a concept vehicle under the name Verve at recent auto shows in Detroit, Frankfurt and Guangzhou, China. Ford’s chief executive, Alan R. Mulally, said in a recent interview that he expects the automaker to ultimately sell one million of the vehicles annually.
“This underscores how serious we are about leveraging our global assets by bringing out a strong nameplate that we have great equity in around the world,” Mark Fields, a Ford executive vice president, said Thursday.
The small-car segment is growing in the United States as consumers shy away from gas-hungry S.U.V.’s in favor of more fuel-efficient vehicles.
By building one car for world markets, Ford is also hoping to resuscitate its core brand with a global success story.
“We’ve had cars with the same name, like Escort and Focus, but the products themselves were very regional,” Mr. Fields said. “This is a real shift point for us in that it’s a real global car.”
“One of Toyota’s great virtues is consistency,” Mr. Casesa said. “It’s been very damaging for Detroit to keep changing nameplates and advertising every time it brings out something new.”
Designed and developed in Europe, the Fiesta will go into production at a Ford plant in Cologne, Germany, this fall, with additional capacity being brought online at a factory in Valencia, Spain, in 2009.
Ford expects to begin producing the car in North America and Asia by 2010. It will compete with cars like the Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla, which typically sell for about $15,000. At first, it will be sold as a two- or four-door hatchback.
