what is last model year in us for ford fiesta

In the early eighties, a new model range went on sale with a first-in-class diesel option, and antilock brakes followed towards the end of the decade. While the Escort found homes in North American driveways, the Fiesta continued on overseas. In fact, Ford says that a used Fiesta in those days could be sold for more than its original purchase price. It didn’t live here long before being replaced by the Escort in 1981- though it managed to sell boatloads and introduce the market to a new breed of fuel-efficient transportation just before a major fuel crisis. In 1978, the Fiesta bowed for the first time on North American soil. According to Ford, the new Fiesta was the first ‘complete’ vehicle to ever win the award. Ditto the completion of the first Fiesta transmission at the automaker’s new Transaxle Plant in New Bordeaux, France.Ī year later, the small front-drive car went on sale in Europe and won a prestigious award from the British Design Council. Though the go-ahead for Fiesta was given in the early seventies, it was 1975 before the first preproduction engine was built at Ford’s Valencia Engine Plant. With its roots in mid-seventies Europe, the Fiesta was conceived as a reaction to competition in a newly-emerging small-car segment that rapidly filled with small, front-drive models. The latter was a rebadged Kia product that was killed off around the turn of the century after 2 generations on sale here. Hype has been snowballing for months, and Ford’s gearing it up for sales soon. America’s ‘non-bankrupt’ automaker has been putting the finishing touches on their highly-anticipated small car, the Fiesta.

There’s a party about to re-start in the North American small-car market, and we’re all invited.

What is last model year in us for ford fiesta