The Ford Fiesta is a mid-class compact car designed by the Ford Motor Company in Europe, and also manufactured in Brazil, Mexico China, India and South Africa. It is now marketed worldwide, including Japanand Australasia. The car was only briefly sold in North America. It is one of Ford's most successful cars with over ten million sold in six distinct generations since 1976 and production continues as of 2004.

History

In the early 1970s, the demand from consumers for small cars were rising, Ford's competitors were launching cars like the Fiat 127 and the Renault 5. The effects of the 1973 energy crisis was also affecting demand. Ford needed a small car to compete in ths emerging market. After research and many mock-ups a prototype and project known as "Bobcat" was created, which would be the basis of Ford's new car, the "Fiesta". After years of speculation by the motor press about Ford's new car, it was unveiled in late 1975.

Mark 1: (1976-1983): Birth of the Fiesta

The Mark one Fiesta was launched in 1976. It was also a breakthrough for Ford as it was its first truly successful front wheel drive car. It was also the first new Ford car since the Ford Granada five years earlier. The first generation Fiesta was also a "world car", an "Americanised" version being sold in the United States from 1978 to 1980 where it was called a sub-compact car. (The Fiesta's small size prompted American management to invest in what would become the Mk III Escort.) Mechanically, the Fiesta followed tradition, with an end-on four-speed transaxle mounted to a new version of the Ford Kent overhead valve engine dubbed "Valencia", named after the brand new Spanish factory developed especially to produce the new car. Ford's plants in Dagenham, England and Cologne, Germany were also used to manufacture Fiestas.

The Fiesta was a runaway success overnight, and the one millionth fiesta was produced on January 9 1979. The car was available with 950cc, 1.1 and 1.3 petrol engines and in base, L, Ghia and S trim, as well as a van. A sporting derivative (1.3 Supersport) was offered in 1980, effectively to test the market for the similar XR2 introduced one year later, which featured a 1.6 litre version of the same engine. Black plastic trim was added on the exterior and interior, and the car looked exciting. In a stroke, Ford had created a cult car so beloved of boy racers throughout the 1980s. But with a four-speed gearbox and just 84bhp initially, the performance of the early XR2 was disappointing compared with later rivals.

Mark 2 (1983-1989): A facelift

And So Came The Mk2

Although not strictly a new design the new Fiesta was still given the tag of Mk2. It was in fact, more a face-lifted Mk1, still having the same basic shape as it's predecessor, albeit more rounded, and was still only available in 3 door format. The new car was given new headlights with wraparound indicators and new rear light clusters, this time incorporating reversing lights, instead of the single low mounted light on the Mk1. A rear fog light was fitted as standard, although this was due to changes in the law more than the design. Although the earlier Mk2 did not feature rear seat belts a further change in law during the production years saw later models being fitted with them as standard.

Other design alterations included larger wing mirrors (although base models still only had one) and new bumpers. The all metal bumpers of the Mk1 were replaced with metal new bumpers featuring a metal centre and plastic wrap round end caps. The higher models now featuring all plastic bumpers with incorporated over-riders. The front end of the car was lowered slightly to deduce drag and a new design of tail gate was used. This time mirroring the swage lines from the sides of the car. The Popular and Popular Plus models now had cloth trim instead of the vinyl used in the Mk1 interiors, and they also featured reclineable seats.

With the introduction of the Mk2, the old Mk1 engines were discarded in favour of the newly designed "Valencia" engine and once again the range began with only a 950 and 1100 cc engine. It was not long before a 1300 engine appeared and in May 1984 the L and Ghia models were given the 1300 CVH (Compound Valve Hemi-head). This engine was the first in a Fiesta to feature an overhead camshaft instead of the usual overhead valve format. Also appearing with this engine was a 5 speed gearbox, which was then used on all 1300, 1400 and 1600 engine cars.

April 1984 saw the introduction of the first diesel Fiesta, in the form of a 1600cc Diesel engine available on the Popular Plus and L models. May 1984 also saw the XR2 reappear this time in face-lifted form and with a 1600 CVH engine but that is given more attention below.

January 1986 saw the 1300 CVH engine replaced with the new "lean-burn" 1400 CVH. This new engine was available on the L and Ghia models and then in April 1984 it was used in a new model, the 1.4s. The only other real development in the Mk2 range was the introduction of the CTX automatic gearbox in May 1987. The CTX gearbox used a constantly variable "steel belt" drive and was only available on the 1100 L and 1100 Ghia models.

Special Editions

In addition to the standard production models, many special editions were also released during the production of the Mk2 Fiesta Unlike with the Mk1 these special editions were produced on a time limit basis as opposed only producing a certain number of cars as with the Mk1, also a couple of these were released twice. The range of special editions available were:

Release Date	Name
June 1985	Dash
February 1986	Finesse II
June 1986	Holiday
June 1986	Firefly (A very rare Firefly with a 1.1 CVH engine was also produced)
February 1987	Festival
July 1987	Bonus
February 1988	Festival II
February 1988	Firefly
July 1988	Bonus
January 1989	Bonus II
January 1989	Olympus Sport

The XR2 gets better.

Not content with the Mk1 XR2, Ford had already set about building a better replacement and work on the Mk2 XR2 started in 1982, before the Mk2 was even released!

The new XR2 featured the 1600 CVH engine from the Escort XR3 and like the Escort still used the same carburettor as the Mk1 XR2. A new "fuller" bodykit was designed for the Mk2, with larger front and rear valences and wheel arch extensions. Side skirts were also included as part of the new kit, and a spoiler that went right round the rear window was designed for the back. The car was given lower and uprated suspension and steering components. One surprising difference over the Mk1 was that the new XR2 didn't feature alloy wheels as standard but instead had 6 inch wide steel rims with wheel trims, the "pepperpot" alloys could but added as an optional extra, which most people did.

Another surprising bit of the design of the Mk2 XR2 was that the SVE department were not allowed to use the 1600 injected engine as Ford were afraid that the little Fiesta would upstage the Escort XR3i! But no-matter the new XR still had 96bph an upgrade of 12pbh on its predecessor, and although it was capable of a top speed of 112mph, because of its increase in weight was only 0.2 seconds faster to 60 than the Mk1, managing a 0 to 60 time of 9.3 seconds.

Enter the 1.4s

Introduced in 1986 the 1.4S used the "lean-burn" 1400 CVH engine. The S was based on a package called the S-pack which consisted of optional extras you could have added to your car before receiving it. The extras included were, sun roof, spot lights, sports steering wheel, special trim, white wheel trims, a black surround for the rear window, red bumper and side stripes and a Fiesta 1.4S sticker. The original idea was that the S-pack was only to be available as an option on the 1.4 L model but when it was unleashed onto the market it was released in the form of a new model, the 1.4S.

A Note On The Engines of The Mk2.

During the production years of the Mk2 Fiesta, new studies showed up the harmful gasses that were given off when 4 star leaded petrol is burned, as a result of these studies new legislation was introduced regarding the use of lead in fuel. After this legislation was introduced Ford predicted the decline of 4 star petrol and so in 1986 started to produce CVH engines with hardened valve seats that could use the new Unleaded fuel. Although still favouring 4 star the new engines featured harden exhaust valve seats so all that was required to run them on unleaded was to retard the timing by a few degrees. All normally aspirated (not turbo) CVH engines produced after 1986 can run quite happily on Unleaded, without causing damage to the head.

The End Of An Era?

Although maintaining a steady 2nd and 3rd place throughout it's production time the Mk2 Fiesta's days were numbered. Not being a company to sit around waiting for it's designs to go out of date Ford had set about designing a new Fiesta. Production of the Mk2 ceased in April 1989 to make way for the new improved Mk3. The new car was to be redesigned as opposed to just face-lifted. This was to be the first time the design of the Fiesta was to break away from it's firm roots in project Bobcat.

Mark 3 (1989-1997): Five doors at last!

Launched early in 1989, the third generation Fiesta was a comprehensive reskin of the old car with an all-new bodyshell. This addressed one of the Fiesta's most serious shortcoming - the lack of a five-door derivative. However, apart from the long awaited addition of fuel injection to the XR2 (thus creating the XR2i) and a new version of the Valencia engine christened HCS (available in 1.0 and 1.1 litre), the old running gear remained, and the car was still uninspiring to drive compared to its rivals despite a comprehensively-revised suspension system. It didn't deter Europe's small car buyers, the Mk3 Fiesta sold a million inside 2 years, but the motoring press still weren't impressed. The real star of the new Fiesta range, however, was the RS Turbo. It had a turbocharged version of the XR2i engine and could touch 130mph.

Specification on the Fiesta range was much improved for the 1990s, with top of the range versions getting anti-lock brakes, electric windows, central locking, and, later on, twin airbags. A 1.8 diesel engine from the larger Escort was also added to the Fiesta range. A "high-cube" van variant was announced during 1991, sold in Britain as the Ford Courier.

1992 saw the RS Turbo being superseded by the new hot Fiesta, the RS1800  as the CVH engine was being phased out the RS1800 shared its 1.8 litre Zetec fuel-injected engine with the 130ps version of the current Escort XR3i and had a top speed of 125mph. The famous XR2 title 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 litre PTE (a development of the CVH) or 1.6 litre Zetec engine.

The inclusion of the Zetec engine in 1992, and an injection of safety features from the Ford Mondeo in 1994 kept the metal moving.

Mark 4 (1995-1999): A new look

In 1995, things changed dramatically with the fourth generation car. Ford cashed in on the Mondeo's success and spread some of that car's excellence onto its baby. The Mk4 Fiesta was given the all-new Zetec-SE engine, a fully redesigned chassis and suspension, and the Valencia engine was reworked into the Endura-E. At a stroke the flabby handling became nimble and entertaining and the Fiesta was all of a sudden the enthusiast's choice. Like the Vauxhall/Opel Corsa, some variants were notable for being available in purple, which was an unusual colour for a car at the time. The older Mk3 version was sold in small numbers until 1997 as the "Fiesta Classic" until replaced by the Fiesta-based Ka.

In Brazil, a pick-up version of the Mk4 Fiesta was introduced, known as the Ford Courier which was also sold in South Africa as the Ford Bantam.

This version of Fiesta was also sold by Mazda badged as the Mazda 121 in Europe and the Mazda Soho in South Africa, although this model was eventually dropped in the UK. In the US Ford had already sold a Kia-built version of the Mazda 121 as the Ford Festiva, while restyled versions of Mazda's 323 and 626 were sold in Asia and Australasia as the Ford Laser and Ford Telstar.

The 1.0 and 1.1 HCS engines were dropped along with the 1.4 PTE and 1.6/1.8 Zetec units. The 1.3 petrol and 1.8 diesel units continued largely unchanged, as did the by now standard five speed manual gearbox and optional CTX automatic. A new 1.25-litre 16-valve Zetec engine was added to the Fiesta range and it set new standards for small car engine refinement, quickly followed by a 1.4 litre version.

The interior was also brought up-to-date in appearance, although a major criticism was the by then sub-standard passenger room, especially in the rear. However, externally the facelift of the Mk3 bodyshell didn't work as well as the new engineering  in particular the "fish-face" front end was always a subject of controversy.

Mark 5 (1999-2002): Minor restyle

A Focus-inspired restyle in 2000 was an attempt to address this problem, which had a newer face and a smoothed boot. This also saw the launch of the Ford Ikon, which was a four-door Fiesta sedan designed for India, where Ford was now producing cars in a joint venture with Mahindra. The Ikon was also introduced in other developing countries, such as South Africa, Mexico and China, where sedans are preferred to hatchbacks. However, this was a brief change as a totally new design was to come out soon.

Mark 6 (2002): Sixth generation

In 2002 the sixth-generation car was unveiled. This was for the first time, a completely clean sheet design, with no genetic links to the 1976 original. Brand new engines from Ford's new Duratec family were under the hood, the styling was heavily inspired by the larger Focus. It has been sold in the Finesse, LX, Zetec, Ghia, Black and Limited Edition variants.

Engines available include 1.3, 1.4, 1.6 petrol and 1.4 TDCi . By the end of 2004 Ford hope to have a 2.0l petrol 150PS engine and a 1.6TDCi engine available. The 2.0 litre petrol model will only be available in the New Fiesta ST version, borrowed from the Mondeo.

The Ford Fiesta ST is the performance variant of the new Fiesta, capable of speeds of up to 130mph and hopes to relive the success of the XR2. To differ it from the standard Fiesta it has many visual enchancements, including 17" alloy wheels. It went on sale in late 2004.