COLOGNE BUILDS FIESTAS FOR AMERICAN CUSTOMER TRIAL

Ford of Europe's Cologne assembly plant in Germany is playing a key role in an initiative to introduce the New Fiesta to consumers in North America, in advance of Ford's exciting new small car which goes on sale there next year.

As part of an extensive pre-launch awareness campaign, a specially-selected group of consumers from across the USA will have the chance to sample for themselves the outstanding performance and ownership experience of the award-winning Fiesta.

Under its “Fiesta Movement” programme (www.fiestamovement.com), Ford will select 100 customers to drive the new Fiesta and then relate their experiences through social networking sites such as Facebook, FlickR and YouTube.

The 100 five-door Fiestas involved in the programme have been built at the Cologne plant, alongside European versions of the car. The “Fiesta Movement” cars feature the acclaimed 1.6-litre Ti-VCT petrol engine (88kW/120PS).

The new Fiesta has been in production in Cologne since August 2008.

When new Fiesta goes on sale in North America in 2010, the cars will be built at the Cuautitlán plant in Mexico.

The “Fiesta Movement” initiative will give Ford the opportunity to learn more about consumer requirements in the expanding small car segment in North America.

“It’s one thing to talk about the vehicle, but it’s another to put people into it and let them experience it,” said Connie Fontaine, brand content and alliances manager, Ford Motor Company. “This is a way to give people an early hands-on opportunity to get excited about the Fiesta while providing valuable feedback to our engineering team.”

North American 'Agents'

Beginning in late spring, the chosen consumers, or “agents,” will be asked to complete “missions” in their Fiesta on a monthly basis and capture their experiences digitally and share them with Ford and other consumers. The missions take them to new places, to meet new people and to experience new things in their Fiesta Agents will be encouraged to take their friends along for the ride to share the experience and pass their comments on to Ford.

Unlike any other pre-launch programme, this one is uniquely focused on using social networking media to connect consumers in the Fiesta discussion.

“It embraces the way people communicate now, and gives them the opportunity to talk to each other about Fiesta instead of a one-way dialogue from us,” said Fontaine.

Along with the agents sharing their vehicles with their network on a day-to-day basis, consumers across the country will also get hands-on experience of the Fiesta. Test drives –the goal being 100,000 in all – will give consumers the opportunity to drive the model in advance of the US launch.

Outstanding Performance, Design and Value

In Europe, the Fiesta name has long been synonymous with outstanding performance, design and value. The New Fiesta takes that three-decade heritage to a new level with eye-catching styling and exemplary driving dynamics.

Since it was introduced last August, sales of the new Fiesta have totaled more than 89,000 units across the main European markets. That success continued into 2009, with January sales of more than 28,000 vehicles.

The model is continuing to win awards, as well as orders. In Britain it was recently named Car of the Year 2009 by the authoritative What Car? magazine. In Germany, readers of Guter Rat (Good Advice) and SUPERillu presented the Fiesta ECOnetic with their renowned Auto der Vernunft 2009 trophy for value for money, economy and sustainability.

The Fiesta ECOnetic is the latest addition to the Fiesta range in Europe. Powered by a specially-calibrated version of the 90 PS 1.6-litre Duratorq TDCi engine, combined with coated Diesel Particulate Filter (cDPF), it is Ford’s most economical Fiesta and can travel 100 kilometres using just 3.7 litres of fuel*, on the EC Combined Cycle. That impressive fuel economy is matched with class-leading CO₂ output of only 98 grams per kilometre.