Ford Motor’s (F) newest small car, Fiesta, has generated a huge response to the consumers in the U.S. after bagging more than 1,000 reservations within six days of launch. Ford intended to woo the market after unveiling of its U.S. version of Fiesta subcompact 2011 at the Los Angeles Auto Show last week. The automaker had introduced the small car in Europe and Asia last year and has sold more than 500,000 units thus far.
The 2011 Fiesta, which is set to compete against Toyota Yaris and Honda Fit, is powered by a 119 horsepower, 1.6-liter four-cylinder engine. The car is expected to get at least 30 miles per gallon (mpg) in the city and 40 mpg on the highway when paired with a new six-speed automatic transmission.
The retail price of a Yaris starts at $12,355, while that of a Fit starts at $14,900. The 2011 Fiesta will be priced in a similar range of about $13,000 to $18,000. However, Ford has revealed that the new Fiesta expects to compete mainly in terms of performance.
The Fiesta will hit the showrooms by early summer of next year. It will be followed by a redesigned Focus compact car, scheduled to be launched later in 2010.
In fact, Ford plans to introduce a total of 6 compact and subcompact vehicles in the U.S. by 2012 based on its corresponding European models. With this, the automaker expects to leverage market shifts toward smaller and fuel-efficient vehicles, currently ruled by Japanese automakers.
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