Ford Fiesta saloon facelift revealed

Ford has unveiled the updated Fiesta saloon at the Sao Paulo motor show. The 2013 Fiesta features design cues from Ford’s new global design language. It gets a restyled front fascia that includes an aggressive, Aston Martin-like front grille with chrome slats, re-profiled front bumper and fog lamps, revamped headlamps and a new bonnet design. This comprehensive facelift makes the rakish Ford now look positively handsome from the front. Also vastly improved is the rear. While the current car has small tail-lights, this car’s rear lights span all the way across to the bootlid. This is likely to cost Ford more, but the money seems well spent as the car looks much better now. A new black rear splitter at the bottom also reduces the visual mass of the car considerably. 

For India, there’s likely to be a bigger change under the hood. Ford is likely to slot the much-acclaimed 1.0-litre, three-cylinder EcoBoost petrol motor. Ford could also make it available in two states of tune, at 99bhp for the economy sensitive and 123bhp for those who want a sporty drive. While the Fiesta facelift is expected to come to the country sometime early next year, the EcoBoost engine will be introduced in India under the bonnet of the much-awaited EcoSport compact SUV.

The introduction of this engine will also mark the Indian debut of Ford’s EcoBoost powertrain technology. Developed at Ford’s Dunton Technical Centre in the UK, this newest and smallest member of the EcoBoost engine family features advanced turbocharging technology, direct injection and improved twin variable-camshaft design to deliver performance that belies its small size. Ford says it’s capable of developing power similar to a bigger 1.6-litre motor and fuel efficiency similar to that of a smaller unit.

By 2015, the company plans to have the capacity to build 6,00,000 engines in India. Of the engines produced, around 60 percent will be retained for the domestic market while the rest will be exported. The EcoBoost engines produced in India are also likely to be exported back to Thailand, from where many of Ford’s CKD kits come.