A fiesta of small cars

By ALASTAIR SLOANE

The traditional sales scrap between Ford and Holden has moved for the first time in many years into the small-car segment.

Ford's new Fiesta will go on sale here in mid-April, priced from $20,990. The facelifted Holden Barina is expected to be available around the end of April, price unknown. The base-model Barina now costs $22,800.

The arrival of the Fiesta and Barina adds an even more competitive edge to the segment, which includes the Honda Jazz, Mazda2, Mitsubishi Colt, Hyundai Getz and Toyota Echo.

"The segment is a particularly competitive market so the pricing of our new Fiesta had to meet the expectations of the small-car buyer," said Fiesta brand manager, Matthew Carman.

"The segment has grown significantly over the past five years, with more than 7500 vehicles sold last year, and Ford is aiming to claim 10 per cent share of this expanding market." The Fiesta starts at $20,990 for the five-door, five-speed manual. The same car with a four-speed automatic gearbox is $22,790. The three-door manual Zetec model is $23,990 and five-door automatic Zetec $26,990.

The Barina gets its second upgrade in 12 months in a market driven by prices and drive-away deals.

The latest revisions - refreshed styling, a few more features, and a new 1.4-litre engine - are Holden's attempts to make its small car more competitive.

The Fiesta range is powered by a 1.6-litre Duratec all-alloy four-cylinder engine, producing 74kW at 6000rpm and peak torque of 146Nm at 4000rpm and mated to a five-speed manual or all-new four-speed automatic gearbox.

Standard features include remote central locking, power steering, power front windows, power-adjustable mirrors, in-dash CD player, dual front airbags, colour-coded front and rear bumpers, and 15-inch steel wheels.

Ford is aiming the Fiesta predominantly at women buyers. It says it even shaped the bonnet to provide a driving aid, in terms of a visual guideline, for shorter drivers.

At least 50 per cent of the bonnet's contoured width can be seen by 95 per cent of women of average height. Ford targeted the first Fiesta at women, too. It was launched in 1975, when around 20 per cent of car sales in Europe's leading markets were going to women.

The first Fiesta was a 1-litre model built at two Ford plants: Cologne and Dunton, Britain. It was the first Ford built using the space-saving east-west engine/front-drive layout.

But Fiesta's success lay in broader-based appeal. To date, more than 10 million have been built. It remains in the top three best-selling vehicles in Britain and has led the German small-car market seven times.

Ford says the new Fiesta's chassis and suspension provides a class-leading drive, one of the reasons the car last year won Germany's prestigious Golden Steering Wheel award, scoring top marks overall for its steering, transmissions and design, as well as being in the top three in 11 out of 12 categories.