Fiery Fiesta marks the return of pocket-rocket

Ford New Zealand has "no plans at present" to bring in the Fiesta ST, the high-performance variant of the three- and five-door small car range it launched here last week.

"We want to insure that Ford enjoys a successfully launch of the new Fiesta range, but in the future we might consider the Fiesta ST in much the same vein as the Mondeo ST and Focus ST170," said Ford public affairs executive Edward Finn.

The new model Fiesta will be unveiled at the Geneva motor show next week and is the first of Ford's Sports Technologies models to carry a new ST badge, without the use of numbers. The generic branding will be adopted by all new ST models from now on.

The fast Fiesta marks the return of a pocket-rocket to Ford's small car range and recaptures the youthful spirit of the original Fiesta XR2i. It goes on sale in Britain towards the end of the year.

"The latest generation Fiesta is solid as a rock. It was the ideal basis for a performance derivative," said Paul Thomas, the managing director of Ford of Britain.

"More than 34,000 XR2i's were bought by Britain's hot hatch fans.

"The new Fiesta ST puts Ford back into the heartland of small-car performance in a great-to-drive package."

The ST is powered by a 147kW 2.0-litre Duratec ST engine mated to a five-speed manual gearbox. The chassis modifications are designed, says Ford, "to give small-car drivers something to think about."

Unique design elements include new front and rear bumpers, new side and rocker mouldings and colour-keyed details such as body colour door handles, rub strips, exterior mirror caps and 17-inch alloy wheels.

Inside, the front racing-style seats are embroidered in black leather with red cloth centre sections and the new ST logo.

There is a leather steering wheel and the throttle, brake and clutch pedals are polished alloy. Added brightwork on the handbrake and door handles also highlights the interior.