Ford Fiesta

The Ford Fiesta is a supermini car that was marketed by Ford from 1976 to 2023 over seven generations. Over the years, the Fiesta has mainly been developed and manufactured by Ford's European operations, and had been positioned below the Escort (later the Focus).

Ford had sold over 15 million Fiestas from 1976 to July 2011, making it one of the best-selling Ford nameplates behind the Escort and the F-Series. It has been manufactured in the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela, Mexico, Taiwan, China, India, Thailand, and South Africa.

The Fiesta was discontinued in 2023, after over 22 million units had been made. The final Ford Fiesta rolled off the production line on 7 July 2023.

The Fiesta was originally designed by the project "Bobcat" team headed by Trevor Erskine (not to be confused with the badge-engineered Mercury variant of the Ford Pinto) and approved for development by Henry Ford II in September 1972, shortly after the launch of two comparable cars – the Fiat 127 and Renault 5. More than a decade earlier, Ford had decided against producing a new small car to rival BMC's Mini, as the production cost was deemed too high, but the 1973 oil crisis caused a rise in the already growing demand for smaller cars, and the runaway success of the Fiat 127 and Renault 5 was what ultimately convinced Ford to enter the B-segment. In Europe, Ford's arch rival General Motors attempted to address the market need by developing a small hatchback version of its "T-car", which emerged as the 1975 Opel Kadett City and Vauxhall Chevette, but being rear wheel drive, these were not true "superminis" in that they could not deliver the required space efficiency that a transverse engined, front wheel drive package could achieve, this therefore would be template followed by the Fiesta.

The Fiesta was an all new car in the supermini segment, and was the smallest car yet made by Ford. Development targets indicated a production cost US$100 less than the current Escort. The car was to have a wheelbase longer than that of the Fiat 127, but with overall length shorter than that of Ford's Escort. The final proposal was developed by Tom Tjaarda at Ghia, overseen by Ford of Europe's then chief stylist Uwe Bahnsen. The project was approved for production in late 1973, with Ford's engineering centres in Cologne and Dunton (Essex) collaborating.

Ford estimated that 500,000 Fiestas a year would be produced, and built a new factory near Valencia, Spain; factory extensions for the assembly plants in Dagenham, UK. Final assembly also took place in Valencia. As the Fiesta would be Ford's first transverse engined car, a new transaxle was required and a factory near Bordeaux, France was built for this purpose. Since it was known by 1975 that this transmission unit would also be used in the larger Escort when it switched to front wheel drive for its third generation in 1980, enough upward capacity was built into the Bordeaux plant to meet this need.

After years of speculation by the motoring press about Ford's new car, it was subject to a succession of carefully crafted press leaks from the end of 1975. A Fiesta was on display at the Le Mans 24 Hour Race in June 1976, and the car went on sale in France and Germany in September 1976; to the frustration of UK dealerships, right-hand drive versions only began to appear in January 1977. Its initial competitors in Europe, apart from the Fiat 127 and Renault 5, included the Volkswagen Polo and Vauxhall Chevette. Chrysler UK were also about to launch the Sunbeam by this stage, and British Leyland was working on a new supermini, which was launched as the Austin Metro in 1980.

The name "Fiesta" (meaning "party" in Spanish) belonged to General Motors when the car was designed, used as a trim level on Oldsmobile station wagons, and was freely given for Ford to use on their new B-class car. Ford's marketing team had preferred the name "Bravo", but Henry Ford II chose "Fiesta". Ford did end up using the "Bravo" name on a limited edition of the Fiesta Mark I in the early 1980s.