Community hub
Recent from talks
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Ford Sierra
The Ford Sierra is a mid-size/large family car manufactured and marketed by Ford of Europe from 1982–1993. It was launched as a three-door or five-door liftback or a five-door estate car, with a car-derived van variant added in 1984 and the four-door Sierra Sapphire saloon car introduced in 1987 when the range was facelifted. The engine is mounted in the front with rear-wheel drive on most models and four-wheel drive on certain models.
It was designed by Uwe Bahnsen, Robert Lutz and Patrick Le Quément, and was noted for its aerodynamic styling. It has a drag coefficient of 0.34, a significant improvement over its predecessors. The Sierra debuted at the 1982 British International Motor Show in Birmingham, then appeared at the 1982 Paris Salon de l'Automobile. Sales began on 15 October 1982, replacing the Ford Taunus TC3 and Ford Cortina Mark V. The Sierra's aerodynamic styling and the initial absence of a saloon alienated many conservative buyers, including company car drivers.
Developed under the internal code name "Project Toni", the Sierra name is derived from the Spanish word for a mountain range. Most cars were manufactured in Belgium and the United Kingdom, although Sierras were also assembled in Cork, Ireland, Argentina, Venezuela, South Africa, and New Zealand.
By 1978, Ford Europe was working on a new mid-range model, codenamed "Project Toni", to replace the Cortina/Taunus twins in the early 1980s. Although still popular with buyers, the outgoing Cortina/Taunus was a 12-year old design by the time of the Sierra's launch — despite the TC2 shape being launched in 1976, and the mildly reworked TC3/Mk5 three years later, both were merely reskinned versions of the 1970 TC/Mk3, with few major mechanical changes. Ford's future model policy and styling direction had already been shown with the Escort III two years earlier, with the conventionally styled saloons of the 1970s replaced by hatchbacks with advanced aerodynamic styling.
In 1981, a year before the Sierra's official launch, Ford confirmed that its new mid-range car be called the Sierra, signalling the end of the Taunus and Cortina nameplates after 43 years and nine generations, or 20 years and five generations respectively. In September 1981, Ford unveiled the Probe III concept car at the Frankfurt Motor Show, hinting at what the new car would look like when unveiled 12 months later.
After the sharp-edged straight-line three-box styling of its predecessors, the Sierra was nicknamed "the jellymould". The shape served a purpose though, producing a drag coefficient of 0.34, a significant improvement over the boxy outgoing Taunus's/Cortina's 0.45. This aerodynamic design was key for reducing fuel consumption according to Ford, and was even used as compensation for the V6 engines. The interior was more conventional, taking a page from BMW by its dashboard, angled to the driver.
Sales were slow in the first months – aggravated by heavy discounting by Ford dealers of surplus Cortina stock from the autumn of 1982 on, with more than 11,000 new Cortinas being registered in 1983. However in 1983, its first full year of sales, the Sierra managed nearly 160,000 sales in Britain, outsold only by the smaller Escort. Ford had also launched the more conservatively designed Escort-based Orion saloon that year, which found favour with buyers who would otherwise have been the Sierra's target customers.
In West Germany, it proved popular from an early stage; within months of its launch, it was reportedly achieving treble the number of sales that the Taunus had been attaining – though in West Germany, the Taunus had not been quite as popular or iconic as its Cortina equivalent had been in Britain.
Hub AI
Ford Sierra AI simulator
(@Ford Sierra_simulator)
Ford Sierra
The Ford Sierra is a mid-size/large family car manufactured and marketed by Ford of Europe from 1982–1993. It was launched as a three-door or five-door liftback or a five-door estate car, with a car-derived van variant added in 1984 and the four-door Sierra Sapphire saloon car introduced in 1987 when the range was facelifted. The engine is mounted in the front with rear-wheel drive on most models and four-wheel drive on certain models.
It was designed by Uwe Bahnsen, Robert Lutz and Patrick Le Quément, and was noted for its aerodynamic styling. It has a drag coefficient of 0.34, a significant improvement over its predecessors. The Sierra debuted at the 1982 British International Motor Show in Birmingham, then appeared at the 1982 Paris Salon de l'Automobile. Sales began on 15 October 1982, replacing the Ford Taunus TC3 and Ford Cortina Mark V. The Sierra's aerodynamic styling and the initial absence of a saloon alienated many conservative buyers, including company car drivers.
Developed under the internal code name "Project Toni", the Sierra name is derived from the Spanish word for a mountain range. Most cars were manufactured in Belgium and the United Kingdom, although Sierras were also assembled in Cork, Ireland, Argentina, Venezuela, South Africa, and New Zealand.
By 1978, Ford Europe was working on a new mid-range model, codenamed "Project Toni", to replace the Cortina/Taunus twins in the early 1980s. Although still popular with buyers, the outgoing Cortina/Taunus was a 12-year old design by the time of the Sierra's launch — despite the TC2 shape being launched in 1976, and the mildly reworked TC3/Mk5 three years later, both were merely reskinned versions of the 1970 TC/Mk3, with few major mechanical changes. Ford's future model policy and styling direction had already been shown with the Escort III two years earlier, with the conventionally styled saloons of the 1970s replaced by hatchbacks with advanced aerodynamic styling.
In 1981, a year before the Sierra's official launch, Ford confirmed that its new mid-range car be called the Sierra, signalling the end of the Taunus and Cortina nameplates after 43 years and nine generations, or 20 years and five generations respectively. In September 1981, Ford unveiled the Probe III concept car at the Frankfurt Motor Show, hinting at what the new car would look like when unveiled 12 months later.
After the sharp-edged straight-line three-box styling of its predecessors, the Sierra was nicknamed "the jellymould". The shape served a purpose though, producing a drag coefficient of 0.34, a significant improvement over the boxy outgoing Taunus's/Cortina's 0.45. This aerodynamic design was key for reducing fuel consumption according to Ford, and was even used as compensation for the V6 engines. The interior was more conventional, taking a page from BMW by its dashboard, angled to the driver.
Sales were slow in the first months – aggravated by heavy discounting by Ford dealers of surplus Cortina stock from the autumn of 1982 on, with more than 11,000 new Cortinas being registered in 1983. However in 1983, its first full year of sales, the Sierra managed nearly 160,000 sales in Britain, outsold only by the smaller Escort. Ford had also launched the more conservatively designed Escort-based Orion saloon that year, which found favour with buyers who would otherwise have been the Sierra's target customers.
In West Germany, it proved popular from an early stage; within months of its launch, it was reportedly achieving treble the number of sales that the Taunus had been attaining – though in West Germany, the Taunus had not been quite as popular or iconic as its Cortina equivalent had been in Britain.