While some cars have lifespans not much longer than that of a gadfly – well, OK, not that short, but often just a single model cycle and sometimes not even that before being canned, while others last for decades and are renewed more often than Dr. Who before being eventually consigned to that great car park in the sky.
Single-generation models include the likes of the Audi A2 (five years), or the Ford Cougar (four years) – both future classics, especially the Audi. Some don’t even make it that long – Renault’s brave and slightly unhinged Avantime didn’t make its third birthday. The Delorean DMC12 lived for just two years before disappearing in a wave of financial scandal and criminality. Cars such as these died young because they were either not good enough, pointless, or the manufacturer went bust. I’d make an exception for the A2, however – a forward-looking design, exceptionally well made but it’s looks told against it.
At the other extreme, take the VW Beetle and its successor, the Golf – the former was built for 65 years and the Golf, introduced in 1974 and Polo, launched the following year, are both still going, and strongly at that. The Ford Escort lived through six generations and 34 years before giving way to the Focus, itself still being built 24 years later. There are many more – not least the Toyota Corolla, manufactured without pause over 56 years and a dozen generations to date – and thanks to their ubiquity they become part of the motoring and the general public’s familiar landscape, so much so that they’re often known just by their model name; even those folk who don’t know that the Beetle and Golf were/are made by VW know one when they see one, especially when the basic shape and style remains unchanged – hello Porsche 911, 58 years young and counting!
Some of the longest-running models made
This month, the recent announcement of the planned demise of one of Europe’s most popular and long-lived supermini’s has led to articles appearing in the mainstream press and a warm nostalgic glow has already enveloped it. That car is the Ford Fiesta, first launched way back in 1975 and after seven generations and 47 years, Ford has this month announced it will no longer make cars using the name, although production in Germany won’t cease until 2023, so we thought we’d mark the announcement with a look back at when it all began for the Ford Fiesta.
The Fiesta is much loved in the UK in particular. My son learned to drive in a 6th generation model, and his first car carried on the long tradition of young drivers’ first cars often being the same as the one they passed their test in – I passed mine in a Triumph Toledo, and my first car was a Dolomite, so closely related at least.
The Fiesta was initially introduced to take on the Renault 5 and Fiat 127 – the latter had already been on sale since 1971, the Renault since 1972, and were soon followed by others, including the Honda Civic, another long-runner, with cars bearing that name since 1972 – so Europe’s biggest motor manufacturer was a little late to the party, which is, as I’m sure all ViaRETRO readers know, what Fiesta means in Spanish. Ford’s marketing team had originally preferred Bravo, but this was vetoed by Henry Ford II in favour of Fiesta, a decision I think most of us would agree with.
The supermini trendsetters
Product planning for the Fiesta had begun as long ago as 1973, but the first announcement of the planned launch came in December 1975. Its design was overseen by Tom Tjaarda (FIAT 124 Sport Spider, De Tomaso Pantera and many others) and it was a sharp, modern-looking entrant into the market, which mattered considering the already established competition in the supermini sector by the time the Fiesta hit the showrooms in France and Germany in the Autumn of 1976, with motorists in the UK having to wait until January 1977 for RHD versions. It did bear more than a passing resemblance to the Polo, especially in profile – coincidence? Probably.
It was the smallest car ever made by Ford, and the company expected to sell a substantial 500,000 units a year, requiring additional manufacturing capacity in Valencia as well as Dagenham.
The car was initially available in Europe with the Valencia-made 45bhp 957 cc and 53bhp 1,117 cc engines and with a choice of six trim levels, from Base up to the top-of-the-range Ghia, and included a van. It was also briefly sold in the US from 1977 to 1980, with a 1596cc engine to cope with American emissions regulations, before being replaced by the Escort. The Fiesta was also Ford’s first globally successful front-wheel-drive car.
Early road tests of the Fiesta were broadly favourable – Autocar tested an early Fiesta 1.0L (actually 957cc) in Germany in October 1976, some months ahead of it being available in the UK. They considered the performance to be respectable, with a 0-60mph time of 19.6 seconds and a top speed around 90mph, comparing favourably with its rivals, as did the Fiesta’s fuel economy. They praised the car’s steering, response, brakes and spaciousness for such a small car, concluding that “this small Ford brings a touch of flair, driver enjoyment and all-round efficiency to the small car market”.
For owners looking for a little more performance from their Fiesta, the 1.3L Supersport – now much sought after – went on sale in 1980, equipped with a 1298cc crossflow engine and offered 100mph performance ahead of an even quicker derivative, the XR2. This last version brought the 0-60 time to below ten seconds and increased top speed to 105mph (170kmh), thanks to the even more powerful 1596cc crossflow powerplant – it became a boy racers’ cult car and also one of the most frequently stolen.
UK sales improved gradually, until by 1981 the Fiesta was the third best seller on the market. However, by 1982 it was being outsold by BL’s new Austin Metro, and with several other new superminis also in the pipeline from European – and Japanese – manufacturers, Ford needed to update the Fiesta to keep it competitive, and the Fiesta Mk2 appeared in 1983.
Three million Fiesta Mk1’s were sold, with over 16 million of all generations sold so far. 4.8 million examples have been found buyers in the UK alone, where it is officially Britain’s best-selling model ever, enjoying an almost permanent place in the “Top 5”, including top spot from 2009 to 2020.
The Fiesta has been a genuine World Car for Ford, built not only in the UK, Germany and Spain but also as far afield as Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela, Mexico, Taiwan, China, India, Thailand, and South Africa.
The announcement of its forthcoming demise coincides with Ford “re-setting” it’s manufacturing increasingly in the direction of electric vehicles, and it seemed the Fiesta was not part of those plans.
Nowadays the Fiesta Mk 1 – and Mk2 – is seen as a bona fide classic, especially the “hot” versions, but in the case of the more prosaic models, as an exceptionally unexceptional entry-level budget classic.
To paraphrase the great (fictional) English poet E.J.Thribb, it’s now time to say “So. Farewell then, Ford Fiesta”; it’s fair to say that it got the party started and kept it going for a very long time.
