Beijing: Ford Motors has unveiled the all-new Ford Fiesta at the Auto China 2008 event at the New China International Exhibition Centre in Beijing. The five-door hatch back is designed and developed in Europe, which will go on sale in  Europe, Asia, South Africa, Australia and the Americas between 2008 and 2010.

The  Fiesta is the first major product of Ford's new global product development process.

The new Fiesta's bold kinetic design is emphasized with major strides in craftsmanship, quality of materials and product choice, which represent Ford Fiesta's traditional strengths of practicality, value for money, agility and safety. 
View the  Ford Verve concept photo gallery

The five-door  Fiesta  bring the most appealing elements of Verve Concept to production reality. This masterpiece is closely related to the earlier Verve Concepts, the three-door hatch revealed globally at the 2007  Frankfurt Motor Show, a four-door notchback unveiled at the 2007  Guangzhou Motor Show in China  and another a four-door notchback at the 2008 North American International Auto Show.

According to Ford, the four-door Verve Concept sedans were tailored to regional market tastes.

The exterior body structure of the new Fiesta makes extensive use of ultra high-strength steels including boron steel and dual-phase steel, which imparts greater strength to the vehicle while reducing its weight.  These steels are used particularly in safety critical areas, such as the A-pillar and B-pillar, part of the ultra-rigid 'door ring' structure of the Fiesta bodyside, the company stated.

Ford's acclaimed dynamics engineers responsible for fine tuning the Focus and Mondeo model's driving dynamics have worked extensively to enhance Fiesta's ride comfort and isolate road, wind and powertrain noise from the cabin, and to give the new model an impressively quiet driving quality for a small car.

The all-new Fiesta retains the MacPherson strut front suspension and twist-beam rear suspension layout that has been one of its traditional strengths. For the first time Electric-Power Assist Steering (E-PAS) has been  introduced in the Fiesta, which provides the right balance of low-speed assistance and excellent feel and responsiveness.

E-PAS will also reduce fuel consumption of the Fiesta as the electric power steering pump only operates when steering-effort assistance is required, unlike traditional hydraulic PAS pumps that operate constantly when the engine is running.

Exciting and vibrant production colours include the passion range and the bright lightning yellow to represent Fiesta's bold and independent character.
Other features include the signature bold wheel arches that communicate the vehicle's stance and dynamic capabilities, alloy wheels, the signature  Ford ''kick-up'' at its rear, bold headlamps,    trapezoidal grille and more.

China production of the all-new Ford Fiesta will begin by the end of 2008 at Changan Ford Mazda Automobile (CFMA) plant in Nanjing, China. The state-of-the-art manufacturing facility, which started operations in September 2007, has an annual production capacity ofcapacity of 160,000 vehicles.

In 2007, Ford Motor Company sold 216,324 units in China, a 30 per cent year-over-year increase,  a record highlighted by the strong sales of the Ford Focus and the introduction of the new S-MAX in March and Mondeo in November.

Changan Ford Mazda Automobile Co Ltd (CFMA), Ford's passenger car joint-venture in China, also posted a record with wholesale deliveries rising 60 per cent during the year to 217,100 vehicles.

CFMA produces Ford, Volvo and Mazda vehicles for the Chinese market.

Full technical details of the new Fiesta will be released closer to the formal launching of the production model before the end of 2008.

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