Build,Price and Reserve site

[BRGT350]

I did not see anything concerning EcoBoost, other than a very nice 1.6L EcoBoost that needed a home. No news concerning engines for the Fiesta from the auto show, just some of the accessories being added the build site. Many of the parts were still up in the air in LA. There is also discussion about either adding the black LED housings to the accessories catalog or making using them on the hatchback instead of the chrome. The parts are kind of expensive since the LED is part of the trim peice, and they are a pain to install once the bumper is on the car. I am hoping the chrome LED trim parts stay off the hatchback, since there is no chrome on the bumper like the sedan has.

[azulejost]

Excellent update on the Fiesta as always Bryan. The interaction between Ford and the agents/experts has been one of the biggest positives I've seen come out of this whole experience. Who knew the LEDs were part of the housing and they would be difficult to interchange? That reminds me of the difficult to change yet easily cracked foglights on the New Beetle. It's pretty awesome that such small details continue to receive attention when they could easily dismiss the input and build it as shown. You would almost think the Fiesta was built by a niche manufacturer.

[PowerShift]

Originally Posted by mrbirdman330

It wouldn't even take a day, I just read on facebook that in 17 months of production they've already produced half a million new Fiestas. The number of reservations is still rather low for what has been proclaimed huge sales. Then again people may be waiting for a year end sales event to get the car at a dirt cheap price.

I read that they'll build 180,000 Fiestas at the Mexican plant in year 1. That plant has to supply Canada, Mexico, and all of South America as well as the USA. Assume only half the production will be for the US. Now you have 7500 cars for the US being built each month, now assume the factory goes slow the first month. This could be a really ugly launch in terms of customer wait times and price gouging, I hope the Fiesta team is up to the challenge.

[mrbirdman330]

Also keep in mind it depends on when production has started but if those numbers are accurate of what they're saying then that means full scale production will be from the get go. They'll still be producing about roughly 15,000 cars a month which still means they'll have adequate supply and demand to go about. I'm quite sure the Fiesta Team has had this all intricately planned out from day one.

[PowerShift]

The less trusting side of me says that Ford is purposely trying to push as many pre-orders as possible regardless of capacity. That way the dealers can make more profit on the cars, since pre-orders generally don't carry incentives and its much harder to negotiate. And if demand really exceeds supply the dealers can gouge.

With the Camaro last year GM had 14,000 orders at launch (Fiesta could hit that number at the current pace). The situation was absolute chaos. Customers who ordered in Fall '08 were still waiting for cars in June. Some reported dealers selling pre-ordered cars to other customers. Instead of filling pre-orders exclusively Chevy was building cars for dealer inventory and even rental fleets.

I'm playing the game with the pre-order system for now, but I'll be watching out for this kind of garbage.

[Mattdoommaster]

I doubt Ford wants to limit supply. That would only pay off if they could dramatically improve the amount paid per vehicle, enough so that they would overcome the lack of volume.

I think the Fiesta is much more like a Versa than a Fit or Mini in regards to how Ford is selling them. This is not a specialty car. It is effectively replacing the Focus as Ford's entry level product. You can bet that when Focus pricing is announced it will be higher than before, plus you have to remember that the current Focus is heavily discounted. That means if you want to get in a Ford for less than 15k, or in decked-out Ford for less than 20k, you're going to be planting your butt in a Fiesta.

Given that, I don't see how it would help Ford to have limited supply. I imagine they're doing everything they can to make sure supply is met. If they have an order back-up and the Focus comes around to launch time, well, that wouldn't be a good thing.

[mrbirdman330]

I see they've removed the 17 Inch wheel option.

[BRGT350]

that is interesting about the 17" wheel option being removed. When I was at NAIAS I noticed that the tuner Fiesta had 16" wheels instead of the optional 17's from the LA show and all the studio pictures. None of the Fiesta's had the 17" wheels. Really, the option was expensive and I would rather have a set of aftermarket wheels and my own tires instead of all-seasons in 17".

[mrbirdman330]

I can see that and probably due to the expensive prices of the wheels nobody was choosing them. Therefore removed them as an option, we may perhaps in the upcoming months or weeks see different wheel options.

[golf strom]

I am seriously hoping that the days of the huge bling wheels is coming to an end!!!!

Although they may look a bit better than smaller dia wheels they are often much more expensive to buy, the tires you need for them are much more expensive to buy....and even though they may be aluminium they usually are quite a bit heavier than even 15 in steelies and because unsprung weight is the enemy of excellent handling they make the general dynamics worse as well.

I'd gladly be satisfied with a nice light weight 15 in wheel, after market perhaps.