Build,Price and Reserve site

[mrbirdman330]

With Ford's projected number purchases I would expect to see the reservation somewhere in the 5,000 range by now.

[blurbyu]

I'd say 1000 is a amazing considering that probably none (or very few) of those people have driven the US car. I'm very seriously considering the Fiesta, but I'm thinking I want to at least see the car in person before I reserve one. I think once there are more car shows (NAIAS for me) and more reviews of the US Fiesta we'll see a steadily growing number of reservations.

Though, There has never been a program quite like this. The Smart $99 reservation program is the only one that comes close that I can recall. I don't know how you could put a number on how many reservations they should be expecting.

Seriously, how could you expect thousands upon thousands of people to reserve a car that they have never driven, maybe have never seen in person, and won't actually be taking delivery of for around 6 months?
This program was most likely created for those few enthusiasts that KNOW they want a Fiesta and for the FiestaMovement Agents and some of their followers.

No matter what, the most important number will be the number of people that actually purchase the car after reserving it.

[Mattdoommaster]

Originally Posted by mrbirdman330

With Ford's projected number purchases I would expect to see the reservation somewhere in the 5,000 range by now.

Well, I recall Ford saying something that they had 50,000 "hand raisers" - people who were interested. Which sounds great in marketing material but I doubt the conversion rate from interested to buyer will be high.

Personally I'd be surprised if the Fiesta sells 60,000 units a year. Small cars are still a niche compared to mid-sized sedans and trucks.

[mrbirdman330]

Ford was bragging higher than that for its first year production there. More like they were saying double the 50,000 for the first year but with the changes I think there has been considerable damage to those who want one and sales might be low for the first year.

[streetfiesta]

I'd bet the first year sales are over 100K units. They put a lot into this. Maybe incentives come year end, but these will move.

[streetfiesta]

And don't forget fleet sales. The Budweiser distribution/marketing center here has all Ford Focus for their reps. Small cars work for rental cars and government fleet, too. The city here uses Smart cars as one of their fleet choices. And I don't think "small cars are still niche compared to sedans". All I see are small cars-Versa, Focus, Mini, Fit, Aveo, Yaris, Caliber, Smart, Vibe, Swift, Rio, Accent, Spec5, GTI, many more.

[mrbirdman330]

And with the numbers Ford was bragging there should have been higher reservation numbers in fact there should have been over 1000 reservations made the first day alone.

[FiestaFan]

Originally Posted by mrbirdman330

Wow that is a low number, very shocking.

1000 near-final sales a week after the car's been unveiled (and months before it's even on sale)?? I'd say that's pretty good.

[iamz]

My initial reaction was that I thought 1000 plus seemed a bit low. But, there is really nothing to compare it to though. I wasn't going to reserve but then I realized there is really no downside. In a few months I'll have figured out if the Fiesta will be my next car. Between now and then, I'll hit a few of the dealers around my area and see who might be willing to work a deal on the price. If I can find a good dealer, I'll sign my reservation with them.

[Mattdoommaster]

Originally Posted by streetfiesta

And don't forget fleet sales. The Budweiser distribution/marketing center here has all Ford Focus for their reps. Small cars work for rental cars and government fleet, too. The city here uses Smart cars as one of their fleet choices. And I don't think "small cars are still niche compared to sedans". All I see are small cars-Versa, Focus, Mini, Fit, Aveo, Yaris, Caliber, Smart, Vibe, Swift, Rio, Accent, Spec5, GTI, many more.

The Nissan Versa has sold 76097 units in the US of A through November, and it leads the segment. Most likely because you can buy a Versa with the change left over from buying your morning latte.

A more realistic comparison would be the Fit, which has sold 62745 units through November.

I don't really think the Fiesta is going to beat the Versa in sales. I think it will be with the Fit, so maybe it will be more like 75,000. But that is in a full year, any Fiesta don't get in until five months end, so in 2010 it will be almost half that.

Just for reference, Ford as sold something like 170,000 Fusions so far this year and 365,000 F-series pickups. I'm not saying that the Fiesta is not important to Ford, but its importance as a marketing tool is far greater than its importance as its importance in sales.

I think there is no way they will sell 100,000 Fiesta in 2010. That would be almost 15,000 a month.