Another Fiesta ST mule spotted

[GhiaFan]

Spy Shots: 2011 Ford Fiesta ST EcoBoost
Viknesh Vijayenthiran
September 20th, 2010
By Viknesh Vijayenthiran

Editor
Spy Shots: 2011 Ford Fiesta ST EcoBoost - MotorAuthority

September 20th, 2010

"Today we add to the Fiesta ST's unmasking with these shots of the car during competitive testing near the Nurburgring.

New to the game are the Recaro seats spotted in the cabin, confirming this is more than just an EcoBoosted Fiesta. A front-mount intercooler with piping on either side can clearly be seen in the prototype’s lower grille area. Other telltale signs that this is a performance variant of the Fiesta are the dual exhaust tips, diffuser, sporty bodykit and 17 inch alloy wheels--the latter of which were probably installed to house a set of bigger brakes."



Notice the rear "disc" brakes on the link with more pics!!

[FiestaFan]

Epic. Ford, if you don't bring this to the US, then I will be very displeased. The only thing I would change about the Fiesta is "moar pwr plz" so this would be perfect

[dfw.embalmer]

Epic. Ford, if you don't bring this to the US, then I will be very displeased. The only thing I would change about the Fiesta is "moar pwr plz" so this would be perfect

And about launch time there will be a hurricane, and then Recaro will have issues with the seat. Oh, and Ford will again decide to redesign something after the early adopters get their cars.

I think Ford should concentrate on what they have and get it right first, then worry about changing it.

[Coop]

Where and when can I place my order in for one?????

[LMTech]

I take one in black please. I can hand my current Fiesta down to my wife and trade in her payed off 08 Focus.

[BRGT350]

As I have mentioned before, all performance small car development will be done in Europe and there is a very good chance that any performance version of the Fiesta will be global. Everything I can see on that mule is stuff that I like, Recaro seats, upgraded suspension, 17" wheels, intercooler, an air intake that could gobble small children, and around 170hp. Sadly, this car will make mine obsolete and I am right back to where I was in 2000. Fancy new hatchback, but bought it before the real version came out. I am already saving my pennies and dimes for the ST front bumper and ST suspension as I guess both are going to be exactly what I am looking for.

[arnette]

Someone on the Jalopnik site mentioned that the body panels of the ST (particularly the front with the fog lights) is almost identical to the Euro spec Fiesta and not the US-spec, suggesting that the ST is destined for Europe only. The US-spec needs a longer bumper for pedestrians, apparently, and has a different front bumper cover.

I know they could easily slap a different cover on the ST but with the Focus ST more likely to arrive competing with the GTI, MazdaSpeed3, etc. I'm not very optimistic for a Fiesta ST.

Sad, because I'm ready to buy something either next year or 2012 and this would be top of my list.

[blurbyu]

As much as I hope this is real, I still can't help but feel that this is more of a 3rd party tuner car than it is an official Fiesta ST.
I hope I'm wrong, or at least hope that there is a Fiesta ST in the works too!

As soon as it's possible to order a Fiesta ST, I'll be heading to the dealership!

[rwbronco]

seems motor authority wasn't the first to spot this as Autoblog has the story this morning without the motor authority watermarks on the images

Spy Shots: 2012 Ford Fiesta ST ready to back up its big brother — Autoblog

still - it'd be sweet to see this bad boy with something in the neighborhood of 180hp! A tune and some minor modifications could see it breaking 200hp easily

[BRGT350]

Someone on the Jalopnik site mentioned that the body panels of the ST (particularly the front with the fog lights) is almost identical to the Euro spec Fiesta and not the US-spec, suggesting that the ST is destined for Europe only. The US-spec needs a longer bumper for pedestrians, apparently, and has a different front bumper cover.

I know they could easily slap a different cover on the ST but with the Focus ST more likely to arrive competing with the GTI, MazdaSpeed3, etc. I'm not very optimistic for a Fiesta ST.

Sad, because I'm ready to buy something either next year or 2012 and this would be top of my list.

As I have said many times, development for the car is being done overseas. Of course its an EU spec Fiesta, it was photographed overseas. Its all straight production peices, with some paint and fancy tape stuck on it. If the car comes to the US, it will be in 5-door form, have US spec bumpers, revisions to the suspension, and have the engine tuned for US emissions. Just because the development is going on in Europe, doesn't mean its for EU consumption only. If we will get an ST, tweaks for our market are probably already going on. When I worked on the Sky Redline, Solstice GXP, and Opel roadster, all the work for the different markets was done together with minor tweaks for each car. The cars rolled out together since development was concurrent. Ford of Europe could do the vast amount of engineering work, with the US engineers working to integrate the EU ST components to the US car. If you remember the SVT Focus and ST170, then you will understand what I am talking about.

If you are not enthusiastic about the Fiesta ST, then look at all the push for motorsports marketing that has been going on. With the Fiesta WRC S2000, Rally America, Gymkhana vids, X-Games, and RallyCross all promoting the Fiesta as a motorsports contender, guessing the ST is coming is not a far off pipe dream. However, this could be a special Fiesta they are developing for show or just a concept design study. I would say there is a 90% chance of being an ST or possibly an RS, and a 75% chance it will come to the US market sometime in the future. History would say 2 years, if not more.