[Zigor]

Originally Posted by aniketi

I really doubt on that. Do you really think Ford has any chance now? No way .. When there are so many other good cars like new City, Verna, Vento, Linea, etc who will buy this non performing, flop car? If you have to buy one, will you buy it? I doubt. If i am there in the market for new sedan, i will never buy this. I can think of new Linea or new City but surely not Fiesta which is flop from day one. Resale will be a disaster for sure.

I don't think everyone is looking for a car with resale in mind. Fiesta has very good exterior styling (except boot), excellent fit and finish inside the car and more importantly driver friendly cockpit and awesome road manners. Isn't that a dream for every T'bhpian !
Among the cars you have listed, only Linea stands a chance as far as 'fun to drive' factor stands. Vento is handicapped by electric steering and expensive spares. City is more of a mileage monster than driver's car and Verna is not involving (read scary) at high speeds. So, I think a new Fiesta is always welcome because it clicks for an enthusiast (hope they re-tune the engine)

Note : No offense to owners, every car has good and bad attributes

[suhaas307]

Originally Posted by aniketi

Any use? BIG NO IMHO. Just a waste of time & money. Better they increase the production of EcoSport, at least it will sell.

I do agree to an extent.

What Ford should have ideally done IMO is shelve the face-lift Fiesta and bring in the new Ford Ka a.k.a. 2015 Figo in its three body styles i.e. hatchback, compact sub-4 meter sedan and the regular saloon.

[gigatech2006]

Why is it looking like a poor Aston-Martin-turned-Piranha. Or, is it just me?
Aggressive front, can't comment on the rear.

[aniketi]

Good to see there are lots of Ford fans

Originally Posted by anachronix

Its not like we agree on 'No chance now for Ford to revive a market dud' and the market reacts to us. Its making a come back, we can only wait and see.

Well, I am in the market for a car and I have shortlisted only 2 so far. The New Fiesta and a Jetta!

If I am really worried about resale, I cannot buy anything apart from a Maruti. But I love my life more than my car's resale value, I also plan to keep my cars for at least 5 years, after which the resale value wouldn't matter much.

If you have shortlisted new Fiesta, then its good. I don't have to say anything on that, its your own choice. I am not saying its a good car or its a bad car. Point i am making here is that its already a flop car, BIG FLOP, no point in trying to relaunch with minor changes and try to sell it again, which will not happen. This car getting success after relaunch is next to impossible. If it happens, it will be a miracle in Indian Auto Industry.

Originally Posted by pratyush6

If you really want resale, you either have to buy a Maruti or at max a Hyundai. I believe even before you start suing the car, thinking about resale is just going over the top, but hey that's my opinion.

There are many cars which has better resale value other than Maruti, Hyundai. My friend got very good resale value for his Figo as its a successful car. But most flop cars generally has very very poor resale value & its very difficult to sell such cars. Everyone expects some value while resale.

Originally Posted by Zigor

I don't think everyone is looking for a car with resale in mind. Fiesta has very good exterior styling (except boot), excellent fit and finish inside the car and more importantly driver friendly cockpit and awesome road manners. Isn't that a dream for every T'bhpian !
Among the cars you have listed, only Linea stands a chance as far as 'fun to drive' factor stands. Vento is handicapped by electric steering and expensive spares. City is more of a mileage monster than driver's car and Verna is not involving (read scary) at high speeds. So, I think a new Fiesta is always welcome because it clicks for an enthusiast (hope they re-tune the engine)

Note : No offense to owners, every car has good and bad attributes

Earlier version of Fiesta was also good car, right? Then also it failed, that also very badly. So why try again with same car? That's the only point i am trying to make. I am not at all against Fiesta. But on one side Ford is not giving deliveries of EcoSport to customers which are willing to buy one and on the other hand they are trying to sell Fiesta which hardly anyone is willing to buy. Why waste time. Strange strategy for sure.

Originally Posted by suhaas307

I do agree to an extent.

What Ford should have ideally done IMO is shelve the face-lift Fiesta and bring in the new Ford Ka a.k.a. 2015 Figo in its three body styles i.e. hatchback, compact sub-4 meter sedan and the regular saloon.

+1. At least they have good chance here with all new car. People may accept it as they did with Figo, EcoSport.

[vb-saan]

Originally Posted by aniketi

Point i am making here is that its already a flop car, BIG FLOP, no point in trying to relaunch with minor changes and try to sell it again, which will not happen. This car getting success after relaunch is next to impossible. If it happens, it will be a miracle in Indian Auto Industry.

BIG FLOP or not, what’s wrong in giving the customer an additional option to choose from? In my opinion, it’s good that Ford is not giving up on the Fiesta; much better than dropping the model from its India portfolio.
In the new avatar, it may not be a volume seller, but should be a capable option in its segment. And its possible that those long-waiting prospective Ecosport customers may turn into the Fiesta if its reasonably priced and offer good value (instead of looking at the Vento or a City).

[Passiautonate]

Originally Posted by vb-san

BIG FLOP or not, what’s wrong in giving the customer an additional option to choose from? In my opinion, it’s good that Ford is not giving up on the Fiesta; much better than dropping the model from its India portfolio.
In the new avatar, it may not be a volume seller, but should be a capable option in its segment. And its possible that those long-waiting prospective Ecosport customers may turn into the Fiesta if its reasonably priced and offer good value (instead of looking at the Vento or a City).

Alan Mullaly brought the concept of 1 engine/model for global markets, so it is not an India specific model. No harm in milking some juice from Indian market if there are assembly lines which can be utilized for Exports.

They are doing same with Ecosports with around 4-5k deliveries per month and rest being exported to other markets. Correct me if I am wrong but Indian retail operations are not at break even (Ford is incurring losses yearly). I think they are thriving on exports.

Regards,

[deetjohn]

Originally Posted by RavenAvi

The 2014 Fiesta has been spotted at a Ford dealership in Kerala.

Amazing! The launch is very near then. Hope the EPS unit stays as is.

This Fiesta got a very up hill task. But I so badly want this one to succeed here. We have a lot more cars models to chose from compared to the old, but the true driver's cars are slowly disappearing from the scene.

A steady 2000 units each month will be lovely!

[one-77]

I think the Fiesta relaunch can still get some buyers - at least around 1500-2000 a month - *if* Ford prices and markets it aggressively, like they did in the initial days of the Figo. It's a pretty nice car to drive, and the new front looks better than the outgoing one. And the plastics will need improvement from the current levels.

I think Ford will get it right this time.

[84.monsoon]

In US and Europe the same Fiesta sedan sells tons of numbers. It easily outsells the compact Sedans that Toyota and Nissan offer in these markets, although Honda City is not offered in US. So fundamentally it is a great product. If Ford comes out with a killer pricing, say 5.99 lakh for the very well equipped entry diesel that has Abs and driver airbag, it can turn the market upside down and sell huge numbers. It is quite possible since the introductory price for the Ecosport entry level diesel was only 6.75 lakh or so, and the Fiesta has to be cheaper to make compared to the Ecosport.

[itsashishsharma]

Originally Posted by aniketi

I really doubt on that. Do you really think Ford has any chance now? No way .. When there are so many other good cars like new City, Verna, Vento, Linea, etc who will buy this non performing, flop car? If you have to buy one, will you buy it? I doubt. If i am there in the market for new sedan, i will never buy this. I can think of new Linea or new City but surely not Fiesta which is flop from day one. Resale will be a disaster for sure.

The car was good from day one. Ford killed it by pricing it too high. Also, the quality of interiors, overall feel, use of cloth to bind some wires together, it was all 'bad', it was never in league with Honda's City. The new Fiesta was bound to be a flop. Nevertheless, the looks, the design, the diesel engine, the driving pleasure, these things made it a good buy.
So, I have no doubt in saying that if Ford can price it just above the CS segment and below City/Verna and give it better interior/material quality, this car will surely sell in good numbers, much above the 4 figure mark.

[CPJ]

The front end definitely looks good over the previous model and I hope the interior quality has been improved with this new model.

The Fiesta is competent vehicle, all it needed from the beginning was better pricing from Ford and it would have sold in good numbers. I do feel Ford must have learnt their lessons by now and they should give the Fiesta a good fighting chance by pricing it correctly.

[aniketi]

^^^ We are coming to same point again. I never said its a bad car. Point I am making is its a Big Flop car already, then why relaunch it with minor changes? It will surely be a flop again, i have no doubt about that. Even if they reduce the price, no body will buy it. Okay, it will sale few, may be average 200 per month for next few months. Will you call it a success? Will it give any benefits to Ford? Don't think so. It has flopped so much that, Most common people don't even know that such car exists on Indian roads, it's a fact, I am not joking.

[anachronix]

I had been to MPL Ford today to check on the New Fiesta, an executive mentioned about launch on the 20th of this month and deliveries to begin from the end of the month. The car is available for display at the Teynampet showroom. Planning to checkout over the weekend.

[deetjohn]

Originally Posted by 84.monsoon

It is quite possible since the introductory price for the Ecosport entry level diesel was only 6.75 lakh or so, and the Fiesta has to be cheaper to make compared to the Ecosport.

Not easy at all. The EcoSport being a small car has an excise duty of only 8% whereas the Fiesta sedan will command 20%. That in itself puts the Fiesta on the back foot even if the cost of production remains the same for both. We are talking of an additional burden of 84k for Ford on each Fiesta for a factory price of 7L. It is going to be very tricky!

[one-77]

Originally Posted by 84.monsoon

If Ford comes out with a killer pricing, say 5.99 lakh for the very well equipped entry diesel that has Abs and driver airbag, it can turn the market upside down and sell huge numbers. It is quite possible since the introductory price for the Ecosport entry level diesel was only 6.75 lakh or so, and the Fiesta has to be cheaper to make compared to the Ecosport.

I think when Ford launches the new Figo sedan, the base diesel may start at 5.99 lacs. For the Fiesta - which competes with the City, Vento, Verna, etc. - 7.99 will be a great deal.

And no, the Eco-Sport which is a hatch based on the Fiesta and is lesser than 4 metres in length should be considerably cheaper to make just owing to the 12% lower tax it incurs. Even then, 6.75 was only a gimmick to grab people's attention. Hardly anyone got their car at that price. By the time deliveries were made, Ford had jacked up the price multiple times.