Ford Ka+

[2o6]

This car has been sold in Brazil for a little while now, but here's the EU version with stepped up quality and a few changes for the European market.



Possibly, maybe it'll come to the states? Idk the Spark and Mirage are doing well by themselves but IDK if Ford wants to get in this market, since this car comes from India. (Built in the same factory in the rumored-for-USA Ford Ecosport, which is pretty much panned in every European country it's sold in)


http://www.autobild.de/artikel/ford-ka-2016-vorstellung-4452301.html

https://www.netcarshow.com/ford/2017-ka_plus/

[12,000 RPM]

Wow, that looks cheap from here. Fiesta is already too small.... unless this comes in at like $10K with A/C and power windows/locks it's gonna bomb.

[ifcar]

Wow, that looks cheap from here. Fiesta is already too small.... unless this comes in at like $10K with A/C and power windows/locks it's gonna bomb.

It would allow the next-gen Fiesta to move upscale. The current one was supposed to be a premium-ish subcompact, but it's ended up needing big discounts to attract people who just want the cheapest Ford. Then the cheapest-possible niche as well as the small-but-nicer niche are both covered, as long as this Ka+ is at all adequate.

[2o6]

Wow, that looks cheap from here. Fiesta is already too small.... unless this comes in at like $10K with A/C and power windows/locks it's gonna bomb.

The Fiesta is getting bigger - the next gen Fiesta has already been spied, being bigger.


Also these subcompact cars get really expensive quickly - the  (they don't make an LTZ manual hatch anymore! WTF) equivalent Sonic LT manual is like 20K.



It could work....but being originally a South American and Indian market car, it may suck balls. But the Spark III (Us Spark MK1) was originally meant for India, and people still bought it here in the US.

[Raza]

With some bigger wheels, that'll look pretty good.

[veeman]

The article you posted (at least the one in English) didn't specifically mention anything regarding safety/crash tests.  Given the recent disastrous crash test results of cars specifically meant for the Indian market by many different companies, and that this car is made in India, the "upgrades" made for the European and potentially American market my guess are structural. 

In any case, I doubt it's coming here.  Americans don't like small cars.  Gas is cheap. 

[Payman]

[12,000 RPM]

Mitsubishi customers operate on parameters that are unique, I'd imagine.

Ford would do better to either make the Fiesta significantly bigger or can it entirely in the US market and figure out how to make a $14K Focus. For better or worse Americans buy cars by the cubic foot and lb.... this is why the Versa outsells all the other subcompacts by over 2x.

[2o6]

Mitsubishi customers operate on parameters that are unique, I'd imagine.

Ford would do better to either make the Fiesta significantly bigger or can it entirely in the US market and figure out how to make a $14K Focus. For better or worse Americans buy cars by the cubic foot and lb.... this is why the Versa outsells all the other subcompacts by over 2x.

2015 Fiesta Sales, US - 64K

2015 Versa Sales - 144K

2015 Sonic Sales - 64K (last year was 85K, and the Sonic hasn't had an update)

Granted the Versa sells like 140K, but it is garbage, is a fleet queen, and Nissan has a lot of incentives for this model. Also 64K is still a lot of units. That's as many as some European countries.



But this would be going against the Spark and Mirage

Spark 2015 - 32K (no mean feat, considering this car is also trash)

Mirage 2015 - 21K (Mitsubishi had originally only aimed to sell 7K per year!)



Small sales doesn't necessarily mean = stop selling entirely. Considering that the US is often auxiliary markets. The Fiesta is the UK's best selling car, and in 2015, the moved 131K units.


Chevy and Ford moved as many Fiestas and Sonics as much as almost then entire Volvo Lineup (70K)

[2o6]

Especially since other markets usually finance and pay off the tooling for said models. Any US sales of these models is usually just bonus points, tbh.


Fiesta VII will likely used a revised chassis of Fiesta VI, and be leveraged against a variant with shocks which will likely double the chassis' appeal.


Sonic I is actually a revised Opel design with Korean and American input - a revised Opel design that was initially developed with Fiat's help back in 2005.



The Versa uses a cheapo "V-platform" that is used on pretty much every new B and C-segment car that's supposed to be cheap. And they've got a new SUV thingy coming out based on the Versa, Micra, Versa Note.


The Fiesta's fine. It has it's market.

[12,000 RPM]

They gotta do something about that back seat man. I would rock a Fiesta ST but I can't fit an infant seat back there. Meanwhile the Fit + Versa Note have 8" more legroom and a good bit more cargo space within about the same body length. Non ST Fiesta is not good enough to overcome those issues and making it more premium wouldn't get it there...... it would just get killed by the Focus....