Ford is playing a familiar tune with the new Fiesta. It goes like this: Take a hot product from the European portfolio, adapt the car to U.S. regulations, and spread the development cost over another continent. It sounds simple, but the Focus and the Contour—Ford’s previous attempts at a “world car”—showed the complications associated with that orchestration. The Contour’s size (and especially its back seat) was too small for American tastes, and the Focus, while a sales success, was plagued by recalls in the switch to North American production.

With the Fiesta, Ford is hoping three’s the charm. We drove the European version of the car, and our impression is that it has what it takes to be a hit. We’ll see if that’s still true when production begins early next year at Ford’s plant in Cuautitlán, Mexico.

At 155.5 inches long, the Fiesta is 19 inches and change shorter than a Focus sedan and plays in the subcompact segment with the likes of the Honda Fit. Both the Fiesta and the Fit have the same basic jelly-bean silhouette, which maximizes inter­ior space, but the Honda, with an extra 6.1 inches of length and marvelous folding rear seats, wins on cargo size and versatility. When folded, the Fiesta’s rear seats don’t make a flat load floor, but the Honda’s do. Read more »