Ford Fiesta: Good car, bad ad

Despite the atrocious television spot, we believe the Fiesta brings good tidings for Ford India.

OUR AUTOMOBILES EDITOR
2nd December 2005

I have to say this - the Ford Fiesta 'Go Fida' ad is pretty lame.

In the advertisement, at 1 a.m., a fida Abhishek Bachchan wakes up two people in lab costs, who give him a Ford Fiesta for a test drive. The female labcoat tells the male labcoat, "This is crazy!". The male labcoat responds, "No, fida!" and the female labcoat laughs, wonderstruck, "Oh, Fida!!" Like that explains everything. And then basically the car drives through the darkness to forgettable music. And you really can't see the car well.

If this was a cartoon strip, the next frame would have a person kicking the TV set in frustration. THWACK.

Maybe the idea is to get you curious enough to drive your Zen to the Ford showroom just to see it, as the ad definitely doesn't show you what the car looks like.

I've been dying to see what the Ford Fiesta looks like in profile. You see, there are the blob cars and the wedge cars. The Indigo is a blob car in profile. Fiat petra is a blob car in profile. The Octavia is a wedge car in profile, and so is the Chevrolet Optra. The Honda City is a blobby cockroach car in profile, with scales and all, but still a blob. I can't decide whether I like a car or not, till I know if it's a blob or a wedge. the ads of the Fiesta in the paper are from the third three quarter view, and from that angle, you can't decide if a car is a wedge or a blob. You can't decide from the TV ad spot either; but Abhishek bachchan, for a change, doesn't look like he has a wedgie as he usually does.

(This is what happens when you write an auto story after a joint. Please not to repeat: Ed.)

Okay. Who should take another look at the Ford Fiesta? If you were considering the Honda City versions or the Chevrolet Optra, or the Hyundai Accent, you should consider the Ford Fiesta. Remember that neither the Honda city or Optra offers you diesel engines. And for that dull looking (but well-performing) Hyundai Accent or Viva CRDi, now you have an option. For those of you who have been wondering about the Skoda Octavia diesel, you may have a better and faster diesel engine here, and at several lakhs less.

Let's come to the pricing. The base model of the Ford Fiesta petrol is priced at 5.59 lakhs. The Fiesta 1.6-liter petrol (ZXI model) would be priced at Rs 6.29 lakhs and the 1.6-liter petrol Fiesta (SXI model) at Rs 6.89 lakhs. The diesel Ford Fiesta with a 1400 cc engine would be available at Rs 6.99 lakhs (ex-showroom). Very confusingly for me, Ford has also said that they plan to sell equal numbers of the Ford Fiesta petrol and diesel versions. What the..? If the diesel is priced close to the petrol and the performance and fuel efficiency is decent, the Indian auto buyer almost always go for the diesel. Everyone and his dog knows that. Does Ford know something we don't?

Anyway Ford India has announced that they have received 2000 bookings for the Fiesta so far. Pretty good. And 65% of those are for the diesel version. So much for that statement.

The 1.4 liter diesel engine for the Ford Fiesta is being imported from Europe. This particular turbo diesel engine has been developed in association with Peugeot-Citroen. We haven't come across any road tests of the Ford Fiesta - diesel or petrol - by any of the Indian automobile magazines so far. Most of what I have seen are driving impressions and it is too early for us to pass any kind of verdict on the engines on offer, or the car itself.

We will keep you updated on any more information such as road tests or other impressions of the Ford Fiesta as they come by.

Ford India now has its fifth product in the Fiesta. The others are Ikon, Mondeo, Fusion and Endeavour. There is also a bit of vague information we have come across via PTI that Ford may consider making hybrid cars in India. Let's not pin any hopes on that one.

Meanwhile, if you want to take a good look at the Fiesta, don't try to catch it in the TV ad or even in the newspaper ad. Just go to that showroom. And drop us a line about what you think.

OUR AUTOMOBILES EDITOR