Ford Fiesta

Ford Fiesta at a glance

The Fiesta sits in our Ford catalogue; the new Ford Fiesta sedan has its own page. Its classic rival, the Volkswagen Polo, can be set against it side by side in our Fiesta vs Polo comparison or in our comparison tool.

How many Fiesta generations are there

The answer depends on who counts. English Wikipedia uses Mk1 to Mk7: the 2017–2023 car is the seventh generation, although British buyers call it the Mk8. The ADAC catalogue and Wikipedia DE list eight generations, because they treat the 1999 facelift of the 1995 car as a generation of its own. This article follows the EN numbering.

Mk1 to Mk3: the small car that won Europe

The Fiesta started as project "Bobcat". Henry Ford II approved it in September 1972, production was signed off in December 1973, and the name was announced in December 1975. Pilot production began in Cologne in April 1976, and series production followed in October 1976 at the new Almussafes plant near Valencia and at Dagenham. In Britain the car went on sale on 2 February 1977, with the basic 950 cc model priced from £1,856 in 1977. The millionth Fiesta was built in 1979.

The first car was a 3,565 mm three-door hatchback on a 2,286 mm wheelbase with Valencia four-cylinder engines of 957 cc and 1,117 cc, the smallest giving 30 kW (41 PS). The 1.3 Supersport arrived for 1980, and the XR2 of 1981 used a 1.6 Crossflow engine with 62 kW (84 PS). In the United States Ford sold the Fiesta from 1978 to 1980 with the 1.6 engine and emissions equipment.

The 1983 Mk2 introduced CVH engines, a lean-burn 1.4, the first diesel Fiesta (1.6 litres) and, from 1987, the CTX continuously variable automatic. The XR2 moved to the 1.6 CVH with 71 kW (97 PS). The Mk3 of 1989 was new from the ground up: it finally offered five doors, a torsion-beam rear axle and a fuel-injected XR2i with 76 kW (103 PS) with a catalytic converter. The 1991 RS Turbo used a 1.6 CVH turbo with 97 kW (132 PS). What Car? named the Mk3 its Car of the Year in 1989, and Britain bought more Fiestas than any other car in 1990 and 1991.

Mk4 and Mk5: Zetec engines and the first ST

The 1995 Mk4 (code BE91) brought new styling and the 16-valve Zetec-SE 1.25 and 1.4 petrol engines, alongside the older Endura-E 1.3 and the Endura-DE diesel. Its design was shared with the Mazda 121, and a four-door sedan was added for some markets. The 1999 facelift is what German sources count as a separate fifth generation.

The Mk5 of 2002, unveiled on 1 April 2002, was the first Fiesta with ABS and a passenger airbag as standard and the first sold in Asia and Australasia; Brazil built it until 2014. Petrol engines were Duratec units from 1.25 to 2.0 litres; the diesels were Duratorq TDCi engines developed with PSA. Its Fiesta ST had a 2.0-litre Duratec with 110 kW (150 PS) and a top speed of 208 km/h. Wikipedia describes this generation as the best-selling Fiesta up to that time.

Mk6: a global car with EcoBoost

The sixth generation (B299 hatchback, B409 sedan) was previewed by the Verve concept of 2007 and went into production in August 2008. Under Ford's "One Ford" plan it became a global model built in Cologne, Valencia, Mexico, Brazil, China, Thailand and India; North America received it from 2010 as a sedan and hatchback. In its first two years more than 940,000 were sold, 86 % of them in Europe. What Car? and Auto Express named it Car of the Year in 2009, and Britain's best-seller list was headed by the Fiesta every year from 2009 to 2020.

The 2013 facelift brought the trapezoidal grille and the 1.0-litre EcoBoost three-cylinder with 74 kW (100 PS), 92 kW (125 PS) and later 103 kW (140 PS). Euro NCAP gave the car five stars in 2012.

Mk7: the last Fiesta, 2017–2023

The final generation was unveiled in Cologne on 29 November 2016, production started there on 16 May 2017 and sales began in July 2017. It was bigger and more upmarket: 4,040–4,068 mm long on a 2,493 mm wheelbase, with the Vignale luxury version, the raised Fiesta Active and an ST-Line trim. It received five Euro NCAP stars in its 2017 test. The 1.0 EcoBoost became a 48-volt mild hybrid with an 11.5 kW belt-driven starter-generator; output rose to 114 kW (155 PS) from 2020.

A facelift with matrix LED headlights and a digital instrument cluster followed in 2022, and the three-door and van were dropped that spring. In October 2022 Ford announced the end, and on 7 July 2023 the last Fiesta was built in Cologne, a plant that Ford converted for electric cars. Martin Sander, head of Ford Model E Europe, linked the decision to Ford's shift to electric cars. The Fiesta and Fusion together had 1,140,642 new registrations in Germany from 1999 to 2024, with the best year in 2009 (102,571).

Fiesta ST: the hot hatch line

The Mk6 ST could overboost to 147 kW for up to 15 seconds in some markets, and Top Gear named the Fiesta ST its Car of the Year in 2013 and again in 2019. The last ST came only with a six-speed manual, with a limited-slip differential available from 2018, and its torque rose to 320 Nm for 2022–2023.

Engines and dimensions of the last two generations

Photo gallery