Ford India was expected to launch the Fiesta Automatic at the 2012 Auto Expo. Instead the company chose the event to unveil the EcoSport to the world. Not to let the EcoSport drown the enthusiasm of the Fiesta Automatic, the American automaker decided to keep the launch for later. Now Ford India has updated its website with the Fiesta Automatic. The company will be announcing prices anytime soon and we can expect a launch as soon as next week. The Ford Fiesta Automatic is available in petrol guise only as the developing an automatic gearbox for the 1.5-litre DuraTorq diesel engine does not make economic sense for the company.

The Ford Fiesta Automatic uses a 6-speed PowerShift transmission, which returns 16.86 km/l. This mileage is claimed to be better then some manual cars due to the electro-mechanical controls. The Fiesta Automatic also features Creep function and hill/grade assist. The hill launch assist uses the ABS brakes to hold the Fiesta for 2.5 seconds when traveling uphill, thereby preventing rolling back. You can read the complete review of the Ford Fiesta Automatic here.

Ford’s over optimistic pricing with the all new Fiesta has not worked and the company is resorting to discounts on the petrol variant yet again. When Ford launched the all new Fiesta in July 2011, everyone was waiting for a cracker of a pricing, believing Ford would do a Figo in the C-segment. However Ford chose otherwise and priced the all new Fiesta over and above the best seller, Honda City. Now Honda City is not only a more powerful car but also commands huge brand value, being the segment leader for most part of the last decade. In October, Ford announced a discount of Rs. 50,000/- on the petrol Fiesta, which did not do the trick. Now the American automaker is offering a discount of upto Rs.75,000/-. This discount is not completely cash though and involves free insurance, free accessories, exchange bonus and EMIs holiday.

The all new Ford Fiesta petrol is now cheaper than the Honda City with the discounts. However offering discounts is not the best way to ensure long term brand equity, as this tends to hit the resale of the car big time. One of the reasons why Toyota has managed to ensure fantastic resale value on its product is its no discount strategy. That is another thing altogether, that the Japanese automaker has got its pricing bang on all the time (not with the Etios though). The Fiesta Automatic will be arriving early next year and will be priced at a premium of Rs. 75,000/-. If Ford corrects the pricing of the Fiesta soon, they can price the Automatic Fiesta at the current non-discounted Fiesta petrol prices. This will not only help Ford in boosting its sales but will also help it position the Focus and Mondeo at the right prices.

The new Ford Fiesta’s poor sales can’t be blamed at the product. The car is very competent and is one of the best when it comes to styling, technology and driving dynamics. Power for the Fiesta petrol comes in from a 1.5-liter, TI-VCT motor which produces 109 PS of power at 6045 RPM and 140 Nm of torque at 4500 RPM. Mated to a 5-speed manual trasnmission, the Ford Fiesta petrol reaches 100 kmph in 11 odd seconds and has a top speed of around 170 kmph. With an ARAI certified mileage of 17 kmpl, the Fiesta just needs a price correction to ensure it flies out of the showroom as quickly as its engine is capable of flying on the road!

Car tested: 2012 Ford Fiesta Petrol Automatic

Price OTR Mumbai: Rs. 11,80,000/- (est.)

When a global automotive giant gets an automatic variant in one of its most fun to drive cars, what do you really expect? You expect the convenience of an automatic gearbox which certainly reduces the stress of driving, especially in the over crowded metro cities. In the past, automatics have not been favorites when it comes to fuel efficiency and one does expect a drop in the mileage as compared to the manual counterpart and for those who mimic Sebastian Vettel in the drivers seat, an automatic transmission does takes away the fun of driving. Well, things seem to have changed a bit. Ford has introduced the latest 6 Speed, Dual clutch gearbox in the all new Fiesta, besides being the segment first dual clutch gearbox, it promises to deliver similar fuel efficiency to the manual variant and also preserves the fun of driving, which is the basic DNA of the Fiesta. We take the new Fiesta AT for a spin around Goa and find out!

Ford has introduced a new colour in the Fiesta range, Paprika Red, and it looks stunning. The pictures unfortunately dont do justice to it and you have to see it on ground to appreciate it. This new colour will be available across all Fiesta variants.

Besides the Automatic transmission, the Fiesta get all new black leather upholstery, which not only looks sporty but is extremely comfortable too.

Mated to this gearbox is the same TiVCT petrol engine with the same power output of 110 Bhp and 140 NM torque. The 6 speed dual clutch gearbox is a segment first. Famous dual clutch gearboxes in the business are the DSG gearboxes, which are only available in D segment cars, such as the Skoda Laura, VW Jetta, Skoda Superb, VW Passat etc. Coming back to the ‘C’ segment, there is no competition with respect to this gearbox as the entire competition uses the single clutch automatic transmission which have a considerable lag between shifts. Few cars which provide an Automatic Transmission are the VW Vento, Maruti SX4, Hyundai Verna and the soon to be launched Skoda Rapid.

The only company which offers an automatic in diesel guise is the Hyundai Verna, which is a 4 Speed transmission. Ford has launched the Fiesta Automatic in the petrol variant for now and have not ruled out a Diesel automatic in the future. In European countries, its the petrol automatic which brings in the volumes for a company and setting up a manufacturing facility for a diesel is not profitable if it is country specific. The rising fuel prices have been a concern not only for consumers but for manufacturers too. The Fiesta’s AT (code DPS6) is touted to deliver almost the same fuel efficiency as the manual variant and is built to last. Ford claims that it can run absolutely untouched for 10 years and 2,40,000 km. It works on the ‘Dry Clutch’ principle and needs absolutely no service or maintenance. There is a separate computer which controls the transmission and the ECU and transmission computer coordinate to get the best drive out of any given situation. In extreme conditions, which you are highly unlikely to experience, the transmission computer will warn you if the gearbox temperatures soar beyond limit and requires you to shut the car and cool it down.

Getting behind the wheel, there are 2 drive modes, ‘D’ and ‘L’ (besides the reverse obviously). The first clutch controls odd gears such as 1,3,5 and the second clutch controls even gears such as 2,4,6 and Reverse. In the ‘D’ mode, at low speeds there is absolutely no lag, the car shifts upward with confidence and you can also feed the throttle in gently to get the car to upshift at a lower RPM. The amount of pressure on the accelerator will decide how the car behaves, floor it completely and the car hits the rev limiter and zooms ahead. Its the same story at high speeds too. At moderate speeds, if you want to overtake on the highway, there is a slight lag before the car pulls ahead. This lag is attributed to the fact that the car has to go down a couple of gears to give you the ideal exit out of the situation and petrol engines have a very poor low end torque (as compared to diesels) which leads to this slight lag, mind you, it would take more time to shift down in a manual transmission and this is where the ‘L’ mode comes into play.

Most Automatics have a ‘S’ mode, sports mode as most like to call it, however Ford calls it ‘L’ mode. You can equate it to sports mode if you like, but in this mode the car goes into the lowest possible gear for that given speed, giving you maximum torque available at that point. This comes handy while overtaking, just slot the car into ‘L’ and you will be past in a jiffy. There are no paddles or tiptronic option to shift manually but i didn’t really miss it as i was having a good time in ‘D’ mode itself.

There was a twisty ghat section en route the drive and the Fiesta was a pleasure to drive around these tight curves. IT handles handles beautifully and the AT proved to be more fun to drive than the manual one. At the end of it i had a big smile on my face and so did most of my compatriots on the drive.

Ford has added two more small features along with the gearbox, Hill assist and Hill hold. Hill assist can be turned on with the help of a small button on the gear knob, as shown, and it works by giving you engine braking by increasing the RPM and maintaining speed while going down a steep slope.

I tried it myself and it works very well, you have to dab the brake pedal to get it working and it gives you more control of the car in downhill situations.

Hill hold is another useful feature and will be greatly appreciated by the ladies, elderly and those who find themselves rolling backwards while driving up a hill in start stop situations. It extremely simple to use too, all you have to do is press the brake pedal and release it. The car will hold its position for exactly 2.5 seconds before rolling back, giving you ample time to get onto the gas pedal and accelerate away. Getting into the mechanics, once you are on the brakes, its the ABS which remains engaged and prevents the car from going backwards. I spent a lot of time which the Ford Team from from Shanghai who had developed this gearbox and it was a really interesting to know what really goes through before a company comes out with such a competent product.

Without any doubt, the new Powershift gearbox (DPS6)  is the best in the segment. Having driven the Fiesta in the city, highway and around the twisties, it certainly retains the fun to drive aspect of the car and also proves to be more enjoyable than its manual counterpart. Cruise control works much better with the automatic variant and even on steep gradient changes, the gearbox works efficiently to keep the speed constant. Fuel efficiency remains more or less unchanged and the stress free driving is a pleasure. You can even brush aside the maintenance worries as the gearbox is built to last a lifetime. It is expected to hit the road in the early part of next year. If and if only, Ford had a diesel option with the automatic, it would be to die for.

Whats Cool

* Flawless Automatic
* Hill Hold
* Hill Assist
* Zero maintenance on gearbox

Whats Not So Cool

* Only offered in petrol variant
* No tiptronic or paddles

You can check out the in depth review of the new Ford Fiesta here.

The news of Ford going to launch the Fiesta Automatic sedan is already out in the market. But whether they will be bringing the automatic gearbox to both the petrol and diesel versions or any one is not clear still. Also, when it comes to choosing an auto, Ford has the option of offering the conventional 5 speed or a brand new 6 speed. However, there are some indications that Ford might bring the Powershift Gearbox. Ford will be first company to offer this kind of a transmission in this segment. Till date this kind of gearboxes are offered by Volkswagen and Skoda in cars like the Laura and the Jetta which are higher up in the segment.

The down side to this might be a hefty price tag coming along with the Fiesta Automatic. The official launch of the Auto version is expected to happen sometime this month. Currently Ford has created ripples across the industry with the launch of their new Fiesta which carried a refreshed exterior and interior styling, with loads of features that were a segment-first like the cruise control, a voice command car entertainment interface and the pull-drift adjusting electric power steering. We hope Ford can successfully bring in this piece of technology to the Indian customers at an attractive pricing. There were some issues related to the powershift gearbox from customers abroad which Ford has claimed to resolve with necessary fixes.

Update (7/11/2011) – At the media drive, Ford has conveyed that the Fiesta will indeed be getting a dual-clutch 6-speed automatic gearbox for the petrol variant. This will be launched in January, 2012 and will cost Rs. 75,000/- more than the existing variants. The Fiesta Automatic has hill start assist and will boast of excellent fuel economy, but lack of diesel automatic a surprise.

Ford India plans to launch an automatic version of the new Fiesta in November, 2011. The Ford Fiesta has been doing just about average numbers as buyers have not taken to its premium pricing quite well. Furthermore, the Fluidic Hyundai Verna came, saw and conquered the segment the C-segment. Hyundai offered automatic variants of the Verna at launch itself, which was a smart move as many buyers prefer automatic variants in the C-segment.

Now Ford India plans to launch both the petrol and diesel Fiestas with an automatic gearbox next month. Ford will offer the automatic transmission on the top of the line Titanium Plus models only, with the AT variants adding close to Rs. 75,000/- to the price. The Fiesta Automatic will get a 5-speed Durashift gearbox, which is expected to be an excellent alternative to the Verna’s 4-speed auto. Fuel efficiency will play a key role in the success of the AT Fiesta and going by what the manual Fiesta delivers, we can expect the Automatic version to be quite frugal too.

It’s the festive season now and all car makers are gearing up to offer attractive discounts on their models to pull customers towards themselves. The latest addition to this discount race is the Ford Fiesta petrol sedan which is getting a discount of Rs.50,000. However, this is not a surprising move from Ford considering the low sales figures of the sedan. The low sales can be mainly attributed to the higher pricing it has been saddled with. Ford India is doing its best to attract customers with their ad campaigns portraying the real life experiences of the new features the car offers.

While this strategy does manage to garner some customers but is nowhere as expected or near to its competitors apart from the SX4 which sold significantly less due to labour issues at Maruti’s Manesar plant. Coupled with that is the rising cost of petrol that have made the demand totally subdued. As a product, the new Fiesta is a very great car to look at and also robustly built. It has got a good handling performance and many new class features like voice assist, cruise control and pull drift compensation steering. Ford India is also offering exchange bonus, free insurance and accessories that are worth over Rs. 50,000/- on the new Fiesta petrol. The offer is valid till 31st October, 2011. So hurry and book your new Fiesta today!!

Ford India has received good response for its latest offerings, the Figo and the new Fiesta. The company plans to launch eight new models by 2015. These new models will include the Focus, Mondeo and a small car below the Figo. The company also plans to launch a premium hatchback above the Figo. This premium hatchback will be the Ford Fiesta hatchback which will be priced around Rs. 6-8 lakhs and will compete with the new Maruti Swift, Volkswagen Polo, Hyundai i20 and Fiat Grande Punto. The Fiesta hatchback is sold in Europe as well as America and rivals the Honda Jazz internationally.

The Ford Fiesta hatchback will be powered by the same engines which do duty on the current Fiesta. The 1.5-liter diesel and 1.5-liter petrol motors are good options for the Fiesta hatchback. However the petrol won’t get excise concessions and thus Ford plans to plonk in a re-tuned version of the Figo’s 1.2-liter powerplant. The entry level variants will get the 1.2-liter petrol motor, while the higher variants will get the 1.5-liter petrol motor. Every feature of the Fiesta sedan will make it to the hatchback but the American automaker might remove premium features like voice activated controls and cruise control to reduce costs. Meanwhile checkout the most comprehensive review of the Fiesta hatchback below.

The Ford Fiesta was launched in India in 2005 but was originally launched in 1976. The Fiesta turns 35 today and has sold more than 15 million units across the globe. Currently in its sixth generation, we in India have got three generations of the Fiesta (the Ikon, Fiesta Classic and the 2011 Fiesta). The company is offering slight cosmetic changes to both the exteriors and interiors in Europe to celebrate the birthday of the Fiesta. The Ford Fiesta has been Europe’s best selling small car in 2009 and 2010, contributing to a significant part of car sales for Ford Europe.

“The Fiesta is a special car that has a special place in the hearts of European customers and car lovers around the world. It’s a testament to the original Fiesta from 1976 and the engineers who have developed and improved the car through more than three decades that the Fiesta remains one of the world’s most popular cars. Times and technologies have changed, but as long as the Fiesta continues to deliver the style, economy and performance elements that have been present from the very beginning, it will remain an enduring success,” Roelant de Waard, VP, Marketing, Sales and Service, Ford Europe, said.