Ford Fiesta (2011) US Spec leaks

Pitures of what appears to be the 2011 US Spec Fiesta have leaked ahead of launch

Pictures of the 2011 US Spec Ford Fiesta have leaked out ahead of its launch this week, and seem to show a very ‘Americanized’ Fiesta.

Ford have played a long game with the introduction to the US market of Europe’s favourite small car – the Ford Fiesta. They’ve run a very savvy social media campaign and had a whole heap of Fiestas running round the US in the hands of bloggers and other social media types – The Fiesta Movement – to get coverage for the Fiesta ahead of its launch at the LA Auto Show this week.

But it looks like Ford in Canada have jumped the gun this afternoon and let loose pictures of the US spec Fiesta before its official reveal. And on the face of it, it does look like our worst fears for the US Fiesta have been realised.

At the beginning of October we reported that Ford were intending launching the Fiesta in LA in December, but we wondered if Ford would ‘Americanize’ the Fiesta to such an extent that it would lose the appeal it had. Would they graft on a boot (they have, but I suppose that was a given)? Would they downgrade the trim? Would they soften the suspension?

We don’t yet know if they’ve done any of these – apart from the boot – but they certainly seem to have spoiled the looks. The nose gets a dreadful three-bar grill; the front fogs go to be replaced by a pair of chrome scoops and the whole car looks like a generic Japanese offering. Oh, dear.

When we ran the piece about our fears back in October we decided to speak to John Neff, editor of Autoblog in the States, as we figured he’d be better positioned to judge how much ‘Americanizing’ Ford would do on the Fiesta. John reckoned that apart from a few regulatory necessities to the bumpers and lights he didn’t think Ford would break what already works by some old-school tinkering. He did say they wouldn’t bring the diesel versions to the States, but they would keep the Euro styling, suspension and trim.

If this is the Fiesta that shows up in LA this week there will be some pretty disappointed US Fiesta lovers. John Neff included.