Ford Defies Critics of EcoBoost Fiesta

2014 Ford Fiesta Econetic (Euro) (Credit: © Ford)

Anytime an automaker dares to try something drastically different, there is always a willing group of critics who are ready to pronounce it a huge failure before the venture has even been launched. Such was the case with the new Ford Fiesta EcoBoost, which uses a 1.0-liter EcoBoost turbocharged engine teamed up with a manual transmission. Critics said that nobody would want to plunk their hard-earned money for the car, which does not promise loads of luxury or 80 mpg on the highway.

It turns out that Ford has defied such critics, reporting that the car is making up about 4 to 8 percent of all Fiesta sales. While that might sound like an underwhelming amount, it mirrors the percentage of Fiesta ST sales, which is a darling of car reviewers. In other words, the Fiesta EcoBoost is far from a complete failure.

Still, some automotive market experts estimate that Ford’s other EcoBoost models enjoy somewhere between 35 and 40 percent of retail sales for the automaker. For example, Ford has been revolutionizing the light truck market as it has been pushing V6 engine sales in the market segment far more than the competition.

According to Ford, the big thing that has been limiting sales of the Fiesta EcoBoost has been engine availability. Apparently, it cannot build enough of the 1.0-liter engines to keep up with demand for the popular Fiesta. For those who know, the engine is incredibly popular in Europe, where it is used in multiple models instead of just in the Fiesta. The factory in Cologne, Germany where the 1.0-liter EcoBoost is produced doubled production last year and now makes 1,000 engines a day, but that increase has not been enough. The availability of the engine should be further restricted as Ford offers an EcoBoost Focus in the latter part of 2014 with the same 1.0-liter engine.