Fiesta vs Focus

[LilCe98]

Before the new US Focus showed its sexy self i was pretty sure I was going to get a Fiesta, but now I'm leaning more towards waiting for the Focus. This led me to think what's the point of having both of these cars? Is the Fiesta significantly smaller and cheaper than the new Focus will be? If not isn't Ford shooting itself in the foot and committing automotive cannibalism? Can someone fill me in on the reasoning?

[LilCe98]

Wow I forgot I made this post. I'm surprised no one has an opinion about the topic tho. I can't be the only one who has thought about this :shrug:

[daenku32]

Well, I ended up putting money where the mouth hits the road back in January and bought the new '10 Focus. Just the very basic model, but with the special incentives it was about as much as a Fiesta would have cost in its basic form.

So overall I'm pleased with it.

[Gerald]

The Fiesta is a lot smaller than the current Focus (and this should hold true for the '12 Focus). It's also great on gas and a ton of fun to drive. Comparing base models MSRPs, the Fiesta sedan is $13320 vs $16290 for the '10 Focus sedan (what happened to the hatchback?) - this is not a small difference. However, incentives can also play a part in the decision factor - you won't see much in the way of incentives for the Fiesta being that it's so new, whereas I'd expect to see some incentives for the Focus especially as we approach the US release of the '12 model. So it could very well be that right now, the Focus sedan is a better value. However, I would expect this to change with the introduction of the '12 Focus, and I suspect that Ford will use that opportunity to move the Focus upmarket a bit.

Getting back to the price thing, I noticed that the US MRSP on the Fiesta hatchback is $15120. I'm a bit surprised by the premium they are placing on the hatch - perhaps it comes with more standard features compared to the sedan? (I don't have time to do a detailed comparison right now). This is reversed from other parts of the world, where the hatch is a viewed as the economy model and a bit cheaper than the sedan (which makes sense from a component cost perspective, as the sedan is longer than the hatch).

So if you're comparing the Fiesta hatch with the Focus sedan, I can understand your misgivings about the price. But it looks like Ford US is positioning the Fiesta hatch as a premium/sporty product, so that explains the pricing. And as such, by not offering the Focus hatch (by the way, when did they stop offering the Focus hatch in the US?) there is no cannibalism there.

I think I've said it before, but if you have a family and this is going to be your only car, then Fiesta is not it. On the otherhand, if what you need is an economical commute fighter and/or something fun to drive, then Fiesta should be high on your list.