Ford Fiesta
The Ford Fiesta is a subcompact front wheel drive car that has been popular in Europe for decades. Ford have now made the model available world wide and are clearly hoping that high gas prices have created a demand for subcompacts in markets where they haven't traditionally been successful. Since high fuel prices seem likely to be here to stay this seems like a reasonable approach by Ford.
In response to rising gas prices in the early seventies Ford introduced the Fiesta as small fuel efficient car. The Fiesta quickly became popular and was one of Fords best selling Vehicles, however as gas prices fell in eighties demand for small cars declined. The Fiesta remained popular in Europe where gas prices have always been high however the car was discontinued in North America due to slow sales. In 2010 the situation had changed again and high gas prices made small cars popular again, so Ford has reintroduced the Fiesta.
High gas prices as well as an increased awareness of the need to reduce carbon emissions has resulted in a new demand for fuel efficient cars. In many quarters this has led people to consider hybrids, but they come with their own issues. In many cases the best option is to buy a small car with a very fuel efficient engine. This has been standard practice in Europe for many years so most manufacturers already have these types of cars in production that they can bring over to North America as demand warrants it. In the case of Ford they have the Fiesta, long a popular vehicle in Europe it is now available in North America where Ford hopes that it's excellent gas Mileage will help to make it a big seller.
Apparently Ford believe there is a limit to how many people are interested in a fuel efficient vehicle since they are not making their ECOnetic model of the Fiesta available. The Fiesta ECOnetic has a filter on the engine and along with a lower weight and better aerodynamics it gets dramatically better mileage and produces fewer emissions. In fact the Fiesta ECOnetic out performed a number of hybrids in tests of it's fuel mileage and emissions. Unfortunately to produce it for the North American market Ford would require a major upgrade of their factory. They don't believe they will sell enough cars to justify the expense so the ECOnetic will not be available in North America.
Ford have gone on a major marketing campaign to promote the Fiesta in North America and are clearly hoping that increased environmental awareness and high fuel prices have made it the right time to reintroduce the model. There have been rumours that a diesel version is on the way for 2012, another sign that Ford believes there has been a shift in what the North American car buyer is looking for as diesels have not normally done well on this side of the Atlantic. Only time will tell if Ford is right in this judgement.