Ford Fiesta ST Concept is production ready!

If your into small cars and ones that actually, go fast, and are efficient at the same time, you'll be excited by the new Ford Fiesta ST! Ford have taken the wraps off the model that will go on sale in Canada and the U.S. probably some time next year.

ST stands for "Sport Technologies" and engineers have been busy making the Fiesta a meaner and leaner little beastie. They say that a concept version Fiesta ST and a production ready Fiesta ST were shown and released at the same time in Frankfurt, but we've only seen one set of pictures and assume they can't look that different.
The Fiesta ST will go on sale in over 40 countries world wide and is part of Ford's Global Product plan that will extend new performance vehicles into new markets.

ST stands for more:

• Power
• Handling
• Braking
• Colours
• Exterior Styling bits
• Interior Styling bits
• Driver Oriented Features

All this means that the Fiesta ST will be able to take on the Fiat 500 Abarth and Mini Cooper S's of the world in the near future.

Said to be inspired by the Fiesta WRC Race Car, the Fiesta ST Concept is now carrying along an Eco-Boost engine.  And Eco-Boost obviously means turbo charging, so we'll see a small turbo application here. A 1.6l - 4 cylinder with 177 HP and 177 lb-ft of torque will be the weapon that it brings to the gun fight, along with a 6-Speed transmission.

No mention of what modifications are being made to the suspension/chassis, or braking but were sure they will be more robust than the base car.

It also looks to be sporting 17-18 inch rims coloured in dark chrome. Up front it's easy to see the changes to the front head lights and new Focus ST inspired air intake. The chrome strip of LED lights isn't to be found here as the fog lights have been lowered and moved into a lower air duct closer to the ground. 

Around back they have added a very sporty body coloured diffuser and chrome tipped dual exhaust.

From the Press Release we are sure we are getting the Fiesta ST. What we are less sure about is when. It wouldn't be hard to assume it would be spring 2012 but it would be surprising to see the car this year.

Other things to be less sure about is if we will see the 2-door layout of the Fiesta ST or whether they will plaster the ST treatment on our 4-door version. If they did so it would be a disappointment in our eyes as the smaller dimensions and sportier nature of the 2-door suit the Fiesta ST better.

Rear 3/4 View

Side View

Front 3/4 View

Diffuser!