Fiesta siesta because of Territory

FORD Australia may be forced to delay thelaunch of the new European-sourced light car,Fiesta, because it could clash with the launch ofthe locally-made Territory SUV.

The company had wanted Australian productionto start this year but Europe could not get itinto the schedule. It is also being held up by theprocessing of Australian Design Rule compliance.

Both cars are now scheduled to be launched inthe first half of 2004.

But Ford wants to avoid the conflict thatoccurred when it launched the Focus around thesame time as the BA Falcon.

Focus is selling 1000 cars a month but Fordplanned for 1300 a month.

Ford Australia president Geoff Polites saiddealers concentrated on the BA Falcon instead ofthe Focus.

"If you are a dealer, which one are you goingto concentrate on? So I don't think they have lostthe art of selling them (small cars) but I think it isalso true that some of them may not have given itthe attention it deserved.

"And that is another lesson for us - don't try todo two launches in the same week.

"We did make a conscious decision that wewere launching them at the same time and thatFalcon was to get pre-eminence in the media.

"So we did not start our Focus advertising untilNovember. So we kind of made it hard for Focusourselves."Mr Polites believes the company underestimatedthe difficulty of launching a new name-plate(changing Laser to Focus) in such an ultra-competitivesegment.

He said Ford was now in touch with Laserowners to make sure they understood that theFocus was their logical replacement car for theirLaser.

"Laser owners have very high satisfaction levelsand we have to make sure we get to thoseLaser owners and bring them back for a Focus."He said Ford would take a lesson from thelaunch of Focus when it came to launching theFiesta.

"We are still debating when (to launch Fiesta).

Quite frankly the issue is how we handle Fiestaand Territory together, learning from the Focusexperience, because they are probably not too farapart.

"If we can get it earlier (than the Territorylaunch) that is fine. If it arrived at the same timewe would probably delay Fiesta.

"Now we have to make the call that if we getthat job one date, can we get it in sufficient timebefore Territory or are we better to wait untilafter Territory."Ford is planning both three-door and five-doorversions of the Fiesta.

It hopes to ultimately sell 400 a month - 5000a year.

In 1998 Ford Australia was selling 2000 to2500 Festivas a month.

"We are not planning to do that volume now.

Fiesta will not be a $14,990 blastaway. Light carsin 1998 were in real terms about $9990. Theywere ridiculous," Mr Polites said.