JEM

Deal sought on Fiesta.

WITH the Focus confirmed, Ford Australia's next target is its little brother, the Fiesta. At the announcement last week that the
Focus would take over from the Laser as Ford's small car offering toward the end of this year, Ford Australia president Geoff Polites confirmed the push to grab the new generation Fiesta were accelerating. "I think we can put it together," he said of the continuing negotiations with Ford of Europe. "We are talking to them". Ironically, the same issue of supply that delayed the Australian launch of Focus to more than three years after it went on sale in Europe, appears to be the main impediment to securing the Fiesta. Certainly, currency is no longer the issue it once was with exchange rates easing, while Ford of Europe's own
cost-cutting measures over the past 12-18 months have helped Ford Australia's cause. "We've made no secret of the fact we'd
like to get the B-car (Fiesta) out of Europe. Again, it's a capacity thing in Europe right now. We are still negotiating Ford of Europe's capacity position, but it would add a nice complement to it (Focus)," Mr Polites said. But he said there had been no serious
examination of the Fiesta's crossover spin-off, the Fusion, while the pretty StreetKa had been dismissed because it would be too expensive to retail in Australia. Mr Polites personally backed the
prospect of selling the 165kW Ford Focus RS in Australia, which goes on sale in Europe in July: "If you asked me personally, yes we would do 25 or 50 of them, whatever we could get away with.
We haven't looked at it as a company because Ford of Europe isn't there yet. They have no idea what it is going to cost them, no idea what their availability is. They have no idea what their demand is. When they get all that sorted out, then quite clearly that's what we want to do." Mr Polites hinted an Australian Rally
Championship program for Focus was a chance, but indicated it was unlikely to happen in 2003.