A model year 2014 Ford Fiesta has been spied equipping automatic transmission. Last time Fiesta and automatic came together in one sentence was with the word discontinued in between.
When Ford India launched 2014 Ford Fiesta facelift in June last year, petrol engine and automatic transmission were removed from the catalogue, probably for a good reason at least to them.With Indian market showing increased inclination towards petrol powered cars off-late, it was unclear why Ford India discontinued Fiesta petrol. Sales of Ford Fiesta and Classic combined is slumping gradually, from close-to 600 units per month a few months ago (in 2014), to 300 odd units per month this year.
Given that the American automaker is caught testing the latest Fiesta with the auto box, the company is likely to relaunch the Powershift variant in the C-segment sedan. Ford Fiesta Powershift pre-facelift model used 6-speed Dual Clutch Transmission (DCT) with dry sump technology, which made it operate free of maintenance for 10 years at minimum.
It is not just the petrol variants of cars, C-segment sedans here, gaining popularity, but automatic alternatives as well. Competitors Honda City, Maruti Ciaz, Volkswagen Vento, Skoda Rapid and Hyundai Verna all have auto variants.
Expect the 1.5 litre 4-cylinder petrol engine producing 112 PS max power and 140 Nm peak torque to be re-plonked into Ford Fiesta with this 6-DCT, sometime this year.
Meanwhile, it is believed this 1.5 litre petrol motor and 6-speed DCT will anyways be introduced in upcoming Ford Figo Aspire compact sedan. In which case the engine will most certainly be down-tuned.
Spy shots – Team BHP
