Ford's new mini-car may have verve, but don't call it that
When Ford unveiled the concept version of their new B-class mini car at the Frankfurt Motor Show it was called the Verve. The production version of this car, which is expected to debut next March at the Geneva Motor Show to replace the current Fiesta, appears set to retain most of the visual verve of the concept, but it looks like Ford is taking a lesson from the Taurus/Five Hundred fiasco when it comes to naming. Rather than flush three decades of brand equity, the new car looks like it will still be badged as a Fiesta. Whether that will carry over to the US market, which will get the car for 2009, is unknown since it's likely that few if any of the potential customers will even remember that the Fiesta was offered here, for a time, about two decades ago.
[Source: AutoExpress]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Seth 1:54PM (11/16/2007)
... and it was crap.
Admit it, you're all thinking that. :)
I'd think that building a new brand would be easier than trying to overwrite a lousy brand. Esp for our demo, where new is interesting. It's not like we're all "Well, I've never heard of it, so forget it!".
Verve is actually kinda a cool name. WAY better than "Fiesta".
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Jon 2:18PM (11/16/2007)
Fiesta has been dead for years in the US. I seriously doubt that Ford would bring back a long dead name that basically no one remembers (present company excluded). For the record, I like Verve, too. I even like the "screaming" grille.
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GoodCheer 5:31PM (11/16/2007)
I have to agree with Seth and Jon.
Is this really the kind of "brand equity" that Ford is hesitant to flush?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1988-Ford-Festiva-L-Very-Nice-Condition-1-Owner-Car_W0QQitemZ320182131471QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item320182131471
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Casey 6:13PM (11/16/2007)
WAIT! The Fiesta (offered here in the late 1970's) wasn't crap. It was a pretty fun and sporty hatchback. It was the Festiva that replaced it that was TOTAL crap. So in this case, Ford already flushed their brand equity years ago. Verve on!
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Throwback 7:05PM (11/16/2007)
The Fiesta is very well regarded in Europe. For the USA I would go with the Escort name.
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Nathan 2:59AM (11/17/2007)
The Fiesta does fairly well in some markets outside the US, so even if they didn't keep the name in the US, it would probably remain for other parts of the world.
(That said, I kind of like the name "Verve" better...)
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Bill 10:47AM (11/19/2007)
Neither the Fiesta nor the Festiva were crap. The Fiesta was a very good car for the time, but as always, getting Americans to pay good money for a quality small car is tough. In the mindset of most customers, small should equal cheap.
I don't understand why so many hate on the Festiva. It's simply a Yaris from 20 years ago. The Festiva was pretty tough, and offered great performance. It's a great city car. The biggest difference was that when it (and successor Aspire) were on the market, small cars were very uncool. If the Festiva had a H or T badge on it, it would be venerated.
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