We’ve known for quite some time that Ford was planning on bringing its Fiesta model to North America, but as these most recent spy photos show, the U.S. automaker will launch more than just a hatchback.

Photos of this Ford Fiesta Sedan show a European-inspired sedan, with a long wheelbase and very short front and rear overhangs. It looks a bit round, but that is sure to be minimized once the front and rear designs are uncovered.

In general, the car shares a resemblance with the rest of the Ford lineup and design elements like the boxy fenders and the sculpting on the doors have a definite Focus look to them.

Ford is also planning on selling the Fiesta as a more traditionally European three-door and five-door hatchback.

GALLERY: Ford Fiesta Sedan

[Photos: KGP Photography]

In an attempt to drum-up interest in the launch of the Fiesta in North America, Ford is putting on a serious publicity stunt by running two 800 horsepower versions of the economy car in the legendary Pikes Peak race.

Ford is eager to appeal not just to econonomically-minded individuals with the Fiesta sub-compact, but also to enthusiasts as it attempts to set a Pike Peak record with a sub-10 minute run up the mountain.

To do this not only will Olsbergs Motor Sport Evolution race team owner Andreas Eriksson be piloting one of the turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder Fiesta racers, but so will rally legend Marcus Grönholm. In World Rally Championship competition Grönholm has won 30 races and clinched the championship twice. 

Both Eriksson and Grönholm will certainly need all 800 horses when they take on the 12.4-mile, 156-turn dirt and tarmac climb on July 19th.

“We’re pleased to have a top independent team like Olsbergs MSE coming to the U.S. with their Fiesta Rallycross cars to take on the challenge of Pike’s Peak,” said Brian Wolfe, director, Ford North America Motorsports. “This will be a great chance for enthusiasts here to see in this unique setting what a lot of the rest of the world is already talking about – that the Fiesta is a great road car and a great race car.”

Ford Motor Company’s director of Global Motorsport Business Development, Jost Capito, said: “The Pike’s Peak event is another step forward for the new Ford Fiesta as a core vehicle in Ford’s future global motorsport aspirations. We’re looking forward to seeing Andreas and Marcus in action on this unique event.”

GALLERY: Olsbergs Motor Sport Evolution Ford Fiesta Rallycross

Official release after the jump:

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Ford will spend $550 million to transform it’s Michigan truck plant into a facility that bill be used to built the new Ford Focus, including an electric version of that vehicle.

By transforming the Michigan Trunk Plant into a compact car facility as many as 3,200 jobs will be saved as demand for large SUVs declines. The Truck Plant was the location where behemoths such as the Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator were manufactured.

The all new Focus will begin production next year with an electric version of the compact car due out in 2011. This zero-emissions Focus is being built in partnership with Magna International and will be powered by an electric motor mated to a Lithium-Ion battery pack and can be charged though a conventional household outlet.

Ford has made a commitment to bring three more EVs to market by 2012.

“The transformation of Michigan Assembly Plant embodies the larger transformation under way at Ford,” said Ford President and CEO Alan Mulally. “This is about investing in modern, efficient and flexible American manufacturing. It is about fuel economy and the electrification of vehicles. It is about leveraging our expertise and vehicle platforms around the world and partnering with the UAW to deliver best-in-class global small cars. It is about skilled and motivated teams working together in new ways to create the future of automobile manufacturing in the United States.”

Along with the Michigan plant, Ford will transform its Louisville, KY plant to also produce the new Focus, as well as modify the company’s Cuautitlan Assembly in Mexico, where the new Fiesta is to be produced.

“We’re changing from a company focused mainly on trucks and SUVs to a company with a balanced product lineup that includes even more high-quality, fuel-efficient small cars, hybrids and all-electric vehicles,” said Mark Fields, Ford’s president of The Americas. “As customers move to more fuel-efficient vehicles, we’ll be there with more of the products they really want.”

Official release after the jump:

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Ford kicked-off what it calls the “Fiesta Movement” yesterday when 140 new European-built Ford Fiestas were unloaded at ports in Baltimore and Oxnard, Calif.

The vehicles will be loaned out to young “trendsetters,” who will report on the vehicles using modern social networking sites like Facebook, Flickr and YouTube. Ford actually used YouTube to select the winners, asking those born between 1979 and 1985 to submit a video of why they should be chosen.

580,000 videos were submitted with 3,300 being reviews by Ford.

This bold marketing strategy is aimed at promoting the Festiva, which will go on sale in North American in 2010, by using younger buyers to speak to younger buyers (the Festiva’s target market).

“We’re really excited to be able to get our U.S. customers behind the wheel and experience this car,” said Sam De La Garza, Ford’s small car marketing manager. “It’s all part of a plan to build excitement about the new Fiesta with the next generation of Ford customers.”

The Fiesta is Ford’s first global car. It went on sale in Europe and Asia last year and is the second-best selling vehicle for Ford in Europe.

“In the midst of the toughest economy many of us have ever seen, the Fiesta is becoming a legitimate global success story,” said Jim Farley, Ford Group Vice President of Marketing and Communications. “The Fiesta Movement is all about introducing a new kind of small car to a new generation of buyers.”

The Fiesta models that hit U.S.-shores yesterday were built in Cologne, Germany (although North American vehicles will be manufactured in Ford’s Cuautitlan, Mexico plant), and have been modified with English instrumentation and include readouts in mph. All Fiesta Movement vehicles come with keyless entry with a push-button start, Ford’s EasyFuel Capless Fuel-Filler System and either 16- or 17-inch wheels.

Let the marketing onslaught begin. Or as they say at Ford, Viva La Revolution!

GALLERY: Fiesta Movement Begins

More on the Fiesta Movement after the jump

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