#FordEurope

The Ford Tourneo Custom Concept debuted at the 2012 Geneva Motor Show, and it didn’t take long for the American automaker to commit to a production model for the European market.

Ford has released the results of a survey conducted across Europe on the most popular car colors by nation. And to the surprise of absolutely no one (and the delight of the German carmakers), the most universally popular colors were…white, black and silver.

Ford’s European headquarters in Cologne, Germany has been raided by German officials as part of an investigation into a kickback scandal by the German prosecutors office.

Rolling off the assembly line at Ford‘s plan in Cologne, Germany yesterday was the six millionths Fiesta model – a Vision Blue Sport edition intended for a German customer. Show above next to an original Fiesta, this seventh-generation model celebrates 31 years of production in Cologne, with Fiestas dating back to 1976 in Europe.

In total, more than 13 million Fiestas have been sold, with other manufacturing plants in Europe (located in Valencia, Spain; Ford’s Dagenham plant in the United Kingdom, and the Saarlouis plant in Germany between 1976 and 1980) making up roughly the other half of all models produced.

It took Ford 10 years to sell the first one million Fiesta models, but the current model has already sold 750,000 units in just 18 months.

Ford has just begun Fiesta production in Nanjing, China and Rayong, Thailand, with the first model set to roll out of the Ford Cuautitlàn Plant in Mexico (destined for the North American market) in the next few weeks.

According to recent statistics, the Fiesta is poised to break into the Top 10 best selling cars of all time, with the Chevrolet Impala currently in 10th place with 14 million units sold. Ford already has three of the Top 10 spots, with the Model T, F Series and Escort.

The current Fiesta is set to go on sale in North America this summer, powered by a 120-hp 1.6-liter 4-cylinder. Ford rates the car’s fuel economy at 29/38-mpg (city/hwy) for the manual, and 30/40-mpg for the six-speed automatic. Pricing starts at $13,320 for the sedan and $15,120 for the hatch. See our review of the new Fiesta by following the link below:

2011 Ford Fiesta: First Drive

Official release after the jump:

With Ford just about ready to launch its new Fiesta in North America, the American automaker is celebrating the car’s success overseas where it has just surpassed the perennial top seller, the VW Golf, to become Europe’s best selling car. While Ford somewhat erroneously reported last week that it had topped VW in overall sales, these new numbers for the Fiesta come from an independent source: JATO Dynamics.

Ford has just announced in a glowing new press release that it is the number one automaker is Europe for the month of March. Can that really be true? What about Volkswagen, Fiat and Peugeot? Last time we were in Europe we didn’t see all that many Fords. Well, as it turns out our friends over at TTAC has similar skepticism and decided to do a little research, only to uncover that Ford’s public relations department seems to be playing fast and loose with the semantics of the issue.

TTAC staff went and looked for the March European Automobile Manufacturers Association (also known as ACEA) numbers for March, but they hadn’t been tallied yet. Still, taking a look at February’s numbers it’s easy to see what Ford has done.

In February Volkswagen topped the list with a 20.4 percent market share. In second place was PSA Group with 14.9 percent and then Renault with 11 percent. Ford is listed as fourth with 10 percent. Now Ford is claiming a total of 192,500 vehicles sold in March, an impressive 16.1 percent increase. But even then, 16.1 percent of 10 percent market share won’t get you anywhere close to VW’s dominant 20 percent. So what’s goong on here.

Simple, Ford is sticking its numbers up against VW’s numbers, not VW Group’s numbers. And if you recall, VW owns not only Audi, but also Seat and Skoda and Porsche and Lamborghini and Bentley and… well, you get the point.

Now some might argue that as Ford is really just one brand in Europe (if you exclude Volvo) then the comparison is a fair one. Regardless, we thought this overly glowing press release deserved a little “perspective.”

[Source: Ford and TTAC]

Official release after the jump:

Ford has just released the latest model to be based on its global C architecture, the Focus Wagon. Looking quite a bit like the Focus hatch, it’s a bit larger with more cargo room. It also represents the European launch of the MyFord Touch system.

Ford is reportedly working on a four-door coupe for the European market and it’s not unthinkable that this stylish sedan could make its way to the U.S.

There is a definite possibility that Ford’s European Ka microcar could make its way to dealerships in North American in the next few years.