Ford's facelifted Fiesta spotted

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Ford's facelifted Fiesta spotted
March 22, 2012 - 2:42PM DRIVE..

Ford will launch a new-look Fiesta city car here in the second quarter of 2013, and Drive's spies have caught the vehicle undergoing testing in Europe.

Boasting a more aggressive front-end design, the facelifted Fiesta is likely to get a revised front bumper and slimmer headlights with integrated daytime running lights - styling that will possibly mirror the recently revealed Fusion (Mondeo) mid-size sedan.

The rest of the car is expected to remain relatively unchanged, though the rear bumper will be slightly restyled, as will the tail-lights.

Powertrains offered in Australia will remain unchanged from the 1.6-litre petrol and turbo diesel engines currently offered.

While Ford of Europe will offer a 1.0-litre turbocharged three-cylinder engine option when the facelifted Fiesta goes on sale there later this year, Australian Fiesta models will not be offered with that high-tech engine. Instead, that powerplant will be offered here first in the Ecosport mini SUV when it arrives late next year.

A range-topping performance model, known as the Fiesta ST, will also be offered locally next year. It gets a 1.6-litre turbocharged four-cylinder engine with 132kW of power and 240Nm of torque. It will compete with the likes of Volkswagen's Polo GTI.

Pricing and specifications for the new Fiesta aren't expected to be revealed until before the car's launch in 2013.

The production version of the updated Fiesta is expected to be revealed at the Paris motor show later this year.

Sales of the Fiesta are down by almost a quarter this year, with more competition from cars such as Holden's Barina, Hyundai's i20, Toyota's Yaris and the top-seller in the city car segment, the Mazda2.