The Ford Fiesta was launched in mainland Europe in 1976, and the UK the year after. It was Ford’s first successful front-wheel car, its first hatchback and, despite its diminutive size, its most expensive to develop (at the time) costing one billion US dollars. Most of the design and development work for the original was split between Ford of Britain and Ford in Germany, with initial styling performed by Tom Tjaarda at the company’s styling offshoot of Ghia in Italy. Codenamed BE91, the Fiesta on display is a fourth-generation facelift in Zetec trim. This car was the very last to be built at Dagenham and, after 71 years, brought an end car to production at the flagship UK plant. It rolled off the line on 20 February 2002 and it was signed by anyone and everyone concerned with it. This model of Fiesta embraces Ford’s ‘New Edge’ styling first seen on the Focus and the Ka. As the contemporary press releases reported, ‘New Edge combines intersecting arcs and creases to soft aerodynamic shapes’. In reality, the model served as a gap filler until the totally new and much improved fifth generation. Fiesta production continued at Cologne until 7 July 2023, when the final one rolled out of the factory in Germany.
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