"Stolen" Ford Fiesta Travesty Continues: Car Found in NYC Impound Lot - Bronstein Renowned for his Publicity Stunts

The whole 'stolen' Ford Fiesta Movement story had more holes than a block of Swiss cheese to begin with, but now things have become more clear. The owner of the car, 'MacHammer' Jake Bronstein announced that he found the allegedly stolen Fiesta locked up in a New York City impound lot... We're so appalled that we're not even going to continue with the details. But what we would like to add is that even though we didn't see it mentioned on other sites, a quick search on the internet reveals that Bronstein has made a name for himself as a publicity stunt artist - even Wikipedia has an article on him as you can see after the jump. And some wonder why Ford chose Bronstein for the Fiesta Movement test cars...

From Wikipedia: Jake Bronstein Publicity Stunts

"Other highlights include his bizarre public stunts, such as bathing in Bryant Park Fountai, taking advantage of a loophole to get into the NBA draft. eBaying the lead singer position in his band, offering himself for marriage, freeing a fish into New York's East River, launching a 50 Dates in 50 States quest by soliciting invites from women on the web, and offering 1,000 strangers a hand-written love letter.

He is also the inventor of the Fun Idea Machine and recently started a text system designed to kill boredom by letting people text NEED FUN to 30644 for fun ideas, for free, by phone. He appeared on CBS Sunday Morning drinking a full bottle of maple syrup to set a new world record."

source: http://carscoop.blogspot.com

New Ford Fiesta to Make U.S. Motorsport Debut at Pike's Peak with Marcus Gronholm at the Helm

There are plenty of ways to market a car. One way is to hand 100 Fiestas to specially selected social active people like 'oh my gosh my car was stolen, no its in the impound lot' Bronstein that ridicule themselves as well as Ford. Another road to publicity is to bring a couple of rally-bred Fiesta models over from Europe and race them at the annual Pike's Peak International Hill Climb that takes place in Colorado on July 19. Apparently we prefer the second solution. The two Fiestas Rallycross models that will race at the famous mountain peak that towers above Colorado Springs in the Rocky Mountains have been prepared by the Olsberg Motor Sport Evolution team from Sweden.

The two Fiestas will be driven by two times WRC champ and rally legend Marcus Gronholm, 41, in the 'Unlimited Class' and Andreas Eriksson, 35, a four-time Swedish rally champion. Ford said that the team will attempt to break the 10-minute mark over the 12.4-mile, 156-turn pavement and gravel course.

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."

The Olsbergs MSE Fiesta Rallycross car is based on the Fiesta hatchback model road cars. However, it comes with an advanced all-wheel-drive system and a 2.0-liter Duratec Ford engine that is capable of producing more than 800 horsepower.

Ford said that while its North American Racing unit will not be directly involved in the project, it will assist the Olsbergs team with logistical support while it is in America.

source: http://carscoop.blogspot.com

Ford Official Says No to U.S. Version of Focus RS 305HP. Then How About a Fiesta RS?

As much as North American buyers would have wanted to see the 300HP Focus RS making its way to this side of the Atlantic, unfortunately this isn't going to happen for the usual cost-related reasons. In an interview with Britain's Autocar magazine, Ford's recently appointed Global Performance Vehicles and Motorsport Business Development director, Jost Capito, confirmed that the company has no plans on selling the high-performance version of the Focus in the States.

"We'd like to, but the base car isn't homologated for North America, and that's too costly a job to carry out just for a niche vehicle like the RS," said Capito.

Interestingly, when asked about the possibility of a performance version of the Fiesta, Capito said that while he couldn't discuss future plans, Ford believes that "in Europe, the Fiesta and Focus are too close to make two similar performance models work."

Although the British magazine did not ask a follow-up question on the matter, Capito's answer and reference to Europe and not the U.S. doesn't rule out the possibility that Ford may develop a high-performance version of the Fiesta for the States.

The US-bound Fiestas that are slated to hit U.S. dealerships in the beginning of 2010 will be manufactured at the company's revised Cuautitlan Assembly Plant in Mexico. If Ford wants to create some buzz around the car and why not, maybe even make a profit out of it, a high-performance Fiesta would certainly fit in the range.

source: http://carscoop.blogspot.com

VW Golf Reclaims Its Place as Europe's Best Selling Model in April, Fiesta Sales up 59.2%

With srappage schemes boosting sales across key European markets, VW's Golf reclaimed its crown from Ford's highly successful Fiesta as Europe's best-selling car in April. According to the data provided by Jato Dynamics, the sixth-generation Golf's sales totaled 49,488 units in April representing a 10.9% increase over the same month a year ago. The Fiesta, that topped the European charts in March, finished second continuing to increase its sales across the continent, up 26.7% year-to-date and 59.2% for the month of April for a total of 43,253 sales.

Beyond the VW Golf and Ford Fiesta, small cars dominated the list with the ten best selling cars in Europe in the month of April with the Opel - Vauxhall Corsa taking third place with 35,754 units (+3,7%), the Fiat Punto finishing fourth with 34,340 cars sold (+12.1%) and the Peugeot 207 fifth with 32,310 units that represents a significant -24.9% drop in sales from a year ago. The VW Polo, Fiat Panda, Ford Focus, Opel - Vauxhall Astra and the Renault Clio complete the top-ten list.

Brand wise, VW retained its postion as Europe's best-selling marque in April but with sales down 1.2%, versus 2008. Ford maintained a close second, while Fiat moved up to take third place from Opel - Vauxhall, recording a 6% rise in total sales for April, the only brand to do so this month.

"National government scrappage schemes are really starting to have an impact, both in the sales volumes in different markets and in the type of cars being sold", commented David Di Girolamo, Head of JATO Consult. "The bigger picture shows the size of the drop in new car sales across Europe and we'll continue to monitor this closely for signs of a wider improvement."

source: http://carscoop.blogspot.com

Stolen Fiesta Discovered in DC, BTW, Here's How "MacHammer" Bronstein Treats the Small Ford

According to Scott Monty, head of social media at FoMoCo, Jake Bronstein's (or as one of our readers called him, "MacHammer") Fiesta Movement was tracked down somewhere in the DC area a day after it was reported stolen. Monty said on his twitter feed that the "condition and whereabouts of suspect unknown" and that "the car hasn't been phsyically found yet." Well, guess we'll have to wait to see how this story develops. On another note, here's one of the ways that Bornstein chose to create a little buzz around the Fiesta: he put a sign on the car asking people to stand on the hood and take a snapshot...

"I find it’s almost as fun to climb on as it is climb in… probably because I don’t actually own it. Here’s the thing though, you don’t own it either. So I’d like you to get up on the hood too," says Bronstein on his site.

We're pretty much convinced that Mr Bronstein considers this idea totally cool and hip in terms of publicity and truth is, we're actually playing his game by writing this post that will not only be read by thousands of people but will also be picked up by other sites.

There's a million or so ways to achieve publicity, especially when you have a hot product like the Fiesta. Difference is that it takes time and brains to do it in way that shows class, quality and most of all, intelligence.

The easiest and less costly thing in the world is to draw attention upon yourself by being obnoxious, disrespectful, idiotic and catastrophic - something like MTV's Jackass generation. Put a Fiesta Movement car on fire, film it and you'll have a million hits on Youtube before you can say 'presto' (now don't get any ideas...). Sorry, but that's not remotely cool or trendy in our book.

If Ford really doesn't have a problem with these kind of promotional tactics, then we're glad we stayed away from the whole Fiesta Movement (or)deal.

source: http://carscoop.blogspot.com

First Ford Fiesta Movement Car Stolen in the U.S.

The guy pictured above with the kitsch sunglasses that we're absolutely sure you're just dying to make a comment about, is Jake Bronstein and he is the first person among the 100 Fiesta Movement agents to have his car stolen. FoMoCo confirmed Jake's story through Scott Monty, head of social media at Ford. According to Monty's twitter feed, the stolen 'hot magenta' Fiesta is equipped with a GPS homing device so unless the thief finds a way to deactivate it, it shouldn't take long for authorities to catch up with him.

But even in the rare case that the police doesn't find the car, we're willing to make a bet that Ford will have made up for the loss with all the publicity it's getting on the matter...

source: http://carscoop.blogspot.com

SCOOP: 2012 Ford Fiesta ST Hot Hatch with EcoBoost Turbo Engine

For those complaining about the lack of a sportier and more powerful edition of Ford's latest (global market) Fiesta hatchback, we have some very good news. Our spy photographers have snapped a prototype version of the upcoming Fiesta ST model undergoing testing in Germany.

The three-door test car featured in these photos gets a wilder bodykit with a front apron incorporating a lip spoiler, chunky side skirts, a bigger roof spoiler and a rear diffuser that houses two large exhaust pipes.

The sporty Fiesta also receives darkened headlamps and big alloy wheels, while we can also see a pair of body-hugging bucket seats for the front passengers.

A closer look at the pictures reveal a massive intercooler up front which feeds the ST's EcoBoost turbocharged four-cylinder engine. At this moment, we don't know if Ford has opted to fit the Fiesta ST with a 1.6-liter or a 2.0-liter variant of the EcoBoost engine family.

If anyone knows a German website(s) where we can find more information about the car from the license plate number, we (and consequently our readers) would deeply appreciate it.

In any case, expect an output of around 200-horsepower with all those ponies finding their way to the road through the front wheels. Suspension, brake and steering wheel system tweaks should be on the menu also.

Ford has not yet made any official announcements on the Fiesta ST, which may or may not make it on this side of the pond, but expect to see the Polo GTI-rivaling model arriving first in Europe in 2011.

Ford to Unveil All-New Ranger Pickup Truck and FPV Falcon with Supercharged V8 at Sydney Motor Show

This year's Australian International Motor Show in Sydney, which runs October 15 -24, will see Ford taking the wraps off an all-new generation of its Ranger compact pickup truck. The new Ranger will be joined by Ford Performance Vehicles (FPV) first-ever supercharged V8 Falcons, and the Aussie debuts of the current Focus RS and Fiesta Sedan.

The new Ranger, which has been developed in Australia and will go on sale in 180 global markets, is a sister model to the new Mazda BT-50 (also set to make its world premiere in Sydney). Ford said that the new compact pickup truck will be offered with a new family of engines with "impressive gains in power and fuel economy". More intel and photos will be released closer to the Sydney motor show.

Continuing with the rest of Ford's debuts, the 305HP Focus RS will be offered in the country in a limited number of 315 units, while the new Fiesta four-door sedan will be available in both diesel and petrol versions.

As for FPV's Falcon-based performance models, both the GT and GS cars get a new supercharged engine based on the Mustang's 5.0-liter V8 unit kicking out 449HP and 422HP respectively (read more here). According to Ford, albeit the base of the new FPV V8 engine is imported from the USA in component form, each unit is hand-assembled locally by FPV in Melbourne, using Australian-made components.