Ford seems to be in a state of flux at the moment; discarding the designs of the past and looking forward to a bold, sleek and sporty future. In particular, one car has garnered more automotive column inches in the past few months than any other. The car in question is obviously the new Ford Fiesta, which has been part of a marketing buzz that hasn't lost momentum since it first appeared as a concept model at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September 2007. With all the fuss and attention that has been directed towards the new Ford Fiesta, it has been quite easy to dismiss the other new Ford with a radical new design. The neglected vehicle I speak of is the brand new Ford Ka.
The Ford Ka revolutionised the supermini market when it was originally released in 1996. It's bold, rounded design confounded as many critics as it delighted and it became one of the true examples of a car splitting everyone's opinions. The critic's opinion was irrelevant when it came to sales, as the Ford Ka was snapped up from forecourts up and down the land. 13 years on and the Ford Ka is still a very strong seller. This begs the question; if the old Ka wasn't broken, why did Ford want to fix it?
The answer presents itself when you look at the new Ka alongside the new Ford Fiesta. The whole design aesthetic seems to be Ford trying to grow up and become more mature. The rounded, playful body of the previous Ka has been replaced by what essentially is a slightly scaled down Fiesta. Both models have started 2009 looking considerably sportier and aimed a little more to (dare I say it?) the more 'serious' driver. It seems to me that Ford are trying to add some brand value to their lower end vehicles that were perhaps missing before.
So how about performance? Well, things seem to have picked up neatly from where the previous Ford Ka left off. The basic 1.3 Litre Diesel is more than enough power to pull the light body of the Ka around. The handling is much as you would expect from a lower budget supermini; responsive but occasionally a little too light. Everything seems all well and good then? Well, not quite everything.
In their quest to make the Ka more like a Fiesta, Ford have maybe negated the point in having a Ka at all. What made the first incarnation of the Ka so impressive was its price and its very unique style. The new Ka seems to have got rid of both of these things by firstly jacking up the price and secondly making it look exactly the same as the new Fiesta. So let me pose a question that maybe Ford's designers should have asked themselves. Why would anyone buy a Ka, when for an extra £1000 they can get the superior Fiesta? £1000 sounds like a lot, but in terms of value for money I would recommend the extra money for the Fiesta every time; it really is worth it.
One cannot help but think that Ford may have shot themselves in the foot by redesigning the Ka in this particular fashion, but you and I both know that the Ka will sell extremely well. It has that little blue oval on the front which virtually guarantees market success. If anything I am slightly annoyed by the new Ford Ka; its predecessor was such a unpretentious breath of fresh air that the new version feels like a step backwards. The Old Ka was funky and fun, the new one is just a Fiesta-lite and there's not much to get excited about there.
The Ford Ka revolutionised the supermini market when it was originally released in 1996. It's bold, rounded design confounded as many critics as it delighted and it became one of the true examples of a car splitting everyone's opinions. The critic's opinion was irrelevant when it came to sales, as the Ford Ka was snapped up from forecourts up and down the land. 13 years on and the Ford Ka is still a very strong seller. This begs the question; if the old Ka wasn't broken, why did Ford want to fix it?
The answer presents itself when you look at the new Ka alongside the new Ford Fiesta. The whole design aesthetic seems to be Ford trying to grow up and become more mature. The rounded, playful body of the previous Ka has been replaced by what essentially is a slightly scaled down Fiesta. Both models have started 2009 looking considerably sportier and aimed a little more to (dare I say it?) the more 'serious' driver. It seems to me that Ford are trying to add some brand value to their lower end vehicles that were perhaps missing before.
So how about performance? Well, things seem to have picked up neatly from where the previous Ford Ka left off. The basic 1.3 Litre Diesel is more than enough power to pull the light body of the Ka around. The handling is much as you would expect from a lower budget supermini; responsive but occasionally a little too light. Everything seems all well and good then? Well, not quite everything.
In their quest to make the Ka more like a Fiesta, Ford have maybe negated the point in having a Ka at all. What made the first incarnation of the Ka so impressive was its price and its very unique style. The new Ka seems to have got rid of both of these things by firstly jacking up the price and secondly making it look exactly the same as the new Fiesta. So let me pose a question that maybe Ford's designers should have asked themselves. Why would anyone buy a Ka, when for an extra £1000 they can get the superior Fiesta? £1000 sounds like a lot, but in terms of value for money I would recommend the extra money for the Fiesta every time; it really is worth it.
One cannot help but think that Ford may have shot themselves in the foot by redesigning the Ka in this particular fashion, but you and I both know that the Ka will sell extremely well. It has that little blue oval on the front which virtually guarantees market success. If anything I am slightly annoyed by the new Ford Ka; its predecessor was such a unpretentious breath of fresh air that the new version feels like a step backwards. The Old Ka was funky and fun, the new one is just a Fiesta-lite and there's not much to get excited about there.
