The recent arrival of Ford’s 3-cylinder 1.0 petrol engine as an optional power unit for the Fiesta has really paid off, writes Brian Byrne.
With fully half of all current Fiesta sales rolling out of Irish showrooms with the engine, it shows that punters are ready to shell out a premium for the benefits of economy and drivability which the Ecoboost engine offers.
“We’re very pleased with it,” Ford Ireland boss Eddie Murphy said at this week’s launch of the new generation Kuga (pictured above) in Valencia, Spain.
But he also said the January sales figures, much lower than last year, showed the car sales business is still very much in ’challenging times’. “If those levels of sales drop last through the year, we’re going to have problems.”
He said, though, that given the background the Irish company is ’pleased’ with the brand’s performance in the first month of 2013.
The Kuga goes on sale in Ireland this month, priced from €33,450. It also comes with an Ecoboost technology petrol engine, but the powertrain won't be sold in Ireland for the moment.
