Following the announcement that the Ford Fiesta will cease production in 2023, M-Sport would like to highlight that the production of Fiesta based rally cars will continue and preparations have been well underway for some time in anticipation of this moment.
The Fiesta makes up the backbone of M-Sport’s rallying activities, representing 80% of its current rally car offering, and is the only line-up in the sport with a model offered at every level of the FIA’s Rally Pyramid.
Thanks to M-Sport’s close working relationship with Ford, the Cumbrian outfit has been aware for some time that the Fiesta model was coming to an end. With the cooperation and support of Ford, M-Sport has comprehensively increased its stock of Fiesta body shells to ensure production continues across all models for years to come both in the UK and Poland. All of M-Sport’s Fiesta based rally cars continue to be developed too, with multiple updates planned for the entire line-up in the next twelve months.
The Fiesta represents some of M-Sport’s greatest achievements and successes, its crowning highlight coming by way of the Fiesta WRC that led M-Sport to five world championships in 2017 and 2018. M-Sport’s love affair with the Fiesta started in 2005 with the Ford Fiesta ST Group N car, bringing a much loved and affordable homologated rally car to the masses.
Since then, M-Sport’s Fiesta based cars went from strength to strength, offering its customers the opportunity to start from the sport’s grassroots and rise to the very top in the same iconic car model. In total M-Sport Fiestas have claimed in excess of 2,000 overall victories, a truly awe-inspiring figure that reflects the popularity and success of M-Sport’s customer operations.
Malcolm Wilson OBE, M-Sport Managing Director, said: “The Fiesta is a core part of M-Sport’s business activities and has been behind a lot of the company’s success in the past two decades. Thanks to our long and storied partnership with Ford, we were able to begin preparing for the end of the Fiesta’s production well ahead of time. I would like to assure all of our customers that we will still be building Fiesta rally cars for years to come, both in the UK and Poland.
“The Fiesta was the very first customer focussed car M-Sport developed and I think 2,000 overall victories speaks for itself. Development is underway across the board with our Fiesta based cars as well, with the Fiesta Rally2, Rally3 and Rally4 currently enjoying thorough development programmes.
“I’d like to personally thank Ford for their support over the years with the Fiesta. Ford and the Fiesta allowed M-Sport to grow as a business with its customer programmes which Ford trusted us with and continues to do so.”
Mark Rushbrook, Director of Ford Performance, said: “The Fiesta has seen incredible success in rallying which is largely thanks to the time and effort M-Sport has put into its comprehensive ‘Ladder of Opportunity’ for over a decade now. Ford Performance has proudly supported M-Sport with all of its Fiesta based programmes from the very beginning and we have enjoyed incredible success together. We want this success to continue, and Ford Performance will continue supporting M-Sport with its various development programmes for Fiesta based rally cars.”
Published 15 November 2022