The production version of the brand new Ford Fiesta ST has been revealed at the 2012 Geneva Motor Show, giving the blue oval a flagship hot hatch to compete against the Volkswagen Polo GTI and the Suzuki Swift Sport. It is a three-door and the racy light hatch that will hit the European market in 2013, and is set to land down under around mid to late 2013. As the American automaker revealed the new model, it has been confirmed that the company will certainly build the car. Last year in September, a three-door Fiesta ST concept was premiered in Frankfurt followed by a five-door concept in November.

The Ford Fiesta ST is powered by a turbocharged 1.6-litre EcoBoost petrol engine producing 132kW and 240Nm of torque – putting it just 10Nm off the pace of the Polo GTI.  The company, however, assures acceleration from 0-100km/h in less than seven seconds and a top speed in excess of 220km/h. The fuel consumption and emissions are also 20 per cent lesser than the earlier Fiesta ST. What makes the new model different from the standard Fiesta is that the Fiesta ST, developed by a dedicated team gets a specially tuned chassis which sits 15mm lower than the previous model. Torque Vectoring Control along with three electronic stability control modes add to significant ride and handling improvements have proved over more than 5000km of testing on the Nurburgring.

The Fiesta, excluding its go-fast exterior design comes with Recaro sports seats, SYNC voice-activated in-car connectivity system, and MyKey, which lets the owners to limit sedan’s performance even if less experienced drivers are behind the wheel. According to Ford Australia’s Sinead Phipps, the local manufacturer has not yet finalised if it will offer the Fiesta ST in three-door or five-door form, or both. The three-door models are not in Ford Australia’s standard Fiesta range and hence the Fiesta ST five-door appears most likely for our market. Even though it is more than a year away, the Ford Fiesta ST is likely to be priced around $25,000 when it arrives in Australia.

via Caradvice