New Ford Fiesta Sedan could get an automatic gearbox very soon!

The new Ford Fiesta which was launched earlier this year in India came only in five speed manual transmission guise even though its international variants had choices of two automatic gearboxes on offer. At the time of the new Ford Fiesta’s launch in India, the folks at Ford India maintained that while the Indian market would get the automatic gearbox version of the Fiesta in due course of time, a time line for the launch of the Fiesta Automatic could not be specified. Now, we have information emerging that the New Ford Fiesta Automatic could be launched in India as early as November, 2011.

New Ford Fiesta Sedan

Our friends at DWSAuto report that the Fiesta Automatic will be previewed in the first week of November, with the national launch happening a week later. Though Ford India has been aggressively marketing the new Fiesta, the higher pricing of the model has meant that sales have been tepid thus far. While the automatic variant being offered in the Fiesta Petrol is a given, the addition of an automatic gearbox, especially to the diesel engined variant could spur sales a bit as that would make the new Ford Fiesta the only other car apart from the Hyundai Verna Fluidic to be offered with an automatic gearbox.

The new Ford Fiesta is one of the most involving cars to drive in its segment and an automatic gearbox will only sweeten the deal for folks who want a solidly built car with a superb ride and handling package, but also with the sheer convenience of a slush box. Prices of the new Ford Fiesta Automatic will be up by at least Rupees 80,000 to 1 Lakh and the automatic gearbox is expected to offered only on the fully loaded Titanium Plus variants. We for our part feel that stripping the Titanium Plus variants with cruise control and pricing the automatic gearbox version more competitively would be an excellent bet.

New Ford Fiesta Sedan

Internationally, the Ford Fiesta is available with a choice of two automatic gearboxes, the six speed dual clutch Powershift automatic gearbox and the five speed Durashift gearbox. While the 6 speed Powershift dual clutch gearbox is a much better performer than the 5 speed Durashift gearbox what with one extra cog, cost considerations could mean that Ford India will stick to the more conventional and cheaper Durashift gearbox.

Also, the Powershift dual clutch automatic gearbox, though technically much more advanced and much more responsive than conventional single clutch automatic gearboxes, has come under the scanner for technical glitches, following which Ford has been working overtime to resolve. Therefore, the five speed Durashift automatic gearbox seems like a safer bet for the Indian market. All said, if you’re in the market for an automatic C-segment sedan, it would be great if you could postpone your car buying decision by a couple of weeks as November is just around the corner.

Currently, the new Ford Fiesta Titanium Plus petrol variant sells for INR 9.42 Lakhs while the equivalent diesel variant is priced at INR 10.42 Lakhs, both prices ex-showroom Delhi. In contrast, the Hyundai Verna petrol automatic and diesel automatic sell for INR 9.65 Lakhs and 10.65 Lakhs respectively while the Honda City Automatic and the Volkswagen Vento petrol automatic sell for INR 9.37 Lakhs and INR 9.22 Lakhs respectively.