DEARBORN, Mich. — Rising demand for small cars has pushed Ford to revisit its decision not to bring the tiny European Ka model to the United States, Ford’s chief executive said Monday.
“We’re assessing that right now,” Alan Mulally told a Detroit radio station, adding that a lot of people share the opinion that Ford should sell the Ka in the U.S.
A new version of the Ka was unveiled last week at the Paris Motor Show. It will be launched in major European markets by late this year or early 2009.
The Ka is far smaller than the Focus, which is Ford’s only U.S. compact car. Focus sales are up 24 percent through September, even though the U.S. auto market is down nearly 13 percent for the year.
Mulally said on WJR-AM’s “Paul W. Smith Show” that Ford decided to give the Ka another look because of high fuel prices pushing up demand for small cars and the response to the introduction of the Fiesta subcompact.
Ford spokesman Said Deep said the company is exploring whether Americans will accept a car that is even smaller than the new Fiesta, which the industry calls a “B” segment car — those the size of a Honda Fit or Toyota Yaris. Fit sales are up 54 percent through September, while Yaris sales have risen 29 percent.
“Are people willing to go smaller than that?” Deep asked. “That’s a big unknown, and I think that’s what’s got to be determined.”
A diesel version of the Ka gets 42 miles per gallon in combined city-highway driving under U.S. testing standards, Deep said, not much more than a gasoline-powered Fiesta will get in the U.S.
