F&I Management & Training

Ford is thinking about taking its all-new Ka supermini to the USA as consumers there jump out of big SUVs and pick-ups into small, fuel-efficient cars.

The company's chief executive officer Alan Mulally has told Detroit radio station WJR-AM that the company is revisiting an earlier decision not to take the Ka across the Atlantic.

The Ka was first launched in 1996 and has been a bit hit across Europe.

The all-new model was unveiled at the Paris Motor Show last week. It is due to go into production shortly and goes on sale towards the end of the year.

Currently Ford's smallest U.S. offering is the Focus although it plans to add the new-generation Fiesta to the domestic lineup in 2010.

The Ka will follow the tiny Smart ForTwo in trying to crash the US obsessions with big gas-guzzlers now that fuel is $4 (£2.30) a gallon and rising.

Mulally did not say when a decision would be taken but added that one reason Ford remains uncertain about importing the Ka is that it isn't significantly more fuel-efficient than the Fiesta.

The Ka is being built in Tychy, Poland, in a joint venture with Fiat that also produces the 500 city car.

DATED: 08.10.08

FEED: MT