Ford has confirmed that the line-up of its best-selling Fiesta will switch to petrol-only, with diesel options being axed due to limited demand.
The Fiesta remains the UK’s most popular new car, with nearly 40,000 registered this year alone, but its success hasn’t been based on its diesel engines, which have fallen out of favour with buyers of small cars in recent years.
And now Ford has taken the decision to remove diesel Fiestas entirely, with the firm’s 1.5-litre unit being discontinued in favour of a completely petrol range.
A Ford spokesman said that diesel models have accounted for just two to three per cent of Fiesta sales this year, and that “neither demand or readiness for RDE2 [a tight new emissions standard for new cars becoming mandatory in January 2021] can accommodate it in the range”.
It means buyers now have the option of a 74bhp 1.1-litre, a turbocharged 1.0-litre available with either 94bhp, 123bhp or 153bhp, and a powerful 197bhp 1.5-litre found in the ST hot hatch.
New mild-hybrid technology has also recently been introduced to the 123bhp or 153bhp models, which improves both responsiveness and efficiency – this model now returning a claimed 56.5mpg, with CO2 emissions of 114g/km.
The Fiesta is far from being the only supermini to no longer be available with diesel engines, though. Popular hatchbacks like the Volkswagen Polo, Seat Ibiza and Mini are now just sold with petrol engine options.
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