Sheet Metal Stamping Simulation

Auto giant Ford Motor Co. (F) plans to produce 80,000 to 90,000 units of its new Fiesta model this year at its plant in Cuautitlan, outside Mexico City, Ford de Mexico Chief Executive Eduardo Serrano said Tuesday.

The majority of the cars, which Ford launched in Europe in Asia about 18 months ago, will be exported to the U.S. and Canada, officials said at an event celebrating the end of an extensive renovation of the plant.

The revamped Fiesta is a fuel-efficient subcompact that comes in sedan or hatchback versions, and it has been successful in the markets it has hit, said Jim Farley, Ford's vice president of global marketing and Canada, Mexico and South America operations. Global sales have reached 750,000 units so far, and in March the Fiesta was Europe's No. 1 selling vehicle.

But North America, where consumers prefer larger cars and trucks, is somewhat uncharted territory.

"One must remember that Ford hasn't launched a vehicle of this size in the U.S. and Canada in many years," Serrano said.

Farley said U.S. consumer awareness of the Fiesta is relatively high, thanks in part to a nonconventional marketing approach in which Ford has tried to utilize social networking Internet sites. The Fiesta's target market is "young people who have high income" and retirees who "want something exciting, the technology."

"We have over 10,000 reservations for the vehicle already, and we have more than 1,500 orders," he said. "Traditionally we don't have any orders, so I think we are optimistic about the start."

Preparing the Cuautitlan plant for production of the new Fiesta model was the centerpiece of a $3 billion investment plan in Mexico that Ford announced in 2008.

The plan's other components included a new engine-manufacturing plant in the northern state of Chihuahua and a new transmissions plant in the central state of Guanajuato.

The Cuautitlan facility, which had been practically closed since December 2008, will have an initial production capacity of 180,000 cars annually, though Ford plans to increase that number to around 300,000 in coming years, officials said.