The Blue Oval Has a Real Winner in the Ka -- Too Bad it Might Not Come to the U.S.
Its product placement team must have been ecstatic. The tiny new European Ford Ka appears in the new Bond movie "Quantum of Solace." It's about the only vehicle in the whole film that isn't smashed up. And it's driven (in a hurry) by Bond girl Olga Kurylenko. And it stays clean. And it's shot from beautiful brochure-style angles and held in loving close-up.
Another thing the Ka has in its favor. The boss likes it. Back in October we met Alan Mulally in Paris. He'd just had a spin in the Ka and pronounced himself very taken with its excellence.
Mulally mused to us that it might be worth importing to the U.S. His PR team looked perplexed because no such plan exists. But it's not actually impossible.
That's because the Ka is simply a new top-hat on the Fiat 500 architecture. And Fiat has a plan to bring the 500 over here. It'll need new engine calibration, and, more difficult, modifications to the front-end structure to meet U.S. crash requirements. This would mean lengthening the car a little, but it's feasible.
Ford opted to go to bed with Fiat for its smallest car because its own Fiesta B-car platform was too big, sophisticated, and expensive. Yet the cost of developing an all-new platform for a car to sell at rock-bottom prices is also impossible.
Many European sub-B cars are co-operations. Toyota and Peugeot jointly sell a sub-Yaris car; GM's Opel division is in with Suzuki. Ford is using the Fiat platform and engines, and the Ka is built at a Fiat plant in Poland.
So what is the Ka? It's a tiny thing. At 143 in., it's shorter than the upcoming Fiesta and the current Mini hatch by 13 in. Yet its cabin room pretty well matches the Mini's because you sit high and upright in a sort of micro-minivan style.
This tallness makes the Ka feel awkward, like it's balanced on tiptoes and might topple. Not so. It positively delights in being driven flat-out. Pitch it into corners 'til its tires howl. Give its microscopic engine full throttle wherever there's a chance. And with this little performance, the chance comes often. The fun isn't in the speed (there isn't much speed), it's in the sensations of getting the best out of the machine.
source:motortrend
