Ford recently announced a series of future model plans in a surprise revelation whose openness took many by surprise.

That’s the way it has to be now, a spokesman told me. ‘One Ford’ means decisions are made on a worldwide level. To ensure everyone is in sync, they have to be revealed early.

Has one snuck through, though? We already know the Fiesta is to receive a mild facelift towards the end of the year. The model plans said so. But has Ford revealed it early, without telling anyone in the UK?

Ford, see, has just announced the Fiesta Centura, a limited edition of 1000 to mark 100 years of Ford of Britain. Only available in black (cute), it has extras, including… LED running lights.

Bear with me here. It is a minor facelift, after all… the clue is in the details.

Fitted to the front bumper, these look not dissimilar to those on the Ford Mondeo (although a close up reveals they are actually different: more LEDs in the Fiesta…).

This, though, isn’t the sort of thing you normally see on special editions. Engineers and technicians have had to work on this, to integrate it into the electrical system, ensure it passes legislation and so on: you don’t normally do all that for a limited run car.

Design, too: shaping the LEDs into the front bumper, checking the aero in this critical area, making sure they pass lighting regulations. Oh, and vehicle development: ensuring the lights last the course, don’t get in the way of anything else, don’t break after 18 months. Lots of people will have had a say here.

That’s not all for the Fiesta Centura, either. Those door mirror caps are new. And the Titanium didn’t previously have so much chrome on its upper front grille, either.

Is this, then, the look that we’re going to see on future high-series Fiestas? We know the facelift won’t be major – the Fiesta is such a good-looking car, and a perpetual UK best-seller (over 52k were sold in the UK in just 6 months of 2011 – making it, again, the only car to break the six-figure barrier by year-end?) that it doesn’t need any visual changes yet.

What Ford instead wants to do is enhance the high-series versions, to ensure people keep on choosing rich mixes of Fiestas (all the better for profit margins).

Making more money

LED running lights are supercool. They’re what make the Citroen DS3 stand out so vividly. Bring them to the Fiesta and, trust me, many people will be encouraged to make the step up to a Titanium (or whatever series they feature on).

So, is this the teaser of the facelifted Fiesta, revealed early before its official unveil later in the year? We’ll have to see. But if it is, and LEDs are coming to Fiesta, expect to see growing numbers of them in the coming years.

Ford wants to become more premium, and sell richer models: small steps like this are all part of the reason why it will do so. After all, nobody understands what customers really want better than Ford…

+ The brilliance of the Citroen DS3

+ The misguidance of the Ford Fiesta

+ New Ford Focus raises great expectations

Ford may have to correct a rare tactical oversight soon, and make an OE sat nav system available on the current shape Ford Fiesta.

I did the launch of the brilliant Fiesta back in 2008, and the lack of sat nav was something the brand manager gladly told me was intentional. Such was the low percentage of supermini buyers that choose it, she explained, it simply wasn’t economic to integrate such a system into the Fiesta.

Not when it was a global car developed to serve worldwide buyers.

Much better to go for a bespoke system that would give a user-appealing large-format digital central screen to all buyers. This is more generous than reserving a colour screen for a select few happy to add 10% to the car’s list price with the sat nav option.

That was then, though. And now? Superminis are continuing to boom in popularity. This is being driven, in part, by downsizing – moving from larger cars into smaller, more fuel efficient (and lower-tax) models.

And when people downsize, they often upgrade. Cheerio Focus Zetec, hello Fiesta Titanium. Ford admits as much, by boasting about what a high proportion of Fiesta sales are Titanium spec.

But they’re missing a massive profits-generating, sales-incentivising trick now: sat nav is becoming a must-have on larger cars. That expectation will be carried with these buyers to their downsize option. Can’t offer it? Then why should they bother?

Ford’s becoming isolated here: Peugeot offers sat nav, as does Volkswagen, as does Vauxhall – and Renault’s ingenious TomTom system on the Clio actually comes as standard on two out of the three trim lines. In such comparison charts, the Ford Fiesta looks glaringly underspecced.

You can almost stake money on the fact Ford engineers are busily working on a sat nav offer for the current Fiesta. It may even use the excellent system from the new Focus, which seems to share so much global thinking with the Fiesta (proving a world car can still have region-specific tech).

A rare example of Ford misguidance? We shall see.

+ Ford flawless factsheet find: PR finery

+ Evernote inspires Ford

+ Ford clears way for quick dealer profits

FORD’S Fiesta was the turning point. Before that, explained Ford’s handling God, Richard Parry-Jones, the blue oval had a schizophrenic approach to good handling.

‘We had good handling RS products, and no more than average handling on our everyday products.’

In his book, that was bad. ‘I felt very strongly that customer satisfaction and the image of the vehicles were very closely tied to the handling experience.’

Praise the Lord, for this protestation by Welshman RP-J, back in 1997. Indeed, as the Fiesta was already so good by 1996, so Parry-Jones wanted to take things a step further.

But not, alas, by recreating the XR2i and making it decent. No, back then, the hot hatch was dead. Murdered by thieves nicking ‘em and making the motors virtually uninsurable. Enter instead a hastily-conceived small coupe, designed entirely on computer in double-quick time. The Ford Puma.

70 percent of the parts were Fiesta. The biggest difference was the launch 1.7-litre Yamaha engine, with 125bhp and a delightfully high rev limit. An engine whose noise RP-J knew before it was even designed. See, he employed a musician, to record the exact sound he wanted for it…

Why? To pass the 50-metre test he invented. ‘It’s what customers notice straight away. They can’t explain it in engineering terms, but they know if a car feels right as soon as they get in it.’

This is why, he said, he corners slowly – probably no more than 25mph. ‘When you’re cornering hard, most cars can communicate a bit, but the most difficult time is at almost no speed.’

Forcing engineers, he says, to get rid of all the noise and vibration, while enhancing what signals ARE there.

What’s crucial here?

•    Steering
•    Throttle response
•    Engine soundtrack

Hence his recruitment of a musician. Schizophrenic, RP-J? Not at all. It’s because of him that Fords no longer are, either. The man deserves a Knighthood.

Ford Escort XR3i v RS 1600i

How Ford put the boot into the Sierra

Ford code read

COLOUR coding is ace. Take notes. Important? Orange highlighter. For reference? Green highlighter. Something not vital, but good to skim over? Yellow.

This logic is inbred because there’s nothing I find more satisfying than a common design whose purpose is differentiated by colour.

Utility pipes, for example.

• Red for electrical power lines
• Orange for telecoms and optical fibres
• Blue for drinking water
• Yellow for gas
• Green for sewerage and waste

That’s not all.

There’s Penguin books:

• Orange for general fiction
• Green for crime
• Pink for travel
• Red for drama
• Purple for essays
• Grey for world affairs
• Yellow for ‘misc’

Ford adopted this with the 1989 Fiesta MkIII.

How? By altering the pinstriping in the bumper. Utter genius:

• Silver for ‘posh’ Ghia
• Black for ‘cooking’ 1.6S
• Blue for ‘hot’ XR2i
• Green for the ‘scorching’ (and later) RS Turbo

Thus, you could spot the cred of the Fiesta approaching you at 100 paces – the complete antithesis of today’s manufacturer idea of badge-name-less cars.

Today, I still idolise that blue stripe, and would put the green stripe on old Gormley’s Fourth Plinth.

Why, when we know so much more about clear and easy interfaces, are car makers not doing the same today?

Why Ford Econetics break the rules

Volkswagen looks to history for GTD

BMW tells me why its instruments are lit in orange

Fuel economy is all nowadays. Not since the 1980s have manufacturers been so intent on producing efficient cars.

It’s all in the name of being green, you see. That’s why we’re seeing the return of the ‘eco special’.

Back in the day, car makers achieved good returns with long gear ratios, economy meters and stripped-out, lightweight equipment levels. Volkswagen Polo Formel E, anyone? Austin Metro 3+E?

25 years later, things are, of course, much more advanced. We have, err, long gear ratios, trip computers and, well, stripped down equipment levels. Audi TDIe, Ford Econetic, etc and so forth. OK… not much progress there, then. But, if something ‘aint broke and all that…

Why this post, then? Because Ford’s revealed some of the secrets behind the eco game in Automotive Engineer this month. See, nowadays there’s far more to it than simply keeping the revs low.

The fuel test cycle may be oft-criticised, but it still takes in a whole host of parameters. Which can be, for want of a better word, massaged.

Here’s 5 revealing ways the new Fiesta Econetic beats the system.

•    Every kg saved benefits real-world economy – but only HUGE mass reductions affect the test cycle figures. That’s because ‘inertial weight classes’ are used, each covering around 100kg. This is basically a rolling road with a resistance against it. But… it’s only by shaving enough to move into a new band that you will improve economy.

•    Fitting longer gear ratios is expensive. Volkswagen does this in Bluemotions – 1st and 2nd are standard, 3rd to 5th stretched. Far cheaper, says Ford, to simply fit a longer final drive ratio. It cuts 5g/km from CO2 emissions. But depends on having a torquey enough engine to still pull well in 1st and 2nd…

•    It’s not hard to make a more aerodynamic car – but it IS costly to produce and fit the bespoke panels required. Ford reduced CO2 emissions by 2g/km, by easy measures. The maker didn’t want any more bespoke ‘workstations’ on the production line, to fit extra aerodynamic addenda.

•    An easy fit, you’d think, would be aerodynamic wheel trims. Yes, says Ford – but the redevelopment work in ensuring the brakes behind them get enough cooling air is another matter. That’s why they’re not here.

•    The biggest trick to improving test cycle economy is recalibrating the engine ECU. Measures here include reducing the idle speed, as it takes up a big part of the official test cycle. In the future, Ford also expects eco credits for fitting a standard trip computer.

All of this helps improve the official figures. However, only some of it will affect real world economy. Just goes to show, when judging economy cars, that it’s best to look beyond the figures, and what measures are actually employed to achieve them.

Are they test cycle cheats, or real-world benefits?

Ford says it’s cutting Focus production at its Valencia plant, centralising producing at the Saarlouis plant. That’s in reaction to an overall sales fall of 22 per cent in the first months of 2009.

But, hold on. Dealers report they can’t get enough Fiestas – the new car’s in incredibly short supply. And where’s it built? Valencia, amongst others.

Ford can thus use some of the Focus capacity to bolster Fiesta numbers.

That’s good news.

There are more revelations, too. Ford says it’s going to phase out production of the C-Max at Saarlouis, and shift production of 2010’s new model (drawn from Geneva’s Iosis Max concept) at Valencia. This one is a bit harder to read.

The current C-Max is based on the Focus platform – of which, says Ford, production of all derivatives of the next generation one will be based at Saarlouis.

So, what does this mean for the C-Max?

-    It will use a variation of the Fiesta platform? – Unlikely: It’s simply not big enough.
-    It will continue to use a revised version of the current platform? – Fair: Volkswagen’s done this with the Golf Mk6.
-    It is to be built on an all-new platform, underpinning further as-yet unnamed Fords? – Possible: By separating C-Max construction from the constraints of the Focus, it can grow, incorporate seven seats and greater flexibility for expansion into other sectors.

Time will reveal all. But while Ford’s move may seem a direct reaction to an under-pressure market at the moment, I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a bit more to it than that.

Here’s one to throw out there right away. The Iosis Max concept had sliding rear doors, and no central B-pillar, for easier access. Not to mention a fiendishly clever boot. Both something the Focus platform would be unlikely to accommodate. Does this move signify they will be carried through to production..?