Meet the latest British...
Meet the latest British hero, the MMI Avocet. The sports car has a light body and a chassis developed by Ray Mallock – the man who prepares Chevrolet’s World Touring race cars. It features a 2.0-litre Ford engine, delivering either 150bhp or 225bhp, with the latter good for a 0-60mph time under five seconds. The models cost ÷£25,000 and ÷£28,000, and MMI plans to build 50 cars a year at its Essex factory.
It’s official...
It’s official – Ford’s Verve SUV is on the way. Auto Express first broke the news of the blue oval’s plans to build an all-road version of its next-generation Fiesta.
And now it has been officially confirmed that the car will make an appearance in concept form at the Detroit Motor Show in January – although not by Ford itself.
Organisers of the exhibition have released a newsletter which provides details of the new models which will be making their debuts. It states: “Ford will reveal a small concept vehicle for the US market that will share the underbody with a concept which was unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show in Sep÷tember.” That model was the Verve, and it seems like the obvious basis for an SUV-inspired show car.
The new off-road-biased model will share its underpinnings with the next Fiesta, which in turn is based on the same platform as the latest Mazda 2 supermini.
The SUV will have small-capacityturbocharged units giving strong performance plus decent economy and emissions. Early indications are that the Fiesta off-roader could go on sale early in 2009.