(March 9, 2011) BRENTWOOD, Essex — Sales of the latest-generation Ford Fiesta have reached one million in Europe. The landmark was achieved just 28 months after the stylish small car went on sale in Ford dealerships.

UK drivers have snapped up almost a quarter of the new Fiesta models, with sales since launch totaling 239,742.

When it first drove out of Ford dealer showrooms in October 2008, the award-winning Fiesta championed a new era in small car design, performance and functionality. Available in three- and five-door body styles and a range of fuel-efficient powertrains, it shot up the sales charts to become the best-selling car in the UK in January 2009, regularly challenging Ford Focus for the top UK leadership position.

The Ford Fiesta is produced in Europe in Ford's state-of-the-art assembly plants in Cologne, Germany and Valencia, Spain. It is the most successful European-made small car sold in Europe ever, with cumulative sales totaling 14 million since the car was first launched in 1976.

More recently Ford Fiesta is the first car in its segment to achieve top crash test ratings in each of the world’s largest auto markets that perform safety testing — Europe, the U.S. and China.

Ford’s global safety engineers combined their efforts to ensure the Fiesta would be capable of meeting the most stringent crash protection requirements in any region of the world. Leveraging Ford of Europe’s small car expertise, engineers from Ford of Europe's engineering centers in Cologne, Germany and Dunton, UK, conducted an array of virtual, actual and hydraulic sled-simulated crash tests to ensure this top safety performance.