Ford Fiesta news - Keeping the Verve - 2008

The gap between concept and reality can be a big one. Too often, a gorgeous show concept becomes a staid, stolid production car, its good looks spoilt by the real-world necessities of crumple zones and pillars and the like.

But not here. This is the new Fiesta, the sixth generation of Ford's perennial supermini that arrives looking spookily similar to the beautiful Verve concept we saw last summer - all raked angles and stretched lights and generally un-Fiesta-ish panache.

The new Fiesta shares its proportions with the Verve, and unlike many of the current small car crop, hasn't grown over the previous generation.

There are an extra couple of centimetres of crash zone at the front, but other than that it's near-identical in size to the outgoing Fiesta. That means it'll be small within its class, but Ford chiefs say that's a deliberate move and that it'll suit customers looking for a genuine small car - more old Peugeot 206 than new Renault Clio.

Like the Mazda2 with which it shares its underpinnings, the Fiesta has been on a diet. The sixth generation weighs in some 20kg lighter model-for-model, which spells good news for economy and handling.

No surprises in the engine department: the Fiesta will get four petrol units - ranging from a 60bhp 1.25-litre to 114bhp 1.6-litre - and two diesels.

More exciting is the news that Ford will launch an 'Econetic' version of the Fiesta shortly after launch - an ultra-economical diesel in the mould of the Polo BlueMotion with CO2 emissions under 100g/km.

It'll be powered by Ford's 1.6-litre diesel engine but won't get stop-start technology, which Ford says is prohibitively expensive at the moment.

One of our favourite features on the Verve was its mobile-phone inspired dash, and although the glowing metallic buttons haven't made it to production, it's still an impressively futuristic layout. Quality should be up with the best in class.

Set to be officially unveiled at the Geneva show next month, the Fiesta will be launched in both three- and five-door guise in the UK this autumn.

Those Stateside will have to wait rather longer, though. Americans will get a five-door, almost saloon-backed version that, promises Ford, will retain the looks of the concept shown in Detroit this year - but not until 2010.