28/08/2008 23:07. The Ford Fiesta has long been one of Europe's favourite small cars - a runaway success from first launch in 1976, it defined the then-new so-called 'supermini' sector and more than 12million Fiestas have been sold to date. Ford has high hopes for this new model, on sale in the UK from October 2008: it's going global, from Asia to America.

As ever, there's an extensive range of versions to choose from; petrol engines are the familiar 1.25 and 1.4 or an all-new 120bhp 1.6 Ti-VCT (its name denoting twin independent camshaft timing), and the diesels 1.4 and 1.6 TDCi units, including the specially-modified 1.6 TDCi Econetic, which emits just 98g/km of carbon dioxide and is thus road tax-exempt in the UK.

Trim levels range from entry-level Studio through to sporty Zetec S and... // Channel 4 News