Ford Debuts New Entry-Level Car for Emerging Markets

Ford Motor Co. has unveiled a larger third-generation of its Ka city car and says the new four-door sedan will go on sale in South America and other markets in 2014.

The sub-$10,000 car will ride on the company's latest Fiesta B-segment platform. Observers note that the production-ready Ka concept revealed in Brazil earlier this week also borrows several styling cues from the pricier Fiesta.

Ford introduced the Ka as a city car in 1996. Since then it has sold about 1.5 million of the little three-door hatches in Europe, Asia and South America. The current version debuted in 2008, riding on the same chassis that carried that era's Fiat 500 city car.

But demand has waned for the current Ka. Ford describes the next-generation model as critical to sales in China, India, Middle East, North Africa and South America and the company's aim to boost its overall global sales from 6 million vehicles this year to 8 million by 2017.

The new Ka aims to convey a premium look and feel, according to Ford. The production-ready concept is equipped with Ford's SYNC voice-command system and a central docking station for smartphone.

Such features are expected to be incorporated into the production car in at least some markets. Ford declines to say whether the car also will offer costlier safety systems such as antilock brakes, airbags or stability control.