With two and a half weeks to go before the Geneva Motor Show, Ford has finally released details on the production version of its new global small car. After the Verve concept debuted at the Frankfurt Motor Show last September, the speculation began about what it'd be called when it arrived in showrooms. Ford's marketing team decided that more than three decades of brand equity was too much to throw away, so this car will be called the Fiesta everywhere in the world that it's sold, including the United States. US fans probably shouldn't get too attached to the 3-door hatchback shown above, though, as it's all but certain that we'll be getting a four-door sedan instead.

As spy photos in recent months have indicated, the production Fiesta stays remarkably true to the Verve concept. Aside from some detailing of the light clusters and framed side glass replacing the concept's flush glazing, the production car is virtually identical to the concept on the outside. This good news continues when you open the door, as the basic interior design is the same as the concept's, but with slightly less flashy-looking switchgear. Underhood, the Fiesta gets a range of five gasoline and diesel-fueled four-cylinder engines. Like the new Mazda2 with which it shares its architecture, the Fiesta is the same size as the car it's replacing, but high-strength steels allow it to be lighter. Production kicks off this fall in Cologne, Germany, to be followed by a second assembly plant in Spain. An Asian facility will be announced at the Beijing show in April, while a site for North American models will be announced later. We have bemoaned the dearth of small car choices here in the US and vilified Ford for keeping its Euro offerings away from us for a long time here at Autoblog. While we still have a bit longer to wait, the emergence of the new production Fiesta is reason to be very enthused. Put simply, it's exactly what we've been asking for. And it's coming.

^ That's the concept interior I think, btw.

^ The exterior mirrors in the interior photos are purple, which was the same color as the original Verve concept. Also, I doubt they'd have that much leather on a production sub-compact's interior. Oh, and Bjorn, the Fiesta will be sold in North America.

^ The exterior mirrors in the interior photos are purple, which was the same color as the original Verve concept. Also, I doubt they'd have that much leather on a production sub-compact's interior. Oh, and Bjorn, the Fiesta will be sold in North America.