How Ford can beat Tesla: Why this all-electric 2026 Ford Fiesta successor is the most important car the Blue Oval’s made in the last 10 years

Ford is secretly developing a small Fiesta replacement that could prove to be its most important car in its modern history, and which will spawn an entire family of affordable EVs that will be introduced from 2026.

All will be designed to rival the other cheap EVs mainly from Chinese brands like MG and BYD that are flooding markets around the globe, but will also battle the long-promised Tesla Mode, 2, and to ensure it succeeds the future Fiesta will be underpinned by a pioneering new platform.

Overseeing the ambitious project is engineer Alan Clarke, who was one of the architects of the Tesla Model 3 and a specialist at creating high-profit, low-cost advanced EVs.

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According to Autocar, as well as underpinning the next Fiesta, the new architecture will also be used to base the next generation of the Ford Puma SUV and the fifth-generation Focus, among others.

All will sit below the Volkswagen MED-derived European Explorer and recent Capri SUVs, as well as the Mustang Mach E.

Despite being small in size, the first car to use the new EV platform will be a car created for a launch in North America, proof how important the new family of EVs is to the Blue Oval.

Helping oversee the next Fiesta’s gestation is Clarke, who has been tasked with creating the world’s most efficient EV platform, and a band of engineers from the likes of Tesla, Rivian and Apple, as well as aerodynamicists poached from F1.

For now, the first models spun off the new platform will shun next-gen solid-state batteries to keep the cost down and be powered by lithium-iron phosphate (LFP) batteries that are said to be more durable than today’s tech and work better in low temperatures.

There’s no word if the actual Fiesta nameplate will return but it’s unlikely given the light car was killed off in 2023 after 46 years, eight generations and 4.8 million sales.

It’s not been revealed when the new pioneering family of EVs will be launched in right-hand drive markets like Australia.