Ford to build U.S. Fiesta world car in Mexico: report

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co will announce later on Friday that it will build its new global car, the Fiesta, in Mexico for future sale in the United States market, the Wall Street Journal said.

The newspaper cited a person familiar with the plan. But Ford officials declined to comment except to say the company planned to bring the Fiesta to North America in 2010. It has not said where it will build the U.S. version of the car.

The Journal said it was not immediately clear whether Ford can move up production to meet shifting consumer demand in the U.S. away from trucks and sports-utility vehicles and toward fuel-efficient passengers.

The Dearborn, Michigan-based automaker has two assembly plants in Mexico.

The new Fiesta, which is based on the sleek Verve hatchback Ford has presented at auto shows, is a key piece of Chief Executive Alan Mulally's drive to unify Ford's global operations around "world cars" that share most of their components and can be built and sold with few changes in North America, Europe and Asia.

The Fiesta goes on sale in Europe and Asia this year and is expected to hit U.S. showrooms in 2010. The original Ford Fiesta debuted in 1976, and more than 12 million have been sold in Europe.

(Reporting by Steve James; Editing by Anshuman Daga)