SIENA, Italy (WSJ) -- Ford Motor Co. is expressing new confidence about the auto maker's ability to sell new small cars at a profit in the U.S. market, citing new data about how Americans are beginning to value premium features and dynamic design over vehicles desired simply for their size.

Jim Farley, Ford's global vice president for marketing and communication, said in a presentation to journalists here that the new Ford Fiesta, the company's latest stab at a small, global car, was ""core to the DNA of the company and a catalyst"" for necessary change.
""Small is big,"" Mr. Farley said, employing a new mantra for Ford that the company hopes will help return the auto maker to profitability.
The Fiesta is slated to be manufactured in Mexico starting in early 2010 for the U.S. market. The new multiplant development effort in Mexico represents a $3 billion U.S. investment, including the support of local suppliers.
""We have to re-establish trust in the brand,"" Mr. Farley said of Ford. ""I'm glad we have so long for this vehicle to come to the U.S. because I have a ton of work to do to re-establish people's trust.""
Mr. Farley did not reveal what Ford intends to sell the Fiesta for in the U.S. but said that customers could live with a car that cost ""$17,000, $18,000 as long as the specs were right,"" referring to the options available on the car.
Ford plans to use pre-sale strategy for the Fiesta, according to Mr. Farley, as a way to build buzz about the new model. He mentioned approvingly the success with pre-sales Mercedes-Benz had with its Smart car in the U.S., but said that the Fiesta approach would have to be different because the Smart car offered the U.S. market an ultra-small model almost never seen before.
In order for the company's bold plan to work, Mr. Farley said, it must present a unique vehicle with premium features to the marketplace on a scale that makes it available to the masses. But he added that its dealers are not yet equipped to be able to sell small cars effectively, saying that they need training and assistance in marketing a size of vehicle that Ford long shunned.
As proof of the Fiesta's potential success, Mr. Farley cited new marketing data from the U.S. that found 42% of respondents would chose the Fiesta above its competitors -- including the Toyota Yaris and Honda Fit -- as their first choice. He said in an interview that the data were culled within the past three months from respondents in southern California and Rhode Island.
The company had been traditionally wedded to making profits off its lineup of vehicles dominated by trucks and sport utility-vehicles and the change-over to a new mix would be a ""significant challenge,"" Mr. Farley said.
He said the driving factors pushing consumers away from larger, less fuel-efficient vehicles and into smaller cars included a greater sense of economic uncertainty over the price of fuel. He added that an increasing trend toward urbanization, simplicity in lifestyle choices, ethical consumption of fuel resources and emphasis on technological innovation would all be driving factors in the growth of the small-car market in the U.S. for Ford.
His comments came as Ford is undergoing a radical shift away from trucks and SUV production. The company has ramped up its small-car production but will have to wait in the U.S. until 2010 until it can introduce the kind of small and midsize models it has sold successfully in Europe. The Fiesta, dubbed the first car off its new global platform approach, will be followed in the U.S. by a new Ford Focus modeled off the current European design.