Usually the Ford-Mazda linkup meant that one of the two companies designed a chassis, both companies provide their own exterior sheet metal, interiors, and chassis tuning, and thus they created two surprisingly different vehicles that were built in America.
Not so with the Ford Festiva. Mazda did the entire design and built the mini in Japan as the 121 model. Ford took the 121 design, had it assembled by Kia in South Korea, and renamed it the Festiva for America.
As with most small cars, the Festiva was a basic machine. The layout was front drive, with a 1.3-liter inline-4 mounted transversely up front, matched to either a 5-speed manual or 3-speed automatic transmission. With 63-bhp and 73-lb-ft of torque, the Festiva had enough power to get it to 60 MPH in 10.2 seconds.
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