Ford Aspire
Subcompact car Ford Aspire was produced by Kia Motors Company in Seoul Manufacture since 1994 until 1996. The engine and most of the parts were produced by Mazda Company in Japan. The same symbiosis you can find in Kia Avelia – the identical model of Aspire in Asia market. The predecessor of the Aspire/Avella was Ford Festiva. It was the name of Aspire in Japanese an Australian markets as second generation of Festiva.

Aspire was manufactured in 3- or 5-door hatchback configuration, it was 5-seat and had front wheel drive. The car sizes were of 3881/1669/1412 mm with wheelbase of 2304 mm (3960 mm in 5-door model). Laden mass of 3-door model was of 909 kg, 5-door model – 931 Kg.

Aspire had 2 grades of configuration: standard and comfort SE. SE configuration included improved trim material, tachometer with blue light , fog lamps, rear spoiler and alloy wheel rims. After facelifting in 1997 the car got new oval grill, rounded lamps, new style of front and rear bumpers and some other changes.
The car was equipped with cross located line 4 cylinder 8 valvespetrol motor with distributed injection and the gas-distributing OHC mechanism of 1,3 L with a power of 63 hp (at 5000 rpm) and with a torque of 100 Nm at 3000 rpm. Top speed of Aspire with such engine is 145 km/h
The engine was aggregated with 3-speed automatic and 5-speed manual gearbox.
The suspension bracket of forward wheels included depreciation racks, the cross lever and the cross stabilizer, in the back draft connecting levers, the longitudinal lever, the cross stabilizer and screw springs were used. Forward brakes were disk, back — drum. Except ABS which were established option, at basic equipment there was a Brake Assist system. The size of standard tires was 165/70 R13 S.
Ford Aspire became the first midget car with 2 airbags and ABS for all wheels (optionally) in North American market. This quick hatchback differed by insignificant consumption of low-octane gasoline that made it to be a quite good choice for economic travel on long distances. MacPherson's independent forward suspension bracket and rear one with vertical racks and torsions provided rather comfortable driving and safe, predicted management.

It is worth to be mentioned that during production years Aspire did not become popular among customers and even was mention in the list of worst cars. Complaints were caused by insufficient resistance to corrosion, weak stoplights, defects of the chassis and pale design.
1997 became the last year when the car was sold in North American market. It was explained by disintegration of "tripartite alliance" of Ford-Kia-Mazda. Under Kia brand the Avella model was replaced with Rio which release proceeds now.
It was supposed that in the production program of Ford the Aspire brand by 2010 will replace the compact Fiesta model.