Ford announced Friday its Fiesta small car, unveiled at the Detroit auto show as the Verve concept, will go into production at its Cuautitlán Assembly Plant in Mexico beginning in early 2010. Ford will build the sedan as well as the sporty European hatchback at the plant for sale in the U.S.

Originally, Ford intended to sell only the sedan in North America but customer response to both the sedan and hatchback was positive enough to prompt the automaker to move forward in building both, Mark Fields, Ford's president of The Americas, said in the company's statement.

The Mexico plant will be converted from building F-Series pickup trucks for the Mexican market to small cars for all of North America. Ford's move addresses the major shift in the market away from trucks to smaller vehicles. Mexico also is a low-cost production base, making it possible for Ford to better price the upcoming Fiesta.

Ford also said Friday its Chihuahua, Mexico, engine plant, which now builds four-cylinder engines, will assemble diesel engines for light- and medium-duty trucks sold globally. In a joint venture with Getrag, Ford will add a new transmission plant in Mexico.

Ford said the multiplant development effort represents a $3 billion investment by the automaker and its suppliers and will create 4,500 Ford jobs.