Whereas British buyers rued the absence of a saloon version of the Sierra, in New Zealand, it was the absence of an estate (a "station wagon" there) that customers missed, when Ford New Zealand replaced the Cortina with the Ford Telstar range.
In order to fill the gap in the market, Ford introduced the Sierra wagon in 1984, in spite of opposition at Ford Asia Pacific and from the Detroit headquarters.
This was assembled locally from imported CKD ("completely knocked down") kits.
The wagon was offered in 1.6- (base) and 2.0-litre "L" and "Ghia" models initially, and proved to be a strong seller.
The then Prime Minister, Sir Robert Muldoon, used a Sierra as his personal transport and would drive it to his office in the government building known as the Beehive.
New Zealand was the only market in the world where both the Telstar and the Sierra were offered next to each other.

In one month in 1987, the facelifted Ford Sierra, by then a single station wagon model, was the country's top-selling car range.
A few fully built-up 2.3 V6 five-doors and XR4i three-doors were also imported from 1984.

However, Ford cancelled the Sierra once Mazda, which developed the Telstar, could offer a station wagon.
The Telstar wagon, while popular, never reached the Sierra's heights, especially its competition successes overseas.
Further reasons could be customers' knowledge of the Telstar's Japanese roots, and that the equivalent Mazda 626 wagon offered a considerably longer warranty at a similar price.

Relative rejection of the Telstar forced Ford to import completely built-up (CBU) premium models built in Genk, Belgium from 1990: the Sierra 2.0 GLX Wagon, the Sierra Sapphire 2.0 Ghia and the XR4×4 were part of this range.
The advertising copy read, "Introducing the new car that needs no introduction."
However, a relatively high price did not help – the Wagon began at over NZ$31,000 – and production errors in the launch brochure showed cars with no steering wheels.
Furthermore, any marketing boosts Ford could have gained through Group A touring car racing were over with the Escort Cosworth becoming the company's standard-bearer in competition (and the Escort, meanwhile, was absent from the New Zealand market).

The Sierra was withdrawn from the New Zealand market in 1992, and it would be another five years before its European successor the Mondeo would arrive there.
Sierra Cosworths remain sought-after performance cars.

By contrast, the Sierra was never sold in Australia, as there was less demand for a medium-sized wagon than in New Zealand, although the RS Cosworth/RS500 was used in the Australian Touring Car Championships from the late-1980s and early-1990s.
Whereas British buyers rued the absence of a saloon version of the Sierra, in New Zealand, it was the absence of an estate (a "station wagon" there) that customers missed, when Ford New Zealand replaced the Cortina with the Ford Telstar range. In order to fill the gap in the market, Ford introduced the Sierra wagon in 1984, in spite of opposition at Ford Asia Pacific and from the Detroit headquarters. This was assembled locally from imported CKD ("completely knocked down") kits. The wagon was offered in 1.6- (base) and 2.0-litre "L" and "Ghia" models initially, and proved to be a strong seller. The then Prime Minister, Sir Robert Muldoon, used a Sierra as his personal transport and would drive it to his office in the government building known as the Beehive. New Zealand was the only market in the world where both the Telstar and the Sierra were offered next to each other.
In one month in 1987, the facelifted Ford Sierra, by then a single station wagon model, was the country's top-selling car range. A few fully built-up 2.3 V6 five-doors and XR4i three-doors were also imported from 1984.
However, Ford cancelled the Sierra once Mazda, which developed the Telstar, could offer a station wagon. The Telstar wagon, while popular, never reached the Sierra's heights, especially its competition successes overseas. Further reasons could be customers' knowledge of the Telstar's Japanese roots, and that the equivalent Mazda 626 wagon offered a considerably longer warranty at a similar price.
Relative rejection of the Telstar forced Ford to import completely built-up (CBU) premium models built in Genk, Belgium from 1990: the Sierra 2.0 GLX Wagon, the Sierra Sapphire 2.0 Ghia and the XR4×4 were part of this range. The advertising copy read, "Introducing the new car that needs no introduction." However, a relatively high price did not help – the Wagon began at over NZ$31,000 – and production errors in the launch brochure showed cars with no steering wheels. Furthermore, any marketing boosts Ford could have gained through Group A touring car racing were over with the Escort Cosworth becoming the company's standard-bearer in competition (and the Escort, meanwhile, was absent from the New Zealand market).
The Sierra was withdrawn from the New Zealand market in 1992, and it would be another five years before its European successor the Mondeo would arrive there. Sierra Cosworths remain sought-after performance cars.
By contrast, the Sierra was never sold in Australia, as there was less demand for a medium-sized wagon than in New Zealand, although the RS Cosworth/RS500 was used in the Australian Touring Car Championships from the late-1980s and early-1990s.
Ford Sierra