When Ford decided to eliminate Fiesta, Focus, Fusion and Taurus a few years ago the news caused a lot of discussion in the United States. The same thing happened in Europe, where the Fiesta and Mondeo have been phased out, while the Focus will be retired in 2025.
Why is the Blue Oval getting rid of its cars? Because it is “getting out of the boring car sector and into the iconic vehicle sector.” This is what the CEO said Jim Farley to British magazine CAR in a recent interview in which he admitted that those cars “were loved by many customers.” Despite their moderate popularity, the Dearborn boss says it is not worth investing more money in cars such as Fiesta, Focus and Mondeo, compared to, for example, commercial vehicles.
The steps towards electrification
Unfortunately there are no direct replacements for these cars. Instead, Ford is thinking of a pair of electric SUVs based on the MEB platform Volkswagen (the Explorer and Capri are closely related to the ID.4 and ID.5, respectively). Puma itself is about to turn towards electric.
Despite everything, given the weak demand for electric vehicles, Ford of Europe recently abandoned its plan to become exclusively electric starting from 2030.
Ford Mustang 60th Anniversary
What are the “icons”?
As for the “iconic” vehicles cited by Farley, the reference is to Bronco, Mustang and Raptor. The pony car gives Ford the certainty that it “can challenge Porsche” and to do so it intends to invest more in the future.
The “boring” Fords, however, leaving the scene puts the Volkswagen Group, Toyota, Stellantis and Kia/Hyundai in an advantageous position, which continue to produce them. Meanwhile Ford sales in Europe they continue to do badly. In June they fell by 16.9% in the European Union, EFTA and the United Kingdom and the market share fell from 4.1% to 3.3%.
Limiting the range is a risky choice and only the results of the near future will be able to tell us if it was a wise decision.
