Ford announced today it’s stopping manufacture of the Fiesta, Focus, Fusion, and Taurus “over the next few years”. CUVs, SUVs, pickups, and Mustangs are it! edit - for the US market, that is.
Recently, I read the prediction that the very-new Lincoln Continental will soon be discontinued, and that Lincoln will be a brand of solely luxury SUVs.
Chrysler will drop virtually all cars as well in favor of Jeeps, trucks, Suvs, etc.
Cars will be imported from FIAT and re-badged where necessary.
Ford will still make lots of cars for foreign markets, especially hatchbacks which are a favorite in Europe.
I’d guess that they’ll also have new models coming out to replace those they relegate to history. Model obsolescence and replacement has been a part of the automotive industry since the birth of the automotive industry.
Ford is just responding to their customers. Chrysler will stop selling small cars named Dodge and Chrysler. That gives FCA an opportunity to sell Fiats and Alfa Romeos without losing many customers. If cars sold, they would continue building them for US customers. I bought a car last year and this year I’m trying to convince Mrs JT to replace the 15yo van. Her main requirements are 3 rows, plenty of room behind the seats for cargo, and captains chairs in the middle for her parents. My favorites are the Buick Enclave and Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid. No small cars there. The Pacifica hybrid is an intriguing choice. I get $10,500 back from Uncle Sam and Maryland just for filing my taxes, and I understand discounts are around $2000. $30,000 for a loaded van is a pretty good deal.
Shorted sighted decision by Ford IMHO. We have another spike in oil prices and they will be caught flat-footed without much in the way of smaller more economical models to sell. Kinda surprised they are giving up a big piece of the law enforcement market as well.
6 Likes
Maybe they should ask a few questions of potential customers about why their cars aren’t selling? Because they can’t do anything except haul a few people and people need more utility than that. So you are forced into an SUV or truck.
Are they giving up on the police, or just the rest of the car buying public? It wouldn’t be the first time certain vehicles were only available to fleet buyers. The police seem to have a jones for the Explorer now, too.
Nope. This is the end for those models, with no replacements planned for the US.
They are just getting rid of vehicles that are unprofitable to manufacture in the U.S. They will concentrate with the high-profit trucks and SUV’s and let foreign manufacturers have the small car market. They all have plants overseas and can import re-badged models if the demand justifies it. When you have Honda, Toyota, Nissan, Mazda, Kia, Hyundai, Fiat cranking out millions of small and medium size cars, built with low-wage labor, the U.S. manufacturers just can’t compete with that…Another factor, these small cars tend to be virtually unrepairable. If you manage to get 10 years out of one, you did well. By that time its book value is so low, major repair work is just not an option.
Sedans seem to be a lower % of the vehicles on the road in the SF Bay Area these days, with the higher sitting larger SUV preferred. But there are still a lot of sedans, mostly Toyota’s, Honda’s, Nissan’s, Kia’s, and Hyundai’s. The Ford dealership I drive buy once in a while doing errands seems to sell only Mustangs and trucks. Consistent with the internet advertisement on this page I’m looking at now. Six vehicles advertised
- New Ford Mustang
- Ford Mustang Convertible
- 2018 Ford F-250
- 2018 Ford Mustang GT350
- Ford Trucks for Sale
- Used Ford F-150’s
So it appears Ford us just doing what its customers want. If sedans are wanted instead at a later date, I presume Ford will start making sedans.
1 Like
Like I said, can you pull a boat or a trailer with an Escort or a Mustang?
Sure you can, a little one. Mustang tow rating is 1000 lbs and not more than 12 square feet frontal area. So sailboat, kayak or jet ski.
Not recommended at all for a Focus. An Escort?? Not built since 2003.
1 Like
Oh you mean like what happened before? Something-something history bound to repeat it…
You’d think they’d remember that, it was less than 10 years ago.
How many people need to do that on a daily basis? I know our view of boats is skewed being in Minnesota, but… The guy living in Arizona isn’t pulling a boat behind that behemoth.
This is interesting news coupled with Dodge coming out with a $70,000 truck. These aren’t utility vehicles. They’re giant limousines. There are a huge number of trucks running around that have never had anything in the bed that wouldn’t go in a trunk or a hatch back.
1 Like
I bet other makers are happy to hear this, those Ford car sales will go to them. Same thing if gas prices rise - there will be plenty of options, just not at Ford.
1 Like
Anybody looked at the cost of a barrel of oil lately?? About $65 or so. Past the threshold of profitability for fracked shale oil production.
I like cars and hate the Mommy-utes that pervade our driving landscape so this doesn’t make me happy. I don’t think it is a good move on Ford’s part.
As for FCA… their cars were bloody awful and sold like 4 day old fish so no loss there. Fiat and Alfa cars won’t help since they are about as high a quality vehicles as they were in the 80’s when they last left the US. Pretty but junk!
1 Like
There are people who have some preference to vehicle brands . I know one family and they just buy Fords period . They are upset because a Mustang is not suitable for their use and the F150 is the last thing they want.
Plenty of CUV Fords still. Not just Mustangs, F150s, and Expeditions.
I do wonder how Ford will meet its CAFE mpg target. I always thought they sold the Focus and Fiesta at a loss to get the mpg benefits.
One of my friends used to work with a few guys who all drove the biggest Chevy, Ford, or GMC pickup that was available. When he would try to put his duffle bag or backpack in the bed of those trucks, the owners would scream at him to remove those objects.
Go figure!
2 Likes
I’d like to say that it is mostly due to crossovers taking over the market, but the Camry has had double digit sales increases over most of the past six months. The Corolla and Civic continue to be huge volume cars for Toyota and Honda. It will be interesting to see Ford work to make the commercial switch from cars to all crossovers and full-size body on frame SUVs. In my area, they have done that succcessfully. State cops almost all drive crossovers and SUVs here in Mass. Local cops still split up the mix with cars, mostly rear-drive and AWD Chargers from FCA.