Ford has announced that Focus production ends in November of this year. That follows the demise of Mondeo, in 2022 and Fiesta in 2023. There are no plans for a successor to Focus.
Ford’s PR says that customers can still order a new Focus but with the end of production at the Saarlouis plant in Germany looming, it will soon shut the order books. The there’s just remaining stock with dealers.
The model’s production ends 27 years after the Focus first debuted. It replaced the Escort.
So it’s goodbye to the Focus ST with a manual transmission. Killing the Focus is one less rival for the Volkswagen Group, which will continue to produce Golfs, Octavias, Leons, and A3s for the foreseeable future. And the Corolla will also fare better.
CEO Jim Farley recently said that Ford is “getting out of the boring-car business and into the iconic-vehicle business.” He said that cars like the Fiesta and Mondeo were customer favourites but the reality was that Ford wasn’t making enough profit from them to warrant future investments.
Dearborn is putting its faith in nameplates like Bronco, Tremor, Raptor, and Mustang. It intends to make Ford the “Porsche of off-road.” A lofty aim then.
Check out our review of the Focus Active.
The fall of Focus will leave Ford without an ICE car in Europe, a situation similar to that in the United States. The Fiesta, Focus, Fusion, and Taurus went to the celestial car park several years ago. There’s just Mustang left in that area, a niche car that’s not faring as well as it once did.
Ford sales in Europe and the UK fell 17 per cent to under half a million last year, without Fiesta. Its market share fell from 4 to 3.3 per cent, behind Kia and Hyundai. There’s been a further decline this year to 3 per cent.
Ford has Puma and Escape SUVs to compensate for the loss of its small sedans. The Puma is now also sold as an EV, joining Mustang Mach-E, Explorer, and Capri in Europe.
