Even though it received a refresh for the 2022 model year, the Ford Fiesta was still facing its fair share of challenges, including supply chain issues that prompted FoMoCo to drop the three-door configuration from the lineup earlier this year. Ford also announced that it would no longer be exporting the Fiesta and Focus ST to Australia back in August, and as Ford Authority reported last month, the Focus and Fiesta ST face uncertain futures elsewhere, too. Regardless, Ford reportedly planned on continuing to produce the Fiesta alongside its future EVs at the Cologne Assembly Plant in Germany, though a report surfaced yesterday that the long-running model was still facing cancellation. Now, the Fiesta’s demise has officially been confirmed by Blue Oval CEO Jim Farley himself.
As we say #FarewellFiesta, I’m grateful for our many Fiesta fans around the world & everyone at @Ford that built 22 million vehicles over five decades. It’s sad to see Fiesta go, but we’re excited for the next generation of electric vehicles soon to be produced in Europe. 💙⚡️ https://t.co/x2MidGgnzi
— Jim Farley (@jimfarley98) October 26, 2022
The Ford Fiesta has indeed been cancelled, and it won’t be produced at the new Cologne Electrification Center after all, as that facility is being converted for EV production only as part of the automaker’s $50 billion dollar investment in electrification as it aims to produce two million units annually by 2026.
Ultimately, this news doesn’t come as a huge surprise, given the fact that Ford is in the midst of transitioning its entire European passenger vehicle lineup to electric vehicles by 2030 or sooner. FoMoCo recently revealed that it will launch seven new EVs in Europe by 2024, including a Puma EV (which will also be built at Cologne and is teased in the video above), a pair of crossovers riding on Volkswagen’s MEB platform, and electric versions of the Transit Courier, Tourneo Courier, Transit Custom, and Tourneo Custom.
As Ford Authority reported yesterday, The Blue Oval also plans to launch an all-new, all-electric medium-sized crossover next year that utilizes a low carbon steel body, and that model is expected to be one of the aforementioned VW MEB-based EVs produced at the Cologne plant. Additionally, the automaker just announced that it has opened a new electric motor research site at the nearby Cologne-Niehl engine plant that will develop hairpin stators – one of the key components used in future electric motors.
We’ll have more on the Fiesta soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for more Ford Fiesta news and ongoing Ford news coverage.
Comments
And hopefully it´s not replaced by an abominable SUV or crossover like everything Ford is producing right now.
Get ready for the inevitable replacement, an electric EcoSport dubbed “Fiesta-Cross” that nobody wants.
Does it make it any better that it’s been replaced by a rebadged VW EV?
why does farley say that? many Fiesta buyers now won’t buy a more expensive Puma or Focus, they’ll buy another brand. It is a bad strategy.
Sad news. I think that Ford Europe is making very bad decisiones. Also, a lot of people don’t want to buy an suv in Europe.
Sales of the Fiesta and Focus are down because Ford has wanted it. I’m sure the Focus could outsell the Puma if more were made, but few are made and there’s hardly any stock at dealerships. Everything to favor the small SUV Puma, another bad strategy of Ford Europe.
It is a bad strategy, because many people in Europe (UK, Germany, Spain…) want the Focus and not the Puma, and they are going to buy another brand.
Can you support this statement with some data?
Where I live I see more and more crossover vehicles all the time.
The question really is are they crossing over from something, or crossing over to something?
The VW Golf continues to lead in Europe along with the French 208, and other cars like Yaris, Corsa, Fiat 500 or Corolla are successes despite the SUV/Crossover boom. It’s suicide for Ford to lose the Fiesta, and the C segment soon.
Crossovers/SUVs give more benefits to brands, for this reason brands want to sell SUVs/Crossovers. The shortages of chips helps this situation. But there are millions of people in Europe who for the next few years will not buy an electric car, or an expensive SUV/Crossover, and these customers will be looking for a cheaper car that Ford will not have in its catalogue… really a bad strategy by Ford. These customers will buy another brand, not an electric Ford or an expensive SUV
If it costs you to develop a cheap car to compete in a segment where your cheap car doesn’t make profit, it’s time to focus on where you make your money. This is the same reason Apple doesn’t make a cheap iPhone.
Most people will not buy an electric car in Europe before the year 2030. An electric Ford Puma is necessary, it is true, or the next Ford electric derivatives of VW. But Ford needs models like the Ford Focus, because the Golf, Corolla, A3, and B SEGMENT Yaris, 208 and more, the next few years will continue to be very successful in Europe. It would be easy to build a Focus PHEV using the same system as the Ford Kuga. They use the same C2 platform.
Queue Freddy Mercury & Queen, “another One Bites the Dust, Hey, Hey…
Don’t live in Europe but Ford should consider bringing the Maverick to Europe. Ford could make it over there and the hybrid would do well for those who want a smaller truck. I have been getting 40 to 50 mpgs on my hybrid Maverick. As for cars it seems the market has spoken and those who want a car can buy Japanese or Korean.
Why are some of the vehicles that are exported better looking with different features than those in the USA? We’re a big Ford family that years ago sold Ford-Mercury-Lincoln automobiles. I really like reading this news but think lots of energy is spent writing about new paint stripes, for example or things so minor they hardly merit reading about. George T.
My Ford Fiesta awaiting TCM for more than 2 months. Any ETA? Am I not entitled to a loaner?