Despite getting a refresh for the 2022 model year, the Ford Fiesta is still facing its fair share of challenges, including supply chain issues that prompted FoMoCo to drop the three-door configuration from the lineup altogether. 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. Now, even though Ford reportedly plans on producing the Fiesta alongside its future EVs at the Cologne Assembly Plant in Germany, the long-running model is still facing cancellation next year, according to Auto Express.
The rumor notes that an announcement regarding the future of the Ford Fiesta will be made next week, and this news will apparently reveal that the automaker will end production in mid-2023. “We are accelerating our efforts to go all-in on electrification and therefore review our vehicle portfolio in line with our business strategy,” a spokesperson said when asked to comment on the matter. “We do not comment on speculation and will share more information in the coming months.”
With no Fiesta EV reportedly in the works, it seems as if the model is indeed headed toward cancellation, particularly as 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), 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 earlier today, 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, which may be a hint that the Fiesta is indeed on its way out.
We’ll have more on the future of the Fiesta soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for more Ford Fiesta news and non-stop Ford news coverage.
Comments
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Ford continues cancelling its cars. As former Ford buyer and after 30 years buying Ford products, I moved to other brands the day Ford decided not to produce sedans anymore. And, besides the Mustang (not the Mach-e of course), I will not buy another Ford product until they sell sedans again. Not everybody likes SUV´s or crossovers or is willing to buy one no matter what.
According to data from Jato Dynamics, Fiesta sales by the end of August were down 45% compared with 2021 levels, at 38.911 units. Meanwhile, Puma sales were down 14% compared with the same point in 2021, at 90.893 units. In August alone, the Puma placed 12th for European sales, with 9.891 examples leaving showrooms. The Fiesta failed to place in the top 50, at just 2.735 units. Wake Up Ford of Europe, as I’ve already written several time over here… even the Puma is a failure compared to some competitors! Ford management should be paid by every sold car in Europe. Why on earth are there real hybrid and EV versions of small cars that lead the sales? And why is Ford not present? Fire the management, stop with WRC and make me CEO, I’m willing to be paid by every sold car 🙂 BUT I would take the right decisions. By the way, what will happen with the factory in Spain?
Hardly worth investing in refreshing this vehicle when it will be superseded by a BEV within short order.
Ford of Europe has NO answer to that yet, the main competitors already offer BEV versions of their actual range that sells like hell… how do you explain that Ford lost its leadership in the UK, their most important market??? Wake up… Just look how many cars that Fiat, Opel and Peugeot are selling!
What about my comment did you not comprehend?
Many of Ford’s EU platforms are at the end of their lifecycles, and are not optimal to extend, or segment expansion, thru conversion to BEV propulsion in the short term (by way of a contrasting example, Lightning was a perfect exception for rapid electrification and segment expansion because of all the space between frame rails and under the box; this isn’t available in low slung passcar platforms), so it’s better not to sink development resources into a short-timer platform, but instead devote those resources (staff and investment) into developing its successor.
IOW, take the short term hit to sales, while setting the stage for better new platforms optimized to the new normal of a BEV powertrain future, and focus the resources on delivering this instead of dissipating resources on patching together transitional segment expanding distractions.