Ford Will Kill Off Most Of Its Cars By 2020 As SUVs And Pickups Take Over
For most car buyers in North America right now, it seems one simply must have either an SUV or a pick-up truck. So where does that leave all other passenger vehicles? In the case of Ford, kicked to the kerb.
In the firm’s latest quarterly report, Ford confirmed that “by 2020, almost 90 percent of the Ford portfolio in North America will be trucks, utilities and commercial vehicles.” The company added: “Given declining consumer demand and product profitability, the company will not invest in next generations of traditional Ford sedans for North America.”
What this means is that Ford’s North American car portfolio “will transition to two vehicles,” those being the Mustang (above) and the incoming Focus Active (below). The latter vehicle being a kinda/sorta crossover itself, rather than a normal car. The Fiesta, Fusion, C-Max, Taurus and all other versions of the Focus are for the chop.
In the meantime, Ford says it is also looking into “new ‘white space’ vehicle silhouettes that combine the best attributes of cars and utilities, such as higher ride height, space and versatility.”
It should should come as no surprise that electrifying all the things is also on the agenda. Hybrid versions of “high-volume, profitable vehicles” such as the F-150, Mustang (sorry, purists), Explorer, Escape and Bronco. Ford’s first battery-electric vehicle will be here in 2020 meanwhile, and by 2022 the company will have 16 EVs in its line-up.
Growing up on a diet of World Rally Championship highlights and lengthy Gran Turismo 2 sessions, a life in cars was as good as inevitable for Matt.
Comments
It wasn’t a surprise that Ford is killing off a portion of their lineup, but it was a huge surprise that the changes will be that grave. On the other hand, what did they really lost?
Fiesta, Fusion, C-Max, Taurus and all other versions of the Focus are for the chop.
Fiesta: That comes as a surprise to me. The Fiesta is a great little car. I don’t know the exact sale numbers of it in the USA, but I can figure out that a lot of people would buy it - even if just because it’s cheap.
Fusion: A negative example of a world car unfortunately - too large and unrefined for Europe, too small and lacking a V6 (which the competition has) for the USA. At least we can hope that the next generation of the Mondeo will focus more on the European core market.
C-Max: That’s kind of a bummer. Only few car offers that kind of practicality in a car this small. But then again, I don’t know how many people would even consider it when a Ford Escape is cheaper.
Taurus: Terrible sales numbers. Asking 28k$ for a nine-year-old car with the same features as an F-150 for the same price is a bold move. Hardly a surprise.
But hey, the Mustang is still on sale and the new Focus model isn’t exactly ugly either. I just don’t understand why each and any car needs to have these ugly unpainted plastic bumpers nowadays, I cannot help but associate that with the cheap base model cars in the 90s where painted bumpers were an option.
The Fusion has an available V6, btw.
The Fiesta was never a model of reliability, let’s put it like that, and the 2018 model isn’t the new Fiesta you guys have, but the previous one, so it doesn’t really surprise me and it was predictable, but it’s still a bit sad to lose the only hot hatch of that specific category (as we don’t have the Clio RS or the Polo GTI);
the Fusion was actually quite a good rival to a lot of cars from the same category, like the Camry, the Altima, the Accord, with greater depreciation which made it a lot more affordable than rivals for a same year, like the Accord or the Camry, so I think it’s a bit surprising though, knowing that it still sells;
the disparition of the C-Max was written in the sky and is probably the most predictable one here, as sales numbers were very low because nobody knew what it was and because Ford didn’t advertise it the slightest: it was a good car, but it didn’t sell because people weren’t aware it existed, plus it’s not exactly a recent model;
the Taurus is a bit predictable because of sales numbers, but leaves me a bit sad, as it was one of the last models to represent the legendary full size RWD American sedan with the Charger and the Impala, plus the SHO version was quite underlooked and quite unknown, yet still could be a surprise to a lot of cars with its AWD and turbocharged Ecoboost V6.
The SHO is a god tier car. Dunno why more people don’t buy them honestly
Sorry about the Rant,but…I have to let it out,just no,this SUV madness must end the good way or the bad way,this is unnaceptable!
Not only we lost the legendary Evolution name to a oversized EV SUV,the eclipse name suffered the same fate of being used for naming a new SUV.
Not only they are Useless oversized Sedans today,their Off road capabilities today are near 0%, to top it all? They become EV’s wich are 0-60 Queens that have Sluggish handling…
The last thing I want to do is to see heavily oversized EV SUV’s pretending to be sports cars at 60mph bragging about 0 emissions seeing who can take more groceries or deliver fast the kids to school while entertaining them on a integrated center IPad while a commercial mother looks at them while The car drives itself…on a dirt road while the comercial says the car is a proper Offroad SUV…
I’m sorry to be harsh but this is the future we face today, Car enthusiasts never truly had a say on the motoring world to begin,only the commuters do.
That is faulty logic. SUV is never to blame for the death of the Evo. Market for budget performance hero always exists. Mitsubishi’s questionable business strategy on the other hand is.
What is the obsession with having to sit high up in a car? I seriously think this boils down to lack of skill.
Or its just more comfortable and practical.
Remember, hatchbacks from the 90s had higher ride heights. The desire to be “sporty” has pushed modern hatchbacks much lower, which a lot of people don’t like. Crossovers push the ride height back to their 80s and 90s equivalents.
They are going to regret this.
BRING BACK THE CROWN VICTORIA GOD DAMN IT!
omg yessssssssssssss
Killing off the Fusion is what I don’t understand.
It fits neither the US not the Euro market. Very understandable in my mind
It doesn’t fit into the USA market very well, and its worse than the Mondeo (a fully euro developed model) it replaces over this side of the pond. Its a case study in a world car gone wrong.
thank god now the crowds can live on and prosper without fear of Mr. Crowd control
That’s a GT500 announcement for sure. What they are telling us is that when it’ll come, it’ll be the most extreme they could have produced.
They’ve already announced it.
I cannot believe this! I own four fords! I have a 2003 focus svt, GREAT car and a 2015 fiesta st, also a GREAT car. Now ford can complain about everyone buying imports for fuel economy and fun. So sad. I can’t count all of the fords I have owned over the years. We loved our flex, but not enough to pay for that much gas. Shoot, I will keep my mustang and my truck. This won’t make me ford loyal that is for sure.
ONCE AGAIN, BECAUSE THEY HAVENT PISSED US OFF WITH THE RETURN OF THE MACH 1 AND A FKIN SUV!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WTF!
All hail Ford Europe, our Lord and Savior from Germany