Ford’s European arm doesn’t do sentimental. Over the years it’s killed off famous, long-running names like the Escort and Cortina, axed an entire class of car from its lineup by binning the Mondeo, and now it looks like the little Fiesta could be about to go the same way.
The Fiesta hatchback has been a mainstay of Ford’s Euro lineup since 1976 – only the Transit can claim a longer run – but a story in the British motoring press suggests Ford is poised to announce its demise.
Auto Express reports that Ford will call time on the Fiesta later this week, with the final cars leaving the Cologne factory in Germany in the middle of 2023 as part of the automaker’s move toward an electrified lineup. The Fiesta has already been forced to watch as its newer, more fashionable Puma crossover sister muscles in and steals some of its sales, and Ford recently confirmed that the Puma would be available as an EV from 2024.
But the Puma EV will be built in Romania on a different platform to petrol-engined Pumas. The EV architecture is shared with the Transit Courier and Tourneo Courier electric vans, but the same report claims that Ford has no plans to transform the Fiesta into an EV using the same component set.
Related: Ford Confirms European EV Range With Four Crossovers And Five LCVs By 2024
To make matters worse for the Fiesta, Ford is turning the Cologne factory where it is built into an EV center that will produce a new generation of electric cars born out of a tie-up with Volkswagen, and using the VW Group’s MEB platform. That leaves the Fiesta without a home, and probably without a spot in Ford’s lineup.
Axing the Fiesta might seem like a radical move given how well it has sold over the years. Britain’s best-selling car ever (in large part down to its near-50-year run), the Fiesta has racked up almost 5 million UK sales and until very recently was often at or near the top of sales charts. But demand has fallen markedly over the last couple of years and the rumored announcement only underlines how fast things are moving in the automotive world.
We reached out to Ford for a comment and will update the story when we hear back.
