Ford to stop selling cars except iconic Mustang and Focus Active

The renowned American automaker Ford has stunned the world of cars by announcing that it would stop selling sednas in the United States over the next few years, except for only two: the iconic and ever-popular Mustang, and the Ford Focus Active, a crossover hatchback/SUV that goes on sale next year and is yet to be seen.

For much of its long 115-year history, Ford has been synonymous with various brands of cars, but now Ford, one of the great engines of 20th century American industrial production is about to do the unthinkable: abandon the American car business almost entirely.

Currently, Ford sells six sedans and coupes in North America: the Fiesta, Focus, Fusion, C-Max, Mustang and Taurus. This lineup hits multiple segments, from the compact Fiesta to the mid-size Focus, C-Max and Fusion to the full-size Taurus. The Mustang stands alone as the lone sports coupe.

The Ford Fusion, Focus, C-Max, Taurus, and Fiesta— are all on the way out in North America as Ford transitions its lineup to one that is all but entirely dominated by SUVs, crossovers and trucks.

Auto News’ Michael Martinez tweeted that current-gen Focus production will end next month, followed by a stop to the Taurus in March of 2019, with the Fiesta bowing out in May of next year. A Ford spokesperson shortly confirmed the dates as accurate.

Why is Ford killing small car production?

The New York Times reports that Ford loses money on the Focus, Fiesta, and Fusion, and Ford CEO Jim Hackett has signaled that he intends to be ruthless when it comes to raising the automaker’s profits. Ford North America’s profit margin was eight percent last year, or 2.7 percent less than what GM’s was.

By not investing in next generations of any car for North America except the Mustang, Ford now anticipates it will reach an 8 percent profit margin by 2020.

In recent years Americans have been inclined to buy trucks and SUVs and given the relatively cheap and steady price of oil, it seems this trend will continue to grow in favor of bigger automobiles.   

This is why the company has just announced that “given declining consumer demand and product profitability, the company will not invest in next generations of traditional Ford sedans for North America.”

All this said, Ford has to count on fuel staying cheap and demand staying high for SUVs and its famous F-Series truck line – the best-selling automobile in the US.

Ford says it is confident its new lineup will be able to withstand rising gasoline prices, Jim Farley, president of global markets, said in an interview.

“We feel comfortable this new lineup will offer customers world-class fuel economy,” he said. “In the past, the fuel economy gap -- the penalty people paid for that utility body style -- was pretty high. Now it’s very modest.”

“This is going to be disappointing to a lot of people who see the end of an era, but most of those people are over 50,” said John Wolkonowicz, an automotive historian and former Ford product planner. “This is about making money. This is what Wall Street demanded,” Bloomberg quoted him as saying.

The Mustang will stay

The iconic Ford Mustang will be all that’s spared from Ford’s slashing of its current passenger-car lineup in North America. Launched in April 17, 1964 in New York, the Mustang sold over a million units in its first 18 months, securing the Mustang’s place in history of automobile production.

The Mustang is the most popular sports car in France, Sweden, Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Finland, and Greece. Ford also says the Mustang is the best-selling sports car in China, with 2016 sales up 74 percent versus 2015.

Globally, Ford sold 150,000 Mustangs last year to claim the title as the world’s most popular sports car.

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