The time is up for the Fiesta. Ford has decided to stop production of the supermini this very week. The last one to roll off the assembly line will be on July 7. It is a move that we have been expecting to happen since last year. Ford has other plans for the plant that has been building the model.
By putting an end to the production of the Fiesta, Ford is making room for its first high-volume electric car. The Cologne, Germany, plant will be turning into a fully battery-electric production center. Right there, the American carmaker officially opened its first carbon-neutral factory on June 12 and plans to sell EVs only by 2030, in Europe. 600,000 electric cars sold every year is the target.
The Explorer EV, built on the Volkswagen-sourced MEB architecture just like the ID range, will see the light of day there. Later this year, a second electric model, possibly coming with the Capri name, will roll off the assembly line in Cologne. Ford is also working on an electric version of the Puma crossover.
What will Ford do with the last Fiestas that it builds?
The Fiesta has been around for almost half a century. A tiny car with a big personality, the Fiesta has come in eight generations, one cuter, smarter, and a bit faster than the one before it.
But the pandemic meant the beginning of the end for the model. Manufacturers had to steer the supply chains towards more profitable models. The Fiesta was not one of them in a market where the demand for crossovers, SUVs, and pickup trucks was skyrocketing and still is. It was just not strong enough to fight the Puma.
Photo: Ford
Ford had to pause the orders for the Fiesta in June 2022, blaming the shortage of semiconductors.
Only four days of production are left, and the “no regrets” idiom surely does not work here, as Ford wipes a tear while saying goodbye to the supermini, even though they’ve known for months that it was going to happen.
The carmaker is keeping the last two Fiestas to itself. One of them will join the company’s International heritage fleet in Cologne, Germany, where the model has been in production. The other one will end up n the United Kingdom heritage fleet.
The figures of the iconic Ford Fiesta
47 years on the market. Eight generations. 18 million units sold. These are the figures of the Fiesta.
One of Ford’s longest-running models started its story back in the 1970s. Codenamed Bobcat, the subcompact car was greenlighted in Dearborn in late 1972.
It was a three-door model at first. It first came with a 63-horsepower L4 in the US spec trim, mated to a four-speed transmission. It may not sound like much, but with a weight below 1,700 pounds, it was zippy enough to be enjoyed from the driver’s seat.
Ford redesigned the model in 1984. The second generation, getting the same proportions as the first, was kept away from the American market. For the first time, the model got a CVT automatic transmission.
The third generation came in late 1989 with a five-door version included in the lineup. Zetec and turbocharged engines were offered together with a five-speed manual transmission instead of the four-speed unit. The RS Turbo version was ready to fight the GTIs from Volkswagen, while the diesel option ticked the fuel economy box.
A fifth-gen Fiesta came in 1995, running through 2002 as a hatchback, sedan, and minivan. But the MK5 never made it to the US, either.
It was 2008 when Ford finally decided to redesign the Fiesta as a global product, bringing it back to the United States. Customers could go for either a four-door sedan or a five-door hatchback.
Photo: Ford
The seventh-generation Fiesta was sold in the United States up until 2019. The ST guise was also part of the plan in the American market. But customers there could also choose an ST Line version, that got all the dramatic looks of the ST without them paying as much as they would have paid for the 197-horsepower (200 PS) version.
Other Ford models that are saying goodbye
One of the world’s most popular superminis, the Fiesta is not Ford’s only model to say goodbye, as reported by Autocar. Whether you like it or not, anything that doesn’t have a high ride seems doomed, not just for Ford, but for any carmaker out there. The American company halted production of the S-Max and the Galaxy MPVs in April 2023.
There is not much time left for the Focus hatchback either, even though Ford tried to resurrect it with an Active version that came with SUV-inspired looks and capabilities back in 2018. Failing to benefit from this second chance that it got, the Focus will also say farewell in 2025.
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