Ford Axing all cars except Mustang and Focus Active Crossover in North America

[JimG_AZ]

The ford ranger died is the only reason tacomas became popular! Ford axed the ranger back in 2011 and you see how long that lasted... Ford is messing up again, but atleast we get to keep the mustang even if in 5 years it will be 4 cylinders or electric. I will hold my 16 for ever. Last new car i buy.

As a former Tacoma and Ranger owner, I can honestly tell you that the reason the Tacoma became popular is that it was superior in just about every aspect. Although I like my Mustang, there are times I do miss my Tacoma. I can't say that I miss the Ranger though.

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[tcman54]

Shocking but not a huge surprise, here in the USA, Ford sales of Fiesta, Focus and Taurus have been slow for awhile, I think Fusion was doing just ok.

The Mustang survives because it is the somewhat niche market sports car made in small quantities.

TC

 

[Cueball]

Love my 2011 Fusion but my g/f 2016 Fusion is a piece of junk. They need a newer better model than that old platform, but NOT an SUV.

 

[EcoVert]

Shocking but not a huge surprise, here in the USA, Ford sales of Fiesta, Focus and Taurus have been slow for awhile, I think Fusion was doing just ok.

TC

SUV's are part of the reason Fiesta Taurus and Focus sales are down another part of the sales slump is Ford refuses to give these car a proper restyle. Especially the Taurus has been neglected at least 5 years different paint and wheels are not enough. You can tell when Ford is going to kill a name plate they keep turning out the same car for years with no changes then kill it saying pour sales is the reason.

Fusion is selling well but doesn't fit into Hackett's plan to kill Ford

 

[growler]

Yea, and just think when you have an ice storm and your power is out for two weeks. Better hope you have plenty of food unless you plan on walking to the store.

the same power that runs the gas pumps?

 

[millhouse]

Jobs? Hahahahaha. The only thing that matters is getting money in the shareholder’s pockets.

They seem to forget exactly who is buying the trucks and SUV's in the first place. By eliminating all of those Jobs, they have effectively cut off a large supply of buyers for their own products.

True, but when gas shoots back up, they can always just import their smaller cars that will still be selling in other parts of the world. It's not like Ford is stopping those cars for the entire world.

And they will have to pay an import tax on those cars which is ~ $750 on a $30,000 vehicle. At 300K imports per year ford just wasted $225million importing instead of producing. And of course, none of the people making the vehicles overseas will actually be buying them.

The reason foreign auto manufactures produce vehicles here in the US is because it is far more economical than importing them.

 

[Kevin08]

Wow. They better make the focus 'crossover' (wtf is that?) a hell of a lot higher quality of a car than the previous focus was. Seems a very odd strategy especially with the push towards efficient/stylish EVs.

 

[growler]

This is an idiotic move to say the least, They should have killed the fusion OR the Taurus but not both, oil is heading back up now, this will cause the demise of ic faster,
and ic is going away, like it or not and i am surprised its not moving even faster than it is now, auto makers will save mega billions getting rid of engineers to design exhaust,fuel system,s transmissions, valve trains, ect ect ect..only one moving part on an electric motor.

 

[UAmach1]

Imagine the job losses.

They really fucked Ford. They should at least have kept the Fusion the get potential Focus/Fusion/Taurus sales.

 

[Bullitt]

The whole "when gas jumps up they'll be screwed" is an outdated worry. Many of these "crossovers" are just hatchbacks lifted 1 inch off the ground and get almost identical fuel economy to a comparable sedan.

If gas prices do skyrocket and the masses want to ditch their gas SUVs, the rush this time will be to hybrids and EVs (many also SUVs themselves) that are waiting in the wings, currently only bought by the "early adopters". All these car companies pushing for all this EV stuff are partially motivated by this reason, they know cheap gas can't last forever.

 

[Freedom]

The whole "when gas jumps up they'll be screwed" is an outdated worry. Many of these "crossovers" are just hatchbacks lifted 1 inch off the ground and get almost identical fuel economy to a comparable sedan.

If gas prices do skyrocket and the masses want to ditch their gas SUVs, the rush this time will be to hybrids and EVs (many also SUVs themselves) that are waiting in the wings, currently only bought by the "early adopters". All these car companies pushing for all this EV stuff are partially motivated by this reason, they know cheap gas can't last forever.

Ecosport: EPA-Est. MPG City/Hwy 27/29 with 123 Horsepower
Fiesta: EPA-Est. MPG City/Hwy 27/37 with 120 Horsepower
Focus: EPA-Est. MPG City/Hwy 30/40 with 123 Horsepower

Tons of trim variants for the focus and fiestas but those are the peak mpgs with their corresponding hp. I think of crossovers as squashed suv's.

 

[Bullitt]

Ecosport: EPA-Est. MPG City/Hwy 27/29 with 123 Horsepower
Fiesta: EPA-Est. MPG City/Hwy 27/37 with 120 Horsepower
Focus: EPA-Est. MPG City/Hwy 30/40 with 123 Horsepower

Tons of trim variants for the focus and fiestas but those are the peak hp numbers with their corresponding mpg.

The Ecosport is an underperformer in every way. All of it's crossover competition gets better fuel economy on the highway.
Chevy Trax 25/33
Mazda CX-3 29/35
Honda HRV 28/34
Toyota C-HR 27/31
Subaru Crosstrek 28/33
Nissan Rogue Sport 25/32

 

[Hack]

Goes to show the whole "save the environment" movement is lip service only. If people really believed and wanted to burn less fuel they would be buying more Fiestas, not SUVs. SUVs are the worst for the environment, if you buy into those philosophies.

I'm sad to see sedans go away, and it sucks to think that in the future even more of the cars on the road will be what I call jelly bean SUVs. However, I understand it, because I'm not a sedan buyer. I don't need 4 doors and I prefer smaller vehicles.

I'm glad to hear the Mustang isn't going away yet, but this philosophy is concerning to me.

 

[ctandc72]

Maybe it's just me...

But they aren't squashing all these car lines completely - just killing their sales in North America. I wonder if they will use this reasoning to move production of these export only models to say Mexico or somewhere else where labor costs are much cheaper. Then if their reasoning / sales shift - they'll simply 'import' these to North America.

Battery technology still has a long way to go when it comes to electric and hybrid vehicles. Not to mention many of the materials to build all those batteries are a limited natural resource that for the most part has to be imported. No one ever talks about the environmental impact of disposing / storing all these batteries which eventually do wear out.

As for oil - many people don't realize that North America is sitting on a huge amount of oil. The market simply won't bear the cost of setting up production to start pumping it out. The Saudi fields won't last forever. When that happens North America's oil industry will dwarf what it is now.

 

[Ebm]

.

If sedans were a small market I'd agree with you. Small markets with profit, albeit very low margins, are the kinds of markets where you question staying in. They become a distraction and drain on the high volume & profit products.

Honda and Toyota just launched brand new Accords and Camrys. They are selling very well.

Nah. The Camry might be selling well, but Honda messed up the styling of the new Accord. That thing ain't selling for crap.

Ford is getting rid of cars in place of cuv's I guess.

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