Ford has been slowly killing off its iconic passenger car nameplates – the Mondeo in 2021 and the Fiesta in 2023 – to focus on supposedly more profitable SUVs such as the Puma, Explorer and Capri. It’s taken a while, but the Focus is finally following suit, with its execution date now set for November this year.
The news was communicated in a email sent to Motor1 by the carmaker’s European communications manager Finn Thomasen, and just like its other axed siblings, it’s been confirmed that the C-segment hatchback will not see a successor. While customers can still order cars with their desired colours and options, the order books will close soon, at which point buyers can only choose from what’s in the inventory.
The writing had been on the wall for a while now. Ford began culling its passenger cars in the US all the way back in 2018, with the sole exception of the Mustang – the focus (pun fully intended) now fully placed on SUVs and pick-ups, plus greater electrification. In September, CEO Jim Farley gave an interview with Car Magazine where he confirmed that passenger cars were out in their heartland of Europe, too.
“We’re getting out of the boring-car business and into the iconic-vehicle business,” he said. ‘We’d always competed at the heart of the passenger-car market, which didn’t work out too well for Mondeo, Focus and Fiesta. They were loved by a lot of customers but they could never justify more capital allocation – unlike commercial vehicles.”
With Focus production ending soon, Ford is closing the book on a 27-year phenomenon. It’s hard to overstate just how impactful the car was when it debuted in 1998, replacing the dour Escort with a sharp-suited hatchback to rival the Volkswagen Golf – equipped with polarising “New Edge” styling and pioneering “Control Blade” rear suspension.
Through the following three generations the Blue Oval continued to imbue the Focus with world-class driving dynamics, put to good use in the hot ST and RS models. Fading sales and the company’s continued obsession with SUVs left the car with no place to go, however, and soon it will be nothing more than a footnote in Ford’s illustrious 122-year history.
GALLERY: 2020 Ford Focus 
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