Ford’s announcement on Monday that it will launch seven new electric vehicles in Europe by 2024 – five passenger vehicles and two vans – left open more questions about the company’s future structure and ambitions in Europe than it answered.
Questions put by journalists to Ford of Europe’s president, Brit Stuart Rowley, following the announcement were smoothly rebuffed. Here we highlight the outstanding questions and attempt to answer them, using both Rowley’s coded answers and Ford’s previous indications.
What happens to the Ford Fiesta?
The Monday announcements are “not the end of the journey” for Ford on electrification, Rowley said in response to this question. But it seems unlikely the Ford Fiesta will exist as we know it going forward. Ford will move to EV-only for its passenger vehicles in Europe by 2030 and small EVs are hard to make money on – a negative for the Fiesta, given that Ford is doing everything it can to staunch years of losses in Europe.
In fact, Ford is gradually moving the Fiesta’s Cologne, Germany facility to EVs from 2023, although Ford hasn’t indicated when production of the Ford Fiesta will actually stop. One possibility is that the Fiesta’s role will be taken by the passenger ‘Tourneo’ version of the small Transit Courier van being made in Romania from 2023. Offered as a petrol, diesel and, from 2024, as an EV, the car’s lower-cost van roots would let it fulfil the role of basic transport that small cars traditionally used to inhabit, instead of the mini-sports limo that cars like Fiesta have evolved into.
For Autocar Business webinars and podcasts, visit Autocar Business Insight
Ford’s statement that it will carry on selling combustion-engined vans until 2035 gives it a loophole to sell this welcome cheaper-end model for a good 10 years yet.
Why is Ford’s Turkey joint venture buying the Puma plant?
Join the debate
Add your comment
So first it was city cars, now its the Fiesta sized sector which is on its way out, a size of vehicle which suits many people's needs perfectly. I don't consider the Fiesta to be a "mini sports limo", whatever that is, and I don't think a Tourneo type vehicle would satisfy typical Fiesta buyers.
Manufacturers appear keen to blurr the lines of the different segments going forward: The other day there was an article about the VW group's forthcoming electric city cars, which will be the size of a T-Cross (not a city car at all), and Citroen saying that a lower trim C3 will satisfy previous C1 customers. The fact that motoring journalists just pander to this nonsense is quite annoying.
It is beginning to look as though Ford are throwing in the towel for car manufacturing in Europe. I wouldn't be surprised if after closing Valencia and Saarlouis they move their remaining assets into a joint venture with VW whose EV platforms Ford will be using for their new models. It is quite amazing how saies of the Fiesta and Focus have crashed over the past 12 months. Whilst they are both in declining sectors Ford has neglected product and marketing investment which just goes to show how quickly the tables can turn. The Corsa is not a standout car but Vauxhall have clearly done a far better sales job than Ford. It cannot be a happy time for Ford dealers unless they selling Transits.
Ford's resizing strategy has finally become clear. Although the old boys hating SUVs and EVS will wail then at least we know what it is – assuming Autocar's well-reasoned deductions are correct. What I don't see here is any volume projections for I'd love to know how the brand might stack up against other mass-market players. At first blush, it seems that pulling Fiesta and Focus would make a huge dent in volume but I assume that Golf, Astra, and the rest are similarly doomed to see out their current model cycles?