
Ford to Stop Selling Every Car in North America but the Mustang and Focus Active - awad
https://techcrunch.com/2018/04/25/ford-to-stop-selling-every-car-in-north-america-but-the-mustang-and-focus-active/
======
venning
This refers to sedans and coupes, excluding crossovers, trucks, SUVs, and
commercial vehicles. But it does appear they will create new "silhouettes"
between cars and crossovers. From the Press Release [1]:

> _Building a winning portfolio and focusing on products and markets where
> Ford can win. For example, by 2020, almost 90 percent of the Ford portfolio
> in North America will be trucks, utilities and commercial vehicles. Given
> declining consumer demand and product profitability, the company will not
> invest in next generations of traditional Ford sedans for North America.
> Over the next few years, the Ford car portfolio in North America will
> transition to two vehicles – the best-selling Mustang and the all-new Focus
> Active crossover coming out next year. The company is also exploring new
> “white space” vehicle silhouettes that combine the best attributes of cars
> and utilities, such as higher ride height, space and versatility._

[1]
[https://media.ford.com/content/dam/fordmedia/North%20America...](https://media.ford.com/content/dam/fordmedia/North%20America/US/2018/04/25/1q18-financials.pdf)

EDIT: The press release from which all this interest is coming may only refer
to Ford North America's development goals. Ford Europe is almost a different
company and is responsible for most (all?) of the Focus and Fiesta's
development. Perhaps Ford NA will stop bringing new sedans/coupes to market
(excepting Mustang and Active) and simply import the smaller vehicles.

~~~
megaman22
Ford basically makes all of their money on the F-series pickups, and the
Escape/Explorer/Expedition SUV series.

One thing I've never quite understood is how Ford has managed to maintain a
stranglehold on the police department market for my entire lifetime. Crown
Victorias were ubiquitous until just a few years ago, and now seem to be
universally replaced with Explorers. Outside of a few state highway patrol
units that use Mustangs or Dodge Chargers.

~~~
cat199
> Crown Victorias were ubiquitous until just a few years ago

these were also in one form or another the standard for any sort of livery -
taxis were very often Crown Victorias, sedan-style limos used lincon
continentals which were basically the same car only the luxury version..

not an expert, but personally I think this is basically a lineage of
domestically produced V8 sedans going back to the dawn of automotive times;
the large installed base and relatively decent reliability / price / passenger
size meant they had a good balance of functionality and lots of of parts,
trained mechanics, etc. around. they were also the standard issue car of
retired americans :B

probably plus union influence.

IIRC the last plant making the basic chassis (winsor ontario) for these was
restructured out of existence as a result of the gov't intervention following
the 2008 crisis.

~~~
taxicabjesus
> taxis were very often Crown Victorias,

Retired Crown Victorias were commonly used as taxis because they were
inexpensive when purchased at auctions. When I first started driving for the
taxi company (2012), they still had a few Crown Vics with police-style lights
on the A-pillar [0].

[0]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pillar_(car)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pillar_\(car\))

The Prius is a much better taxi than the Crown Victoria. Easier for old people
to get into, hatchback, etc.

~~~
Gibbon1
> Prius is a much better taxi than the Crown Victoria. .

Prius has one of the lowest operating costs of any car out there. Not just
because of the good gas mileage but also the service and maintenance costs are
really low.

~~~
taborj
Until you need to replace the batteries

~~~
Gibbon1
Battery is warrantied for 10 years, 150,000 miles.

------
Lionsion
Didn't the US auto industry make this same mistake before? Gas was ~$1/gallon
in the 90s, so they neglected everything to focus on the (truck-based) SUVs
that were then popular and profitable. Then gas prices went up and they were
totally unprepared.

~~~
look_lookatme
A 2018 F-150 with EcoBoost will essentially get the same MPG as a 2018 Ford
Taurus. I suspect the Focus Active will be their high efficiency vehicle and
they'll continue to increase the MPG on SUVs and certain trucks.

I'm in the market for an SUV or crew cab truck for weekend road trips (I walk
to work) and have been impressed with the 2015+ F-150s. If I actually did
commute every day I could just buy a 10 year old Honda or Toyota and have the
best of both worlds.

~~~
Johnny555
But how does that mileage compare to a Taurus with Ecoboost (I don't even know
what that is -- a fuel efficient engine or a hybrid drivetrain?) -- surely any
technology that improves gas mileage in a 5000lb, 80" wide x 78" high truck
would do even more to improve mileage in a 4000 lb 76" wide x 60" high sedan?

Comparing an efficient truck to an inefficient car seems like an unfair
comparison unless your goal is to justify buying the truck.

~~~
opencl
Ecoboost is Ford's name for using smaller displacement turbo engines to
replace larger naturally aspirated ones. My experience with these types of
cars is that with typical real drivers they do not deliver anywhere near the
EPA fuel economy numbers, because they're essentially designed to make the
turbo never spool up in the EPA tests. You can get the EPA numbers if you
drive very slowly though.

~~~
rjsw
I have a 1.6 EcoBoost Mondeo, it gets pretty close to the published economy
numbers and I don't drive particularly slowly.

~~~
opencl
The Mondeo is apparently the UK version of what's known as the Fusion in the
US, maybe the UK has more accurate fuel economy testing than the US. Or
everyone I know who complains about not getting EPA numbers just has a lead
foot.

~~~
mcguire
Everyone you know has a lead foot. Everyone has a lead foot.

It's not hard to get EPA numbers on any car I've driven.

------
hideo
I'll miss the Focus RS hot hatch the most. Fords sedan/hatchback line wasn't
something that stood out but MAN the RS hot hatch was a brilliant car.

With the Subaru WRX STI hatchback gone and the Focus RS gone - is the VW GTI
the only good hot hatch left on the market?

~~~
Fomite
The loss of the hatchback on the WRX continues to confuse the hell out of me.

I'll also miss the Fiesta ST. I liked the idea of a cheap, entry level track
car.

~~~
X-Istence
Even Subaru retailers and corporate that I've spoken to as a Subaru ambassador
are still not sure why the hatch was discontinued and it is still one fo the
most requested things from Subaru.

A WRX hatchback would be amazing

~~~
poulsbohemian
Doesn't the Crosstrek fill this role?

~~~
ebikelaw
Crosstrek is just a jacked up Impreza hatch. People want the turbo 2.5L engine
in a hot hatch instead.

~~~
X-Istence
Nah, the 2.5L engine days are done. The new engine design is much better, only
2.0L, and can do much higher numbers than what Subaru has tuned them for. The
power comes on quicker so it's got the same 0-60 as the 2.5L in the STI due to
turbo design. the EJ25 has served its time, it is time to retire it.

Also, Subaru STI has already been using the 2.0 DIT engine for the WRX STI in
Japan. See the WRX STI S208: [https://www.caranddriver.com/news/wing-swap-jdm-
subaru-wrx-s...](https://www.caranddriver.com/news/wing-swap-jdm-subaru-wrx-
sti-s208-special-edition-is-6000-miles-out-of-reach)

------
toomanybeersies
It's a real shame that the station wagon died out. I firmly believe they are
the optimum type of car.

You get the roominess of a sedan for your passengers, with a large storage
area in the back, some station wagons rivaling a van.

~~~
tomohawk
I really miss the wagon, too.

It was made illegal by the fuel economy standards, since its a car.

An SUV is a light truck, so it has different standards applied.

That's why there aren't any large cars anymore, and the SUV market is the
luxury and family market.

~~~
lazerpants
Interestingly, that's what Subaru and others learned long ago, make the
backseat floor flat, and it's an SUV. Subaru made a lot of money by skirting
fuel economy standards before it became popular.

------
blhack
>Ford sees 90 percent of its North America portfolio in trucks, utilities and
commercial vehicles.

They mean "cars" to be interpreted as "small cars" like the taurus.

Or maybe they mean it to be interpreted as "vehicles", and this is clickbait.

~~~
rasz
~2 ton Ford Taurus a small car ;----)

~~~
tropo
It has a small interior. When I tried Ford sedans at a dealer last summer, the
Taurus had the least head room. The others were bad too; it seems modern cars
have shrunk. I had a Taurus from the 1980s and it was fine.

~~~
sangnoir
> The others were bad too; it seems modern cars have shrunk.

Modern _American_ cars. To my untrained eyes, it looks like a common design
language in American cars is to lower the roof and sometimes simultaneously
raising the body (exemplified by the Chrysler 300). This leads to very limited
fields of views - rear windows are almost vestigial at this point. After
driving a Charger, being in a Prius feels like you're driving an all-glass car
with panoramic views.

~~~
perl4ever
I agree with you up until you posit the Prius as a counter example. It caught
my eye that you mention rear windows in particular - do you really think a
Prius has good visibility behind? I test drove the new Honda Clarity and it
similarly has questionable rear visibility because of the aerodynamic
hatchback shape's rear windows.

One car that is commonly cited as an example of good visibility is a Subaru
Forester, although I haven't driven one to see.

Something I noticed while driving a 30 year old car with _spectacularly_ good
visibility is that one factor is the skinny A and B-pillars compared to modern
cars. I imagine that might be related to (lack of) rollover protection, not to
mention airbags.

~~~
sangnoir
> do you really think a Prius has good visibility behind?

No, I wouldn't say it has good rear visibility, objectively. However, my
statement was explicitly comparative, and I think the Prius has _better_ all-
round visibility than a Dodge Charger.

~~~
perl4ever
I haven't driven a Charger, so maybe you're right. Based on test driving both
the current generation Prius and the last one, and looking at the Charger, it
would surprise me though.

The most annoying thing about my 2016 Honda Accord coupe is the massive A- and
B-pillar blind spots. It's got one of the rare all-around 5 star ratings for
crash tests, including rollover, and has lots of airbags, so of course you
can't have everything. I don't think I ever notice any issue with the rear
window.

------
devy
I am surprised that Ford didn't mention their electrification plan their
internal "Team Edison"[1] is working on.

Contrary to many have believed, the fuel efficiency doesn't really matter for
bigger and heavier SUV segments after electrification of their fleet. Tesla
Model X proved that all-electric (aka BEV) SUV is a viable product.

[1]: [https://electrek.co/2018/03/15/ford-upcoming-electric-
vehicl...](https://electrek.co/2018/03/15/ford-upcoming-electric-vehicles-
charging-experience/)

------
post_break
Rip Fiesta, and Focus ST. Yeah the Fiesta was already on the ax, but the Focus
ST wasn't as much of a loser on the books.

~~~
s17n
I think the problem with the focus is that the margins are essentially zero?

~~~
post_break
Problem with the focus was the transmission worked better as a boat anchor on
the automatics. It was dangerous and never got a formal recall.

~~~
groby_b
And if you're wondering how dangerous Ford thought it was: After a nice letter
from my lawyer, they offered to buy back my 5 year old Focus SE for
essentially full price. (Plus covering lawyer costs)

------
derekp7
This is very disappointing. I really love the Fusion hybrid (close to 50 MPG
on mine, very smooth ride and good low-end off-the-line torque due to the
electric).

I was really hoping they would do a plug-in version that got more than 21
miles on a charge in the next 10 years (when I'll be due for another car).

~~~
toomuchtodo
Any reason you wouldn’t go with an all electric vehicle at that point?

~~~
Someone1234
Cost? Hybrids are ballpark $10K cheaper than electric.

For example the Ford Fusion Hybrid starts at $25,390 and Prius V at $26,675,
the only fully electric vehicle at that price point is the Smart ForTwo
electric drive, but the ForTwo Electric has a terrible 58 mile range, only two
seats, missing quality of life features, and arguably poor fit & finish
(similar to a $13K new car level). A good electric vehicle, like the Bolt, is
in the mid $30s ($34-36K ish).

A plug-in hybrid offers a good compromise between features and cost. You'll
get similar mileage to a ForTwo Electric (50 miles on electric) but with fewer
of the compromises (unlimited gas range after that, more features, nicer
finish, four seats, etc).

------
Tiktaalik
We know that trucks are fundamentally more dangerous to pedestrians than cars.

This is an unfortunate step backward in terms of road safety.

~~~
baldeagle
But they are safer for the occupants, which are the people buying the cars. I
think the focus for a lot of AI like safety systems should be for the bigger
vehicles, which can be harder to control in a number of situations.

------
froindt
The Obama era fleet efficiency standards don't bode well when looking at big
heavy trucks. If they could put their efforts primarily behind one car, they
could come out ahead on profitability.

Doing so would greatly reduce the supply chain complexity, part variety
(though shared parts across models has gotten much better in the last decade),
inventory costs, etc. This would help service shops, suppliers, and their
logistics.

It will be interesting to see how this develops.

Disclosure: I work for a Tier 1 supplier.

------
brudgers
I find it interesting to think about this as a branding decision. Ford has
never established a strong brand identity for trucks. Sure, the F150 has a
strong identity. But it's just one model within the F-series...necessary
because it's not the E-series or a car. Even with this new strategy, the same
branding drag will continue. A car, the Mustang, will still be the brand icon
because it has a consistent profile not a jumble of ride heights and cab sizes
and bed lengths.

I think Fiat Chrysler made a good branding move by spinning off trucks and
vans into the Ram Truck badge. It's a good branding move because the brands
reflect a natural market segmentation. Most people are out "shopping for
either a sedan or a pickup truck" at the point they walk into a show room with
their checkbook. Ram and Chrysler brands are backed by distinct marketing
persona sets. On the other hand, after this move the Ford brand will still be
lumping those separate personas into a single set.

~~~
wmeredith
Ford has never established s strong brand identity with trucks?! In what
universe? The Ford F series truck is the best selling _vehicle_ in America
(yes, including cars) and has been for many years. A picture of one is at the
top of the Wikipedia page for “pickup truck”. Chevy and Ram have been chasing
Ford for decades. They’re the Coca-Cola of trucks.

~~~
brudgers
My comment used the phrase "for trucks" not "with trucks." My apologies for
the confusion.

------
kenhwang
I suppose not having Mazda around anymore for sedan platform/engine sharing
really hurt Ford.

~~~
sanderjd
Can you expand on this? In what way is Mazda not around anymore?

~~~
kenhwang
Ford used to own ~30% of Mazda before selling the shares back to Japanese
entities. Because of that, they were able to share engines and platforms. For
example, the Mazda 3 and Ford Focus shared the Ford C1 platform and Mazda MZR
engine. The Mazda 6 and Ford Fusion shared the Mazda G platform and
MZR/Duratec engines. The Mazda 2 and Ford Fiesta shared the Mazda D platform.

Since the breakup, Mazda has moved onto their newer Skyactiv engine/platforms,
but lost access to the Ford Duratec V6 and C1-platform (the current Mazda3
sits on top of a Miata derived platform I believe). Ford is still using the
older MZR designs as a basis for their EcoBoost I4 engines, but lost access to
the Mazda G and D platforms underpinning the Fusion/Fiesta (and the Volvo
derived D3 platform for the Taurus). I guess they decided to discontinue those
lines instead of developing a new platform/engine for them. The C1 platform
was a joint Mazda/Volvo/Ford venture, Ford may have decided that it's too
expensive to develop an update to it on their own.

Once you remove all vehicles that use the MZR-I4s and non-Ford platforms, the
only car you're left with is the Mustang.

~~~
DrScump

      The Mazda 6 and Ford Fusion shared the Mazda G platform 
    

The Mazda 6 platform of the early-mid 1990s was shared with the Ford Probe;
the MX6-LS was the same as the Probe GT underneath. (Ford didn't even have a
24V V-6 of its own at the time.)

~~~
kenhwang
The platform sharing definitely went several generations back, but the sedan
platforms were almost always developed more by Mazda than Ford.

My understanding of the Ford V6 from the 1990s is that it's some Mazda/Porsche
design. But the current generation of Ford V6s are pure Ford designs.

------
jpollock
I read this as "We can't compete where we're not protected by the chicken
tax[1]. See you later."

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_tax](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_tax)

~~~
JBReefer
Only applies to pickups, and basically every manufacturer has assemblies in
the US now, negating the advantage.

You see a lot of Tundras in Texas because they're made there, for example

------
shmed
My understanding from this article is that Ford will continue to sell SUVs,
Trucks and Crossovers. They are only decreasing the size of their "Sedan"
portfolio. Basically they are discontinuing those vehicules : Fiesta, Focus,
Fusion, C-Max and Taurus. They are keeping everything else (including F-150,
Mustang, Explorer, Escape, Bronco) as well as adding a new "Ford Active" car.

~~~
caoilte
And even then they're only discontinuing in America. They just launched a new
Fiesta in Europe.

------
chaoticmass
This makes me sad... I really have grown to like my 2012 Ford Focus and always
imagined I'd buy another one, maybe an RS, someday.

------
WillPostForFood
I’ve enjoyed driving a rented a CMAX hybrid on a few occasions, great mileage
and convinced me to switch to electric. Only downside is nav/entertainment
system froze and rebooted while driving. I understand they’ve switched to QNX
from Windows Embedded in newer iterations.

------
ajeet_dhaliwal
Given how ubiquitous some of the cars Ford has stopped making such as the
Crown Victoria are e.g fleets, police, taxis, it’s incredible to think it’s
not financially worth it. Would be interesting to see the in-depth financials
involved.

------
njarboe
Not too surprising to me as the only popular American brand cars I see are
muscle cars (Mustang, Challenger, and Charger). Thought that might be just a
California thing, but looks like Ford thinks it is the trend for all of N.
America.

~~~
illirik
Some of that might be the fact that Japanese and Korean automakers don't
compete in that space. From anecdotal experience in North Carolina, plenty of
folks would buy, say, a new Fusion over an Accord, whether out of brand
loyalty ("I'd rather push my Ford than drive a Chevy" shirts are real and worn
by actual live people), "patriotism", or a desire for a softer ride. There are
still more Accords or Camrys, though.

~~~
CWuestefeld
_Japanese and Korean automakers don 't compete in that space_

My Hyundai Genesis Coupe sits in that segment too, at least in terms of
features of the car. Demographically it's miles away, as you note.

~~~
perl4ever
Traditionally, the much maligned V-6 Mustang sold more than the V-8 version. I
don't think that's the case any more (even if you replace V-6 with turbo 4).
Of course, modern V-6's make as much power as the V-8s of a few decades ago.

So I would say the various V-6 coupes compete in the space the Mustang _used_
to be in, but now Ford has ceded that. On the other hand, Honda has quit
making V-6 coupes, and I don't think Toyota does either these days.

------
analog31
I wonder where electric cars fit into this decision. Could it be that Ford
anticipates not being able to be competitive in the electric market?

------
tomohawk
Make sense since it's basically illegal to sell large luxury cars anymore, and
light trucks are the new luxury vehicle.

~~~
perl4ever
It's basically illegal to sell large luxury cars?

What about the: -Toyota Avalon -Lexus ES -Lexus GS -Lexus LS -Audi A6 -Audi A7
-Audi A8 -BMW 5 series -BMW 6 series -BMW 7 series -Nissan Maxima -Hyundai
Genesis G90 -Tesla Model S -Mercedes CLS class -Mercedes E class -Mercedes S
class -Cadillac CT6 -Cadillac CTS -Cadillac XTS -Lincoln Continental -Acura
RLX -Porsche Panamera -Jaguar XJ -Maserati Quattroporte -Infiniti Q70

------
rajacombinator
Sounds like a rare intelligent move from the legacy car industry.

------
nsx147
Aren't they rolling out a new Ford Ranger??

~~~
SwellJoe
Ranger is a truck. Ford isn't cutting down on the number of truck models they
sell.

~~~
beamatronic
Indeed, they are focusing on their core competencies ala Jack Welch/GE

------
amelius
That sounds like an Apple move.

------
mmanfrin
Title is misleading and borderline clickbait -- they use 'car' to mean sedan.
Ford will still sell SUVs and trucks.

~~~
unethical_ban
When talking vehicle categories, a truck is not a car.

~~~
mmanfrin
In common parlance it is. When I google 'cars for sale', trucks and SUVs come
up.

------
kylehotchkiss
Please stop selling the Mustang soon, people just buy them to make lots of
noise and set off other people's car alarms :'(

~~~
loser777
Might want to ban any kind of aftermarket exhaust system and saws as well (in
case people decide to just chop off their exhausts). /s

