We warned you today would come, nevertheless it’s nonetheless extremely unhappy to listen to the Focus is formally no extra. The writing had been on the wall for some time, and now the inevitable has occurred. Final Friday, Ford assembled the ultimate instance of its compact mannequin on the Saarlouis plant in Germany. It marks the tip of an period, because the Focus had been in manufacturing for 27 years.
In an e mail despatched to Motor1, Ford of Europe’s Supervisor of Company Communications, Volker Eis, shared the information: “I can verify that the final Focus has been produced on Friday, Nov 14. It was a white five-door hatchback.” An official picture has not been provided. The Focus’ demise comes a few months after the final sizzling ST rolled off the meeting line on a distinct fateful Friday, September 26.
Wanting on the greater image, the Focus is considered one of a number of automobiles discontinued by the Blue Oval in Europe lately. We needed to say goodbye to the beloved Fiesta in 2023, whereas the Mondeo was phased out a 12 months earlier. In 2020, the pint-sized Ka was discontinued as nicely. These selections have left Ford and not using a common automobile in its lineup, which now consists solely of SUVs and business automobiles.
However why did Ford axe so many essential nameplates? In spite of everything, gross sales weren’t that unhealthy. In an interview a bit of over a 12 months in the past with CAR Journal, CEO Jim Farley primarily mentioned the corporate wasn’t making sufficient cash on them. Revenue margins have been too small to justify additional improvement, despite the fact that the automobiles remained fairly widespread.
‘We’d all the time competed on the coronary heart of the passenger-car market, which didn’t work out too nicely for Mondeo, Focus and Fiesta. They have been liked by a number of prospects, however they might by no means justify extra capital allocation – not like business automobiles.’
Much more controversial was his previous assertion: “We’re getting out of the boring-car enterprise and into the iconic-vehicle enterprise.” However retiring these “boring” automobiles has dented Ford’s market share in Europe. In keeping with knowledge revealed by the European Vehicle Producers’ Affiliation (ACEA), Ford had a 7.2 % market share in Europe on the finish of 2025. It has since fallen to solely 3.3 % by September 2025.
With the Focus now out of the image, it’s affordable to count on Ford’s market share to drop additional in 2026, the primary 12 months and not using a mainstream passenger automobile in its portfolio since, nicely, perpetually. We haven’t forgotten concerning the Mustang, however the pony automobile is a distinct segment product. Crossovers and SUVs could also be all the fashion, however teams like Volkswagen, Renault, and Stellantis proceed to search out success promoting a big selection of standard automobiles.
Gross sales knowledge revealed by Dataforce exhibits the Dacia Sandero, VW Golf, and Renault Clio because the three best-selling fashions in Europe within the first ten months of the 12 months. The Peugeot 208, Skoda Octavia, and Toyota Yaris additionally made the highest 10, underscoring that individuals nonetheless very a lot need conventional automobiles.
Ford of Europe could also be getting ready a comeback. Earlier this 12 months, German enterprise newspaper Automobilwoche reported that sellers have been informed new fashions are on the best way. Nonetheless, the primary mannequin could possibly be a Focus-sized crossover fairly than a traditional hatchback or sedan. How it will likely be positioned relative to the Kuga (Escape within the U.S.) stays unknown, nevertheless it appears the corporate is intent on abandoning common automobiles.
There may be, nevertheless, an exception. Except for the Mustang we talked about earlier, Ford nonetheless sells a Mondeo/Taurus mid-size sedan in a number of markets.
