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Announced back in 2022, Ford quietly ended production of the Focus at its Saarlouis Plant in Germany last week after 27 years and four generations.
Latest casualty
Not confirmed by the Blue Oval itself, the end of the Focus follows the Fiesta two years ago after 47 years, and the Mondeo, which exited European production in 2022, but remains on sale in China.
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Dropped from South Africa shortly before the fourth generation entered production in 2018, the end of the standard Focus follows that of the ST, which departed the same factory at the end of September after three generations.
According to Britain’s Autocar, an estimated 12 million Focus’ were made since 1998 when it replaced the Escort, though this figure, seemingly, doesn’t take into the account the North American-spec second generation that differed completely from the global model.
In a reply to motor1.com about the Focus’ departure, Ford of Europe’s manager of corporate communications Volker Eis merely said: “I can confirm that the last Focus has been produced on Friday, 14 November. It was a white five-door hatchback.”
Factory doors shutting
The end of the Focus also brings the curtain down on the Saarlouis plant, which, since 2019, has solely been producing it after spells with the C-Max MPV, Kuga, Fiesta and before that, the original Capri.
Reportedly, the plant, which opened in 1968 and has been owned by Ford since 1970, will be closed as no replacement product has been approved.
“We are seeking other alternative opportunities for vehicle production at Saarlouis, including other manufacturers.
“We do not have in our planning cycle an additional model that goes into Saarlouis,” former Ford of Europe’s president Stuart Rowley told Automotive News Europe about the discontinuing of the Focus in 2022.
At the time, the publication reported that the closure of Saarlouis would result in the loss of 4 000 jobs, after an investment in 2017 of €600 million (about R12 billion) to produce the fourth generation Focus.
‘No more boring cars’
In a controversial interview with Britain’s Car Magazine last year, Ford CEO, Jim Farley, said the decision to end passenger vehicle sales and concentrate on more profitable bakkies and SUVs wasn’t taken lightly as the Blue Oval has committed to not “producing boring cars”.
“We’re getting out of the boring-car business and into the iconic-vehicle business. 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,” Farley said.
Sedan and hatch crackdown
Besides the Focus, Fiesta and Mondeo, sales of Taurus and the latter’s North American sibling, the Fusion, ended in 2019 and 2020 respectively, while the C-Max and S-Max MPVs departed in 2019 and 2023.
Briefly sold in South Africa, the B-Max ceased operations in 2017 to make way for the reimagined Puma at the Craiova plant in Romania, while the Ka+, a Europeanised version of the Indian-made Figo, ceased in 2021.
Besides China where the Mondeo is still sold and manufactured, and rebadged as Taurus in the Middle East, only the Mustang prevails as Ford’s sole passenger vehicle.
South Africa
In South Africa, the discontinuation of the Puma this month leaves its line-up comprising the Chinese-sourced Territory, the Transit/Tourneo Custom made in TĂĽrkiye, the Thai-made Everest and the Ranger assembled locally at the Silverton plant outside Pretoria.
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