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Report: Ford Fiesta, Taurus on the Chopping Block as Car Sales Continue to Sag

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2018 Ford Taurus

RIP Ford Taurus?

With the reveal of its fourth-generation Focus compact sedan just days away, Ford is said to be considering dropping the ax on two of its other cars: the Fiesta subcompact and Taurus full-size sedan.

The report, published by The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday, has Ford planning “to stop building the Fiesta small car for the US market within the next year, and discontinue the Taurus large sedan, according to people briefed on the plans.”


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The likelihood of the Fiesta’s demise in the United States has been fairly well-known since the reveal of the next-generation Fiesta last year, when Ford Germany’s small car program manager Robert Stiller was quoted as saying that the automaker is “reacting accordingly” to declining interest in the subcompact segment. The idea of the Taurus being discontinued has been floated since 2015 when an updated Taurus was launched as a China-exclusive product.

In response to the story, a Ford spokesperson said: “As we have said, by 2020 trucks and utilities—including their electrified versions—are going to be almost 90% of our volume. Passenger cars,
including Fiesta and Taurus, remain an important part of our lineup.”

WSJ also notes that, per its sources, Ford is still considering axing the Fusion sedan. The Fusion’s future has been a matter of speculation since the cancelation of the third-generation sedan’s North American 2020 production plans. Ford spokesman Mike Levine said at the time that “Fusion remains an important part of the Ford lineup for years to come with even more new fresh features on the way. We will have more news to share in the future.” In March, Ford announced the refreshed 2019 Fusion as the launching pad for its Ford Co-Pilot360 suite of standard driver-assist safety technology.


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It was reported last year that the Ford C-MAX will also be discontinued later this year when production wraps on the C-MAX Hybrid at Michigan Assembly Plant. Should the C-MAX, Fiesta, Fusion, and Taurus all exit the lineup, that would leave the new Focus and Mustang as Ford’s only widely-available car offerings.

Through the first quarter of 2018, Ford’s car sales are down 12.4%. Excluding the Ford GT and Police Interceptor Sedan, every car in its current lineup has seen a drop in sales this year.

News Source: The Wall Street Journal (subscription required),