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On April 4, Ford assembled the final Mondeo at its Valencia plant after five generations and three decades of continuous production. It didn’t take long for reports to start casting doubt on the Focus’ future, with European Automotive News sister magazine Automobilwoche said production would be greatly reduced after August 29. Why? Well, you can blame your neighbors for buying all those crossovers to the detriment of traditional cars.
As it turns out, it’s much worse than rival Volkswagen Golf as the compact model will be discontinued altogether by 2025. This effectively means the facelifted Mk4 is the last of its kind as there are no plans about a potential revival. moniker that was once very popular in the EV era. For the record – the Focus was offered as an electric hatchback during the Mk3 era.
66 Photo
In an interview today with reporters, Ford Europe chief honcho Stuart Rowley confirmed Focus’s planned demise. It looks like the future of the Saarlouis plant in Germany is uncertain as Blue Oval admits it hasn’t found a solution to keep the factory running after the car shutdown in about three years:
“We are looking at other alternative opportunities for vehicle production at Saarlouis, including [selling to] other manufacturers. We don’t have in our planning cycle any additional models coming into Saarlouis.”
Remember, Mondeo and Focus are also made in China for the local market. In fact, the mid-range model has recently switched to a new generation, which means that it will be available for a long time in the People’s Republic. The smaller car suffers from bites and skids, thereby also showing that it is holding up.
Meanwhile, Global Focus has been hit hard by supply shortages, causing lead times to exceed 12 months. One of the main problems stemmed from the war-torn Ukraine’s SYNC4 infotainment system, which caused massive delays. Stuart Rowley acknowledged there would be “significant” layoffs at Saarlouis where it employs 4,600 people.
“The industry reality is that EV production will require fewer people.”
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