The Ford Focus has been in production since 1998. But now it's over. In November, the assembly line will be turned off and the factory will close completely.
Production of the Ford Focus, which has been in production since 1998, will stop in 2025. The message is that there is no successor.
This means that after November, cars will no longer be built in the German city of Saarlouis. Ford in Denmark has previously tried to deny the story to Boosted.
Since it was first reported that Ford was leaving Saarlouis, it has emerged that the car brand has sold the factory and facilities to another giant. Read more about it here .
The decision to withdraw Focus from the model range means that from November, Ford will not have regular passenger cars in its European model range.
Finn Thomasen, Ford Europe's head of communications, stated in an email to Motor1 that there are no plans for a direct successor to the Focus.
The entire factory is closing because there is no successor.
The brand can still order brand new Ford Focuses. But it is likely that the order books will be closed soon. After that, customers will have to make do with stock cars.
The Ford Focus has had a significant role since the introduction of the first generation in 1998, when it replaced the Escort. However, in recent years it has had little success.
Here in Denmark, there are as many new Focuses on the roads as there are copies of the Ocean SUV from the bankrupt Fisker Inc. Namely 8 cars.
With the Ford, however, the last remnants of hatchbacks with manual transmissions will also disappear. The brand already said years ago that there would be no new RS model.
Ford justifies the decision by saying that it must end with 'boring cars'.
"We're getting out of the business of boring cars and into the business of iconic vehicles," said Ford CEO Jim Farley.
He acknowledges that models like the Fiesta and Mondeo had a loyal customer base, but that it was not something Ford could see on the bottom line.
Now the Americans, who have largely taken over the European part of the brand after a major round of layoffs last year, will instead focus on models like the Bronco, Tremor, Raptor and Mustang.
This is despite the fact that the Mustang is actually doing so poorly that Ford is selling more copies of the electric Mach-E than actual V8-engined Mustangs.
Ford sales in Europe fell in 2024. Market share has also fallen. In Denmark, the importer, which Ford has also sold from, sold 7,599 cars. That's just 4.9 percent of the market or just enough to be in the top 10.
