Ford confirms it will cull another of its best-selling petrol cars next year to accelerate its shift to EVs despite demand slump
Ford will go ahead with plans to kill off another of its hugely popular petrol models after 2025 to accelerate its switch to electric vehicles, despite a monumental drop in demand for EVs in recent months.
Plummeting appetite for battery-powered cars has triggered some of Ford’s rivals to announce the extended life cycle of some of its popular combustion engine motors in recent weeks.
However, Ford Europe’s boss has said there will be no stay of execution for the Focus hatchback – a mainstay on Britain’s roads since 1998 – which is due to be culled next year.
It comes after the US auto giant ended production of Fiesta in July, which is the most popular passenger car on Britain’s roads today.
Out of focus: Ford’s family hatchback, which has been on sale in the UK for 26 years, will not be given an extended stay of execution
Martin Sander, Ford Europe’s general manager, has said there is no plan to give the Focus an extended stay of execution in comments quoted by Autocar this week.
That’s despite Sander telling the Financial Times Future of the Car Summit in London on Tuesday that Ford would be pushing back its plans to sell only EVs in Europe by 2030 because the target was now ‘irrelevant’ due to electric car sales being ‘below expectations’.
Many of its rivals have announced knee-jerk intentions to push back the end of production of some of their most popular combustion engine models because of a lack of appetite for EVs and sustained demand for petrol and diesel motors.
Germany’s Mercedes-Benz confirmed recently that it will continue to produce the A-Class family hatch – a rival to the Focus – for a further two years until 2026 due to the slowdown in consumer demand for EVs.
Volkswagen has also began rolling back outputs of a number of its electric cars due to supply outpacing demand, Renault in January pulled the plug on its IPO for its Ampere EV division and Aston Martin declared it will continue making petrol cars as long as it possibly can.
And it comes in the wake of major EV makers Tesla and BYD both announcing significant declines in model sales in the first quarter of the year.
But Sander said Ford will remain committed to retiring its existing internal combustion engine models as part of its efforts to move to electric cars.
‘In the long run, we are still deeply convinced that EVs will be the future and we will see a significant increase in volume,’ he said.
‘By the end of this year, we will have a full range of electric vehicles – both in the passenger vehicle sector but also in our commercial vehicle business line – and we are quite flexible to adapt to market demand. For the next couple of years, we have a broad choice.
‘Basically, our customers have the power of choice to pick what they want.’
Ford Europe’s General Manage, Martin Sander (pictured), confirmed that the Focus would not be given a stay of execution beyond 2025, despite public demand for EVs going into reverse
Ford has already slaughtered a number of its bit modern car names. The Mondeo was culled back in 2022
Production of both the Galaxy (left) and S-Max (right) MPVs came to an abrupt end last year
On 7 July 2023, Ford made its last Fiesta model, signalling the end of the road for Britain’s most-bought car of all time that had been in production for 47 continuous years
Sander shared this snap of himself with workers on the Fiesta production line in Cologne the day before assembly of the small hatchback ended in July 2023. He’s pictured with Sylvio Heuser, Ford employee who has worked on the Fiesta production line his entire career
The Ford factory in Cologne (pictured) produced its final Fiesta in July. The small hatchback has been built at the German plant since 1989 – and for the UK market since the Mk5 Fiesta arrived on sale from 2002
Images of the final car built have circulated on social media. Every member of the team on the assembly line and working on Fiesta at the Ford factory signed the model
The Focus first arrived in 1998 and became an instant hit for its dashing looks, practical interior, brilliant drive and affordable price
A decade at the top of the sales charts: From 1999 to 2008, the Focus was Britain’s most-bought new car
While the Focus is no longer among the top 10 best sellers in the UK – mostly due to the recent rise in popularity of crossovers and SUVs – it is still one of Ford’s evergreen models
Ford has been killing off some of its most recognisable combustion-engined models in recent years as part of its ongoing efforts to switch to EVs.
The car giant wound-up outputs of Mondeo in April 2022.
Just 12 months later, bosses oversaw the discontinuation of the S-Max and Galaxy MPVs.
In July 2023, it was the turn of the Fiesta – a car that has amassed 22 million sales globally and 4.8 million in the UK alone – to be culled after 47 years of continuous production.
And the Focus is next for the chopping block.
Having launched in 1998, Focus won European Car of the Year in 1999 and went on to be the UK’s best-selling car for 10 consecutive years until 2008 (when Fiesta took over for the next 12 years).
Today, is remains one of Ford’s most in-demand models and one of the most commonly bought family hatchbacks in Britain.
Yet the company confirmed two years ago that it will pull the plug on Focus production in Saarlouis, Germany, at the end of 2025, despite its relative popularity.
In contrast, the US maker has promised to increase its European line-up of EVs to nine cars and vans by the middle of the decade, including the addition of the Explorer SUV, which is due to arrive in the UK in September.
An electric ‘Sport Crossover’ will follow, which will reportedly relaunch the Capri name.
In 2023, Ford sold 144,072 new cars in Britain (only VW sold more with 162,087 registrations) and first deliveries of its new electric Explorer are due to arrive in September
Ford’s intention to push ahead with its EV plans comes in the face of today’s extremely difficult consumer landscape, which has seen private purchases of electric cars drop significantly – especially since Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in September delayed the ban on sales of new combustion-engined cars from 2030 to 2035.
However, car manufacturers are still being forced to up their sales of battery-powered models.
This is thanks to the Government’s Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) mandate, which was introduced to law in January.
The ZEV mandate is designed to force car makers to sell an increasing volume of EVs between now and 2035
Annual ZEV Mandate targets to 2030
2024: 22% (10% for vans)
2025: 28% (16% for vans)
2026: 33% (24% for vans)
2027: 38% (34% for vans)
2028: 52% (46% for vans)
2029: 66% (58% for vans)
2030: 80% (70% for vans)
Source: DfT
Ministers have dubbed it ‘the world’s most ambitious regulatory framework for the transition to electric vehicles’ – yet it passes almost the entire responsibility for increasing demand for EVs to the manufacturers.
The law means 22 per cent of each mainstream brand’s car registrations in 2024 must be electric, scaling up to 28 per cent for next year and to 80 per cent by the end of the decade – before rising to 100 per cent from 2035.
Failure to meet the ZEV mandate sales targets can result in huge fines for auto makers of £15,000 per model sold below the required threshold.
After the first four months of 2024, it’s clear that many manufacturers – including Ford – are well behind the 22 per cent requirement for this year.
By the end of April, just 15.7 per cent of all UK registrations were EVs.
Mr Sander told the summit’s panel on Tuesday that Ford’s only option to avoid the fines was to divert sales of petrol cars to other countries.
While a number of car manufacturers have said that the ZEV mandate targets are challenging, Ford is the first to say it could restrict petrol model availability to force its EV sales share higher.
Mr Sander said: ‘We can’t push EVs into the market against demand. We’re not going to pay penalties. We are not going to sell EVs at huge losses just to buy compliance.
‘The only alternative is to take our shipments of [combustion engine] vehicles to the UK down and sell these vehicles somewhere else.’
These official SMMT registration figures, to the end of April, show that just 15.7% of all new car sales in the UK so far in 2024 are EVs – well below the 22% ZEV mandate requirement
Earlier this week, the UK automotive sector slashed its EV sales forecast for this year amidst falling demand for electric cars in Britain.
While 107,031 EVs have been registered so far in 2024 (a 10.6 per cent increase on sales in the first four months of last year), the data show that fewer than one in six electric cars bought in April were by the general public.
Part of this is due to cars bought under work salary sacrifice schemes boosting fleet sales, but it also reflects lower than expected demand.
As such, the trade body has now downgraded its EV market share forecasts to fewer than one in five new cars (19.8 per cent) – which is well below the ZEV mandate’s 22 per cent requirement.
Mike Hawes, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Trader’s chief executive, said an ‘absence of government incentives for private buyers’ is having a marked effect on demand for battery-powered cars.
‘Although attractive deals on EVs are in place, manufacturers cannot fund the mass market transition single-handedly,’ he explained.