Curtain finally falls for Ford Fiesta

Not every model name is destined for eternal life. Earlier, Ford – only in Europe – already pulled the plug on the Mondeo model name and now the Fiesta also has to believe it. And fast too. It was already known that the compact Ford will not have a direct successor. Now we also know when the very last Fords Fiesta will see the light of day. The English Autocar says it can confirm that July 7 is the day on which the last copies of the Fiesta are built. The very last two Fiestas remain with Ford and, according to the English, will become part of Ford’s fleet of historic models.

Why exactly the Fiesta had to clear the field? Ford has little room in its model range for a compact hatchback with – for now – only combustion engines. Among other things, the brand will introduce an electrically powered variant of the Puma that should fill the gap left behind by the Fiesta. In addition, according to Autocar, Ford would need the production site of the Fiesta in Cologne for the production of the Explorer. Then we are not talking about that ugly SUV that you have been able to buy (again) in the Netherlands for a number of years, but about the electric model of the same name developed for the European market that borrows its MEB base from Volkswagen. That electric Ford Explorer will soon run off the line in Ford’s factory in Cologne. That production facility is therefore being transformed into a large EV factory.

Counted from 1983, more than 305,000 Ford Fiestas have been registered in the Netherlands. Unfortunately, we do not have figures from 1976 – the year in which the first Fiesta was launched in the Netherlands. In 1996, the Fiesta had its best sales year. At that time, no less than 13,565 new copies were registered in the Netherlands.