Ford Says Small Cars Aren’t Dead After All

ford recently discontinued its Fiesta and hasn’t confirmed a replacement for the Focus, which retires in 2025… but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s leaving the small car realm.

Upon request from Autocar Martin Sander, general manager of Ford’s Model e electric vehicle division in Europe, replied: “Absolutely.”

“I think so,” he said when asked whether Ford would continue to offer passenger vehicles Autocar According to reports, new generation small cars could come onto the market from 2026 and offer electric drive.

“There are values ​​that have made us successful in recent years, such as solid quality and a good price-performance ratio. We will not refrain from doing this,” Mr. Sander added.

“These are fundamental core values ​​that Ford has represented around the world for many years.”

It’s unclear whether Ford would expand its partnership with Volkswagen to include passenger cars.

The two companies work closely together, collaborating on commercial vehicles such as the Ford Ranger and Volkswagen Amarok duo, as well as the next-generation Ford Transit Custom and Volkswagen Transporter.

Volkswagen has also given Ford access to its MEB architecture for electric vehicles (EV). Ford has already introduced the MEB-based Explorer for Europe and is following up with another crossover.

While Ford has confirmed it has assembled a “skunkworks” team to work on an affordable electric vehicle to fend off the threat from Chinese brands, Mr Sander suggested that a future Ford small car in Europe would not necessarily be a high-volume model become.

“We are exploring the possibilities of bringing future global Ford products to Europe, but the key principle of our future product range for Europe will be iconic, emotional products,” he said.

“We are not jumping back into a volume race just to reach a certain number in the plant or to be in a segment where others are.”

Ford CEO Jim Farley confirmed earlier this year that the Skunkworks team had been working outside the brand’s traditional framework over the past two years, developing a “flexible platform” that could be used by “multiple vehicle types.”

A subsequent report from BloombergHowever, said the trio of vehicles – the first of which will launch in 2026 – will consist of a small subway, a compact SUV and possibly a ride-hailing vehicle.

That raises doubts about whether the Skunkworks project will produce a more traditional hatchback for markets like Europe, where they remain popular even as SUV sales continue to rise.

In the meantime, Ford will continue to have compact vehicles in its lineup – they will only be SUVs.

These include the Puma and its upcoming Gen-E electric counterpart; as well as the upcoming Explorer, which, in terms of dimensions, occupies the small and medium-sized SUV segments.

Ford only offers one car in markets like Australia and North America: the Mustang.

Unusually, the Blue Oval has a much smaller SUV lineup here than in other markets, with the Escape axed and the Puma set to follow it – although the electric Gen-E will arrive here.