http://www.automotive-fleet.co...news&omid=1005994685

Ford Motor Co. plans to phase out most of its sedans by 2020 in favor of a North American portfolio comprised of 90% trucks, utilities, and commercial vehicles, the automaker announced with its first quarter financial results.


Ford will transition its car portfolio to two vehicles, including the Mustang and new Focus Active — a crossover version of its Focus hatchback that will be built in China. Ford is phasing out current sedans including the Fiesta, Taurus, C-Max, and Fusion, which recently won the 2017 Fleet Car of the Year Award. The Fusion Hybrid would likely also be cut. The cuts will not affect Lincoln sedans.

The move would result in the discontinuation of Ford's Police Interceptor sedan, which is based on the Taurus, and possibly the Police Responder Hybrid sedan, which is based on the Fusion Hybrid.




The 2019 model year of the P.I. sedan will be its last, and Ford will announce final ordering dates at a future time, said Steve Tyler, Ford's police brand marketing manager.

Ford plans to offer the Responder Hybrid through the 2020 model year. Ford has also previously announced it will introduce a new gasoline-electric hybrid police vehicle this year.

In 2017, Ford sold about 31,000 police vehicles of which about 80% were Police Interceptor Utility vehicle.

Ford also plans to add electrified hybrid powertrains on its biggest nameplates, including the F-150, Mustang, Explorer, Escape, and upcoming Bronco off-road SUV. Ford will introduce an electric performance utility in 2020, and plans to bring 16 battery-electric vehicles to market by 2022, Ford announced.

The automaker has also announced plans to include collision mitigating technology across its entire lineup by 2020, including its Super Duty trucks all the way up to the F-750
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At least they save the iconic Mustang.

Why keep making cars no one wants to buy?

^ I agree that the Taurus isn't a hot seller in the consumer market, but the Fusion?

What's to regret? Nobody much is buying cars, today, so it's not an indictment of any one company. In fact,FCA only has 300/Charger/Challenger-all platform mates. And in the event gas prices go up,there's tiny CUVs. Even Europe seems to be moving towards CUVs.

That said, Ford is coming up with some new platforms that will have the ability to build cars off of, should markets change. There's plenty of information at Blue Oval Forums about them.

quote:

Originally posted by Stlhead:
Why keep making cars no one wants to buy?

Exactly.
I read another article that Ford would be introducing numerous new “white space” vehicles.
White space meaning they don’t fall under the label car, crossover, or SUV.
Whatever that might mean.

Ford may become the GMC equivalent and Lincoln the Chevrolet equivalent as it is keeping it’s sedans and maybe adding some lower models.

Killing the Taurus was about as smart as killing off the Crown Vic. Chevy and Dodge will love not having to compete against Ford for the LEO sedan market.

Don't they need all those cars to meet the cafe standard?

quote:

Originally posted by mark_a:
Don't they need all those cars to meet the cafe standard?

Mention was made of hybrid-ing most of the others so maybe not?

quote:

Ford also plans to add electrified hybrid powertrains on its biggest nameplates, including the F-150, Mustang, Explorer, Escape, and upcoming Bronco off-road SUV. Ford will introduce an electric performance utility in 2020, and plans to bring 16 battery-electric vehicles to market by 2022, Ford announced.

quote:

Originally posted by mark_a:
Don't they need all those cars to meet the cafe standard?

Not really, due to how standards are now calculated. Plus, they've moved trucks to aluminum bodies, use smaller turbo engines, and have hybrids in the pipeline. There's a number of other things like 10-speed transmissions, start/stop, the upcoming Ranger, and more.

quote:

Originally posted by rockchalk06:
Killing the Taurus was about as smart as killing off the Crown Vic. Chevy and Dodge will love not having to compete against Ford for the LEO sedan market.

Chevy killed the Caprice too so that is gone.

Ford is introducing a new police sedan. But as the article stated 80% of all Ford Police vehicles sold in 2017 was the Police Interceptor Utility (That would be the Explorer).
The PIU is not going anywhere and with the cost being minimal many folks were dumping the sedans for the Utility anyway so I bet that 80% only goes higher for the remaining year of the sedan.
The Utility is far more capable and versatile than the sedan.

As far as I'm concerned, Ford could close up and shut down. I "was" a Ford man for decades, but every single one of them had problems that should have never happened, with most of them premature in the life cycle and just out of warranty. Although I have a Ram right now, going forward my vehicles will be of a Japanese manufacture.

I've seen many of the Explorers in Boone County. They seem to be in service continuously. Still some Crown Vics with K9s.

After driving a 2017 F150 SuperCrew for about two months, I totally understand why so many people(even those who don’t ‘need’ a truck)buy the F150. Engine(5.0L)is great, truck is enjoyable to drive, and back seat has lots of room!

I understand why Ford is cutting their lineup—about every second vehicle you see here is a new style F150.

The Panther Platform V-8 Rwd - (Crown Vic, Grand Marquis, Lincoln Town Car) Was discontinued in 2011. That was a bad decision in my opinion. I have 2 Town Cars that I love.

I have never owned a 4-wheeled vehicle that was not made by Ford, and don't plan to change. OTOH, I don't buy a new vehicle very often (my average life for a vehicle is 9 years), so I'm not keeping Ford alive by myself. I like Mustangs--my first was a 1966 when they first came out, but in 1971 when I was ready for a new one, they'd grown so big I rebelled and bought a Pinto instead. Drove it 9 years and then got a 1980 Mercury Capri (still made by Ford), and in 1986 was back with a new Mustang GT. That was my Daily Driver for 20 years, but in 2006 I got a new 2006 Mustang GT to replace it, which I'm still driving. Around 1990 I bought a used rebuilt 1966 Mustang as a fun car and I still have it, too. I've also had a couple of Ford pickups with 460cid engines. One was stolen (F-150) and I had to sell the other (F-100) because it didn't fit me. I loved the 1977 F-150--with the big engine and custom dual exhausts it really rumbled; it really hurt when it was stolen from where I worked one day.

At my age I won't be much support for Ford much longer.

flashguy

Based on simple observation cruising around the Yoop, the choices are:
1- Pickups of all sizes and brands, mostly 4x4.
2- SUV / CUV.
3- Subarus.
I just traded my 3 year old Chevy Trax mini CUV for a new Silverado. The level of tech in the Trax was impressive, its AWD / Turbo combination did a great job in the snow, was peppy and fun to drive and averaged 26 MPG around town. I am hard on small cars and don't baby them. No problems with the Trax, despite my misgivings about its Korean heritage.
Its easy to see why the small SUV / CUV is selling so well. Good performance and design and good deals make for a popular vehicle. Time will tell if Fords decision is the right one. The article I read about this said GM was going make a similar decision. And the demise of the full size, rear drive passenger car was drought on by the 4 door, full size pickup. Why spend the same amount of $$S on a full size passenger car when a truck offers the same passenger space and increased cargo and towing?

quote:

Originally posted by RC Fan:
After driving a 2017 F150 SuperCrew for about two months, I totally understand why so many people(even those who don’t ‘need’ a truck)buy the F150. Engine(5.0L)is great, truck is enjoyable to drive, and back seat has lots of room!

I understand why Ford is cutting their lineup—about every second vehicle you see here is a new style F150.

Yup, our '16 F150 Supercrew is the family vehicle, wife's daily driver, and we have 3 kids age 9-13. Lots of room, plenty of cargo space for road trips and I have rented and towed a big trailer with it 2x for getting rid of literally almost a ton of junk at the dump and 2yds gravel for the yard.

Mileage sucks at 16 city/20 hwy, but that is the only downside. I have the 3.5 ecoboost.

from Motor Trend April 3

Sales numbers are out for March 2018 and the midsize sedan segment continues its slow decline as crossovers grow in popularity. The Toyota Camry leads the midsize sedan class with 35,264 units sold and has a healthy lead in year-to-date volume at 90,767 units sold through the first quarter of the year. The Honda Accord and Nissan Altima finished the month in a distant second and third place, with 24,171 units and 23,518 units sold, respectively.

As we previously reported, Honda has had a difficult time finding buyers for the new 2018 Accord. At the beginning of last month, Honda had a 104-day supply of Accord sedans, above the 70-day industry average. Rather than offer incentives to move Accords off dealer lots, Honda will idle production for 11 days over the next few days to match supply with demand. Meanwhile, the Nissan Altima continues to chug along in third place, but with an all-new 2019 Nissan Altima on the horizon, we may see some changes in the top three soon.

Midsize sedans from domestic automakers were right behind the Japanese big three with the Ford Fusion selling 16,103 units. The Chevrolet Malibu was the only midsize sedan to see an increase in sales, moving 14,707 units, a small uptick from the same month last year when 14,222 units were sold. Korean automakers followed right behind with the Hyundai Sonata moving 11,098 units and the Kia Optima selling 8,010 examples.

Volkswagen, Mazda, and Subaru continue to have a small share of the midsize sedan pie with their offerings selling at smaller volumes. The Volkswagen Passat sold a total of 4,292 units while the Subaru Legacy ended March with 3,889 units sold. Bringing up the rear is the Mazda6 with 3,734 units sold for March 2018.

Kia, Hyundai and others are covering the low to mid price sedan and CUV market and they aren't going away any time soon. It's a much more competitive market now, so refocusing on their customer base makes sense to me. To my way of thinking, this move makes economic sense. Buggy whip and incandescent bulb manufactures have had to make similar adjustments.

Jim