Didn’t see that one coming:
They’re really dropping from 16 cars to 2? Maybe they just mean two platforms lol
They are still sticking with truck and SUVS (article decided to distinguish between ‘car’ and these other types…maybe for click bait reasons?)
And there go Lincolns.
Looks like the Dodge Dart is also going away. But having font on the emblem that makes it strongly appear to read “Dort” surely never helped it.
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There’s a difference between dropping specific models and dropping platforms. The former is less dramatic than the latter since platforms typically carry multiple models.
Platform list; like all things Wikipedia it’s moderately suspect.
I suspect that Ford is looking to clip platforms while also eliminating lower-margin Ford models from their lineup. I imagine that the pending Ford Active will be the versatile and fairly new CD4 platform and branch out into a surprising variety of models ala the Subaru Global Platform which underpins the Impreza, WRX, and in particular the Crosstrek which Ford looks to be aiming at.
The market primarily wants crossovers - they’re the new family sedan/wagon/minivan - sports cars, and trucks. 3 platforms can fulfill that need. Crossover and sports car platforms can cover sedans wherever there’s money to be made. The truck platform can make proper body-on-frame SUVs for buyers that want to haul their family of 7 and the RV/boat.
Chrysler lost all kinds of money on the Dodge Dart and 200:
"I can tell you right now that both the Chrysler 200 and the Dodge Dart, as great products as they were, were the least financially rewarding enterprises that we've carried out inside FCA in the last eight years," Marchionne said. "I don't know one investment that was as bad as these two were."
I looked at the Dart when car shopping last year and it was a weak contender compared to almost everything else in the ‘performance’ compact segment I was looking at - costly, engines that offered neither good performance nor economy, and even more aggravating option tiers than their competitors.
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Like Erik says, the market has placed increasing demand on crossovers and SUVs, and somewhat less demand on sedans on the whole. When you’re a company like Ford and you’re building all of your stuff on shared platforms, the SUV sitting on the sedan’s platform becomes a lot more compelling. After all, the cost to build an Escape isn’t much more than its platform mate Fusion, but they sell for more across the board. The margins are fatter, and investors demand bigger profits sooner.
Of course, if fuel prices spike and cause a slump in demand for SUVs, brands that go all-in on them are going to be hurting. No wonder Ford is keeping the Focus around. Chrysler isn’t even doing that much, abandoning every sedan segment except the full-size sport sedan segment. I get the sense they’ll be experiencing another merger within 5 years. The Japanese brands are all acting more conservatively here. They’re privy to the same data: their SUVs and crossovers outsell their sedans for the most part. But they’ve all just put out new sedan models. So we’ll see who wins out in the end I guess.
At the end of the day, I blame the original Ford Escape for all this. People who want a bigger car than a sedan without going all the way to a large SUV should get a wagon. The Mazda6 platform that original Escape was built on had wagon variants, but noooo we need an SUV because I’m a middle-class mother and how else am I going to look cool at PTA meetings.
Soooo…I take it its too late to grab a pinto?
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This gives new meaning to “the future is now.”
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I wonder if they are really doing this to the response of the EPA MPG targets.
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Once they cede the market to companies that will fill it, it’s very difficult and expensive to re-enter.
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I think they looked at the numbers and realized they’d already ceded it. The F-series trucks make up some inordinate proportion of their actual gross profit. (I heard somewhere near 90%, though that must be mistaken… uh, I think?)
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Consider that they profit on the base model $27,000 truck. Consider that the difference in cost between the $27,000 truck and the $70,000 truck is only in the $10-15,000 range. Consider that demand for the higher-end variants of that truck is higher than ever.
It’s no wonder Ford have made every effort to sell more trucks than anything else. Margins: FAT.
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Time to buy a Focus RS as an investment…
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Ford is not going to stop making cars (per articles on the subject). Overseas markets are still profitable. In the U.S., their trucks are apparently their bread and butter though. I haven’t driven a Ford car (that I’ve owned) since 1992.
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CAFE rules are funny things. The mechanism for calculating cars is different than SUVs and trucks. I gather that with just a little wiggling, a crossover - which is little more than a car with a lift kit and a tweaked exterior to fit the lifted undercarriage - can be classified as a SUV. And unlike truck-based large SUVs - Suburban, Land Cruiser, Expedition - the fuel economy penalty isn’t huge.
Conversely, packaging hybrid / electric drivetrains into the slightly larger envelopes of a crossover seems easier than a sedan.
They’re keeping flexible platforms around. Suspect they’ll keep turning out Lincoln sedans at better margins than they do on the same basic vehicle with a Ford badge. If they see an opportunity to sell Ford-badged variants of those platforms they can do so with relative ease.
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CAFE class is determined based on vehicle footprint in square feet. As a result of this, at the time, the PT Cruiser classified as a light truck under CAFE and didn’t have to meet strict fuel economy requirements.