Ford: Fiesta no more


“We can confirm that Fiesta has been discontinued from the Ford portfolio in South Africa,” Ford Motor Company said.

The Cologne-built Fiesta’s demise in SA leaves the Figo as the sole remaining Ford-badged hatchback, but it won’t be here for long as it has been confirmed that the Figo range (including the sedan variants) is on the chopping block.

Of course, this isn’t quite as surprising as the Fiesta news since production of the second-generation Figo at the company’s Chennai and Sanand factories in India ceased in 2021, with no replacement on the cards. A glance at the latest Naamsa figures suggests Figo stock is likewise almost depleted, with local sales dropping from 124 units in December 2021 to 81 units in January 2022 and 29 units in February.

The departure of the Fiesta and Figo follow the local discontinuation of the Focus range back in 2019, as part of Ford’s global strategy to move investment away from traditional passenger-car models (such as hatches and sedans) and towards the growing SUV, crossover, and bakkies segments. That said, with the locally produced Volkswagen Polo still moving appreciable volumes and the likes of the imported Hyundai i20 and Kia Rio (not to mention the smartly priced Suzuki Swift) continuing to do fairly well for their respective companies, we can’t help but feel the Fiesta’s demise is a little premature…

Source: Cars.co.za

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