Ford Fiesta Production Ends on July 7 to Make Way for Explorer EV SUV

The beloved Ford Fiesta is one of the longest-running and most popular subcompact cars in Europe. Unfortunately, this subcompact hatch is beyond its twilight days, as Ford reportedly will end its production this month.

2022 Ford Fiesta ST (left) & 2024 Ford Explorer EV SUV (right)

According to Autocar UK, the final Ford Fiesta will roll-off Ford’s European facility in Cologne, Germany this coming July 7, in order to make way for the production of Ford Explorer EV SUV. Said model will begin production at Ford’s Cologne Electric Vehicle Centre – the marque’s first carbon-neutral production facility.

Speaking to Autocar UK, Ford Europe’s Model e general manager Martin Sander said, "We decided to build our first high-volume electric vehicle here in Cologne.

"There comes the point where we need the space for construction, because we are turning the Fiesta plant into a fully battery-electric plant. This is why we had to make a decision that we have to stop Fiesta production,” Sander added.

Ford Explorer EV SUV underpins VW's MEB platform

Underpinning Volkswagen’s MEB electric vehicle platform, the Explorer is a five-seater mid-size EV SUV that is built specifically for the European markets in mind. With the Explorer taking the production space of the Fiesta, it will be Ford’s first volume EV model to be manufactured at the Old Continent.

The Explorer is offered in either rear-wheel-drive (RWD) or an all-wheel-drive (AWD) variants, with the automaker yet to unveil the juicy bits of its powertrain setup. As for charging, the Explorer can be juiced from 10% to 80% in just 25 minutes, via DC fast charging.

Priced at €45,000 (RM229,277), the Explorer will spearhead Ford Europe’s rapid electrification adoption, which will see the American automaker launching no more than nine new EV models by 2024. Of the nine new models, at least one of them will underpin the same MEB platform as the Explorer, aside from the Puma EV hatch and E-Transit Courier commercial van.

All in all, this plan will see Ford targeting to deliver up to 600,000 EVs annually in Europe by 2026, en route to the marque’s future plan to sell only EVs in Europe by the end of the decade.

2022 Ford Fiesta ST hot-hatch

Back to the discontinued hatchback, the seventh-gen Fiesta originally made its global debut way back in 2016, with the latest version being sold in Europe is the facelifted version, which includes the souped-up ST variant. Unveiled in 2022, the Fiesta ST is powered by a 1.5-litre 3-cyl turbocharged EcoBoost mill that is mated to a six-speed manual gearbox to deliver 197 HP and a whopping 320 NM of twist.

This axing of Ford Fiesta brings an end to an illustrious 47-year continuous production of the supermini. To pay homage to this iconic nameplate, two of the final Fiestas to roll-off Ford’s Cologne plant will remain with Ford, with one of them joining the marque’s international heritage fleet in Germany, while the other will join Ford UK’s heritage fleet.