When Ford announced that it was discontinuing the Fiesta back in October 2022, it was quite a shock among European consumers. The Fiesta is a storied nameplate in that region, and it was one of the longest-running models from Ford of Europe.
Nine months since that announcement, the last Ford Fiesta rolls off the production line on July 7, 2023. It caps off 47 years of sales with over 18 million units sold worldwide since 1976. Taking its place on the same European assembly line will be a smaller version of an all-electric Explorer. The last two units will become part of the Ford Heritage Fleet.
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While it’s sad news for some, declining sales in the subcompact hatch segment and Ford’s push towards more crossovers were some of the reasons why the American automaker has pulled the plug on the Fiesta. The Fiesta was traditionally Ford’s best-seller in Europe, but it’s now the Puma that leads the company’s sales rally in the continent by a significant margin. As iconic as the Fiesta is in Europe, it’s still a business at the end of the day.
As mentioned, the Ford Fiesta was launched in 1976, and it was made as a response to the fuel crisis of the decade. Fiesta sales skyrocketed in the late ‘70s after the second oil crisis hit, and further boosted the small hatchback’s cache. Since then, Ford’s small hatchback has been a consistent best-seller for the brand, frequently appearing in the UK’s top-selling charts.
The Philippines would have to wait until 2010 to receive the Fiesta. At the time, it faced off stiff competition from the second-generation Jazz and Yaris. Despite that, the first release of the Fiesta in the country proved successful enough, becoming one of Ford Philippines’ best-selling models. However, the shift towards crossovers, pickups, and SUVs meant sales dipped towards the end of the 2010s.
