Ford Fiesta: production ends of UK’s all-time bestselling car

Final vehicle built at factory in Cologne as carmaker moves over to electric vehicles

RidcullyTheBrown 12 points 3 years ago

This is interesting:

"That’s because there isn’t much margin in small, cheap cars any more. Right now, Fiesta isn’t viable, and the same will be true for other brands.[...]"

I wonder why. Are young people not buying cars anymore?

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chris 9 points 3 years ago

I think the key is "not much margin" - they just aren't making enough profit and presumably don't want to put the price up.

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TWeaK 6 points 3 years ago

Rather, they already have put the prices up as high as the market is willing to bear.

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theinspectorst 9 points 3 years ago

The shift towards bigger cars has been noted as a Europe-wide phenomenon, albeit we're nowhere near the US scenario where a Ford 150 pickup truck is the best-selling car: https://www.economist.com/...

Tl;dr / if you don't have Economist access - the reasons they give for this shift are: it's easier for manufacturers to pass on costs with bigger cars; there are fewer good small electric cars anyway, and electric is becoming increasingly important given forthcoming climate policies; modern booster seat regulations have pushed families towards larger cars; and people have more money nowadays so tend to buy bigger cars.

I don't think we'll ever end up in a US situation though given how our towns and cities are designed. I hugely value having a small B-segment car (e.g. Fiesta/Polo/Fabia/Yaris) for parking in London and don't think I could see myself going larger than a C-segment (e.g. Focus/Golf/Octavia/Corolla) in the future unless I moved fully out of London.

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mackwinston 6 points 3 years ago

They likely are - there likely never was much margin in them.

The reason manufacturers are pushing SUVs so hard is that they are cheap to build but can be sold at premium prices.

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omgarm 5 points 3 years ago

I'm from the Netherlands but buying a new car here.is crazy. It's so much more than buying second hand. I think lease cars are most of the new models.

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EighthLayer 3 points 3 years ago

Corporate greed.

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Xeelee 2 points 3 years ago

It's mainly because of emission standards. Those require extra technology that serves up the cost. That makes smaller cars more expensive and this it's attractive. This will change, once batteries become cheaper. Putting together a small EV is much easier and you don't have to worry about emissions. We will see that within the next five years or so.

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HumanPenguin 1 point 3 years ago

While that def increases cost. Safety standards have much more to do with it. As these also make a huge difference to size and weight of cars.

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Spudger 9 points 3 years ago

I'm going to miss the good old days when Ford named their cars after jazz mags.

Fiesta trivia: I once worked at a place where my company car was a Cortina estate. It got replaced by a bright yellow Fiasco. I left.

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DJDarren 8 points 3 years ago

Sadly, those glory days came to an end with the rise of internet porn and the very poor sales of the Ford XHamster.

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Spudger 1 point 3 years ago

Yeah, no more finding cars under a hedge for that some considerate soul left the greater good.

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2000mph 6 points 3 years ago

Is this really a good idea now? I get more people were buying bigger cars as they had more disposable income and the manufacturers loved it for the bigger profit margin. But isn't the cost of living crisis going to write that out. Isn't now exactly the right time to sell a small economy sized car?

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CataclysmZA 2 points 3 years ago

Ford's aim is to replace the drivetrain with an electric variant, no?

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Sev 1 point 3 years ago

Shame, have really enjoyed the fiesta - leased a new one in 16 and have kept getting em, pretty decent but we're not heavy drivers. Pleasant enough and the satnav stuff was good after coming from shitty 2nd hand renault clios lol

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Tomato666 1 point 3 years ago

It'll be a big boost to second hand Fiesta car prices.

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Xeelee -3 points 3 years ago

I drove a Fiesta for a few months for a few months as a rental before I got my current car. It was an unmitigated piece of crap. I've never hated a car that much. So yeah, good riddance.

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DJDarren 1 point 3 years ago

Very much a car built to a price point to serve a purpose. I once drove a Cross that was much the same. Kitted out to look sporty, had the pulling power of an asthmatic snail. Absolute shit.

But cheap enough for most people to be able to use one to get to the supermarket.

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RidcullyTheBrown 1 point 3 years ago

Very much a car built to a price point to serve a purpose.

I think it used to be that way. I just configured one on the ford website and the recommended price is roughly 30k EUR. I guess the cheap car market is no more. I remember buying one in early 2000s for a bit over 10 k.

Edit: of course, they're not directly comparable, the current model has way more features, but it is certainly not what I'd consider cheap.

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