After rumours earlier this week that Ford was going to end the 46 year production run of the Ford Fiesta, the automaker confirmed the story on Wednesday. Ford said the Fiesta will officially end production in June 2023.
The Fiesta is currently built at Ford’s factory in Cologne, Germany, which will now only make the five-door version until all production ends next summer.
This date is earlier than originally planned, and is being done to make way for Ford’s electric vehicle (EV) plans in Europe.
Ford said they were saying goodbye to the Fiesta to accelerate its EV plans in Europe, where it targets to have all of its passenger vehicles be electric by 2030 and all of its vehicles by 2035.
To help that target the Cologne facility will be retooled for EV production, and a new battery assembly facility will be built. The plant is scheduled to start production in 2024 be able to build about 200,000 EVs per year.
EV production at the “Cologne Electrification Center” will begin with a new “sports crossover” EV, which is expected to be based on Volkswagen’s MEB platform.
Ford has previously announced plans to introduce 7 new EVs in Europe by 2024.
You can watch this short video Ford released to mark the end of the Ford Fiesta.
