Ford to kill Fusion, Taurus and Fiesta cars to make way for more SUVs

J.C. Reindl | Detroit Free Press

Show Caption Hide Caption Ford ditches sedans for bigger, faster Ford Motor Company announced that it will discontinue the Fiesta subcompact car, the Fusion mid-size sedan and the Taurus full-size car in the U.S.

DETROIT — Ford, backing up its promise to double-down on trucks and SUVs, is killing the Fiesta subcompact, Fusion midsize sedan, Taurus large sedan and C-Max van in the U.S., it announced Wednesday.

It will go forward with only two cars in its lineup: the Mustang and a new hatchback called the Focus Active that will take the place of the current Focus compact. The Ford Active will be a beefy small vehicle that will have a higher profile like an SUV, but still be considered a car.

The plan is in keeping with on recently outlined by CEO Jim Hackett to introduce more trucks and SUVs, the vehicles that buyers want the most. Cars sales have been declining industrywide.

Ford will use the excess capacity created in its plants by car models that are ending to introduce new truck and SUVs. For instance, the new Ford Bronco off-roader is on the way.

"We will refresh our entire lineup of traditional crossovers and SUVs that everyone knows, like Explorer and Escape," said Jim Farley, Ford's president of global markets. "And then we're going to be introducing and taking capital and redeploying it for also new silhouettes, products that give the customers the utility benefits without the penalty of the fuel economy."

Fiesta and Taurus could disappear from the lineup as soon as next year. The just-introduced version of the Fusion, which plays in the midsize car segment that used to be the industry's most popular until SUV fervor took hold, will likely be around for a couple more years.

Ford reveals the new Fusion Ford reveals the new model of the popular Fusion at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

The announcement came as Ford said it earned a first-quarter profit of $1.7 billion, a 9% increase compared to the same period last year. For the first quarter, the Dearborn automaker earned 43 cents per share, beating Wall Street analysts' average expectations by 2 cents per share.

Ford's revenue worldwide increased 7% to $42 billion for the quarter. The 9% increase in quarterly profit can be almost entirely attributed to a drop in the automaker's effective tax rate to 9% from 28.6%, Ford officials said.

The automaker's pre-tax profit fell 14% to $2.2 billion for the quarter.



