Ford Confirms Fiesta Production Ending In 2023, Teases Puma EV

It's time to say goodbye to an iconic small car.

By: Angel Sergeev

Oct 26, 2022 at 5:00am ET

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It turns out the reports from earlier this week were correct – Ford has officially confirmed the Fiesta will be discontinued in June 2023. One of the longest-standing nameplates in the company’s portfolio will be replaced by an all-electric version of the Puma, which will be built in Craiova, Romania. The automaker released a touching two-minute video (see below) to say goodbye to the Fiesta and to also preview the battery-powered Puma.

The Fiesta has been on sale for 47 years over nine generations. The production currently takes place in Cologne and Ford says only the five-door version of the hatchback will continue to roll off the assembly line until the summer of next year. All customer orders will be built and the manufacturer will keep the order books open until the remaining production volume is filled. The Fiesta ST hot hatch will also be discontinued in 2023.

The end of production of the Fiesta will also mark the end of production of internal combustion engines at one of Ford’s most important factories outside the United States. The Cologne plant will be transformed into the Cologne Electrification Center, where a new midsize battery-powered crossover will be manufactured starting next year. Ford wants to reach 1.2 million electric vehicles produced at that plant within the next six years. The production of the company’s 1.0-liter EcoBoost three-cylinder engine, in turn, will be relocated to the engine plant in Craiova, Romania.

The original Ford Fiesta was launched in 1976 and more than 18 million units of the hatchback have been built and delivered worldwide since then. The Fiesta has been manufactured in at least 13 different countries around the world, including the UK, Spain, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, South Africa, and more.

While it’s definitely sad to see one of Ford’s pivotal models leave the scene, the automaker is confident the future belongs to electric mobility and it wants to go “all in” on electromobility “at an accelerated rate.” As a result, Ford will launch no fewer than three new purely electric passenger cars and four electric commercial vehicles on the Old continent by 2024.

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Earlier this year, the automaker also discontinued the Mondeo, one of Europe’s most loved D-segment models, but Ford says it will have at least one plug-in or fully electric model in every car segment on the continent from 2026. Whether that includes a successor to the Mondeo, which is still sold in China as a fully redesigned model, remains to be seen.