Ford Finally Says Goodbye to One of Its Most Beloved Cars After Almost 30 Years on the Market

Well, it finally happened. As of Friday, Ford built the last Focus.

The news supposedly first came courtesy of the Blue Oval’s employees, after which the company confirmed to Motor1 that the final example was a white five-door hatchback.

Now, Ford hasn’t exactly been shy about its discontinuation plans for the model. Quite the opposite — it first pulled the Focus from the American market in 2018, and it later announced that electrification would eventually bring an end to the nameplate in Europe (targeting this year).

Ford

Still, even with the advance notice, the retirement of the Focus amounts to a great loss to the industry. It not only speaks to the state of the Blue Oval’s own lineup, but also to that of the automotive world at large.

A loss of Focus

After all, Ford had big aspirations for the Focus when it first introduced the car in 1998. As part of the company’s Ford 2000 initiative, the nameplate was developed to be a global model, an effort to consolidate European and North American lineups under one unified strategy.

Ford

Accordingly, the Focus made for a huge volume seller throughout its production life. During the car’s 27-year run, the Blue Oval managed to move over 12 million examples. 

What’s more, even though Ford engineered the Focus as an economical compact, that’s not to say that the model was without its enthusiast appeal. Quite the opposite, in fact. 

Ford

The ST first appeared in 2002 in the form of the ST170, bringing upgrades like stiffer suspension, revised styling and larger brakes. However, as much as it previewed the Blue Oval’s hot hatch intentions, the model’s bigger sibling is what really demonstrated the company’s capabilities.

That’s because the Focus RS gave owners rally car thrills for the road. Between a punchy turbocharged engine, a grippy AWD system, a manual transmission and some slick visual upgrades, it had all the makings of a proper slide machine (especially in tasty limited-edition RS500 guise). Ken Block’s endorsement didn’t hurt, either.

Ford

Being the higher-performance option of the two, the RS was discontinued in 2020. However, Ford kept the ST soldiering on until this past September — almost until the very end, there was some focus to the Focus on performance.

The road ahead

In any case, as both a commuter and a driver’s vehicle, the Focus proved extremely valuable to the brand because of its numbers.Though Ford was Europe’s second-largest carmaker back in 2015, it came in at 12th overall as of last year, per Autocar and the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA).

Ford

Put another way, the decision to cull longstanding cars like the Fiesta and the Focus has resulted in a huge blow to the Blue Oval’s market share. It’s since filled out the range with crossovers like the Kuga and the Puma, but those models haven’t exactly picked up the slack.

Which leaves Ford in a bit of a bind for the time being. Even before the official discontinuation of the Focus, Bill Ford Jr. had admitted that the company’s car lineup was “not as robust as we need to be.”

Considering that the Mustang is now the sole new ‘car’ (rather than a crossover, a van, a truck or an SUV, etc.) that Ford sells — in the United States and in Europe — this proves especially true.

Ford

While’s already been speculation that the Focus could return and some that Ford could be preparing new ‘regular car’ models, nothing at this time suggests that those two rumors align. In fact, the Focus may not even be revived as a sedan/hatchback.

Besides, without a concrete plan for what’s to come, all there is to do for now is speculate. Until what, if any, successor comes, let’s pour one out for the Focus and hope that Ford can find its own (focus) again.

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