Seems a bit short-sighted to me. Gas prices in the U.S. won’t be low forever, meaning that Americans’ appetite for trucks and SUVs could dramatically wane in the near future. But what do I know? I’m still hoping for a quality and affordable station wagon to be reintroduced by a U.S. automaker. Then again, today’s small SUVs are built on sedan frames, so they are essentially station wagons set on a taller chassis.
Rode along last weekend when Happykid test drove a Ford SUV. Shocked to read the window sticker estimated Average MPG of only 18. Our 17 year old Accord gets about 25, Happykid’s 8 year old Toyota Matrix gets something in the low 30’s, and Happydad’s Prius V averages in the high 40’s. I had no idea that anything for passengers would be below 25 given the advances in automotive technology in recent years!
Why the test drive? Happykid is traveling this summer in the UK with friends, and found a seven passenger minivan syle “Ford Galaxy” available there to rent through Hertz. The Ford dealership here doesn’t have that model (UK only maybe?) and offered up the SUV so she could see what driving a bigger vehicle feels like.
My husband drives a Ford Focus. We were hoping to one day upgrade to a Fusion or Taurus, so I was not happy about their announcement. I guess it also means I won’t be able to get Ford rental cars at some point in the future. Bummer.
^^that is surprising! Our Honda CRV has been averaging 30-32 mpg which is about the same or actually a little better than the little sedan it replaced. I am pleasantly surprised. That was one thing I was concerned about when we decided to switch from a sedan for practical reasons - ease of getting in and out and cargo space for husband’s walker.
I was always a sedan and never wanted a SUV till now (,though am loving it - the CRV is a crossover though not full size) so was surprised by the Ford announcement but I must admit the vehicles parked at my office are mostly small SUVs.
Better get your Ford C-Max before it is discontinued.
https://www.ford.com/cars/c-max/
It’s an “all in bet.” They are being pushed to improve profit margins. Rather than make better cars more efficiently, they’re going all in on the high margin SUVs and Trucks. Will make a lot of money while times are good. Will need to come up with effective alternate engine technology. If trucks/suvs ever take a bath, Ford will be done.
The Chevy Equinox seems to be the closest thing to an attractive and moderate cost American station wagon for me. No interest in spending $$$ for a Cadillac wagon or a Mercedes Benz wagon for that matter.
I was surprised to hear this on the news this morning. We are big Ford Taurus fans. We have a really nice 2008 Taurus that son drives. We just sold our very reliable 2003 Taurus last night. Husband was due for an upgrade. He had his heart set on another Taurus, but we couldn’t find a newer one in our price range. He’ll be sad to hear they are going to stop making them all together.
I hope this new plan is successful. I have a BUNCH of Ford retirees in my family.
You know…they lost me when they resigned the Taurus a long while ago with that UGLY front grill. Then didn’t it get renamed the ford 500 or something?
TBH, I liked the focus…nice size. And in its early years got great reviews. But that didn’t continue.
Probably better of Ford concentrates on something they do well.
The Ford Five Hundred was introduced for 2005 and renamed the Taurus for 2008 when the old Taurus was discontinued. It was restyled for 2010.
The wagon versions were named Freestyle, Taurus-X, and Flex.
The dual-clutch automatic transmission in the current generation is the source of many complaints. But the Focus can still be had with a manual transmission (or electric version) to avoid those issues.
Yes, the Taurus/Ford 500 glitch was a big mistake, as far as I am concerned. Ford expressly told the public in 2003 that the Taurus would be replaced with the 500. Then, wah-lah, here again was the Taurus several months later. They lost the confidence of some customers because of that. The 500 could have been a special car, like the original Galaxy 500 back in the 1960s. I am still annoyed at Ford for discontinuing the revised Thunderbird, too. Ford doesn’t seem to know what kind of car company they want to be.
S loves his Mustang. Mustangs will still be made. CNBC is reporting that GM will likely be next in dropping sedans.
In the EPA classification of “station wagon”, the only 2018 model year ones from an American company are the Buick Regal TourX, the Chevrolet Bolt EV, and the Chevrolet Sonic 5. See page 21-23 of https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/pdfs/guides/FEG2018.pdf . (The Ford C-Max is a “large car”, and the Chevrolet Equinox is a “small sport utility vehicle”.)
We need the price of gas to go a lot higher.
Endless cycle:
- Price of gas is low,
- American consumers buy the big cars they love.
- American car companies curtail or stop producing small cars in favor of ever bigger road dinosaurs.
- Due to increased demand and/or political instability, price of gas shoots up.
- Fickle American consumers rush to buy small cars.
- American car companies are caught unprepared and scramble to quickly bring out lines of small cars.
- Rushed and poorly engineered small American cars don’t sell all that well. Toyota and Honda, who never stopped producing small cars, clean up in the market place.
- Price of gas eventually goes back down
- Go back to 1. and repeat
When will American car companies (and consumers) ever learn? We’ve gone through this cycle over and over ever since the early 70s. But you think American car companies would at least learn from the success of the Japanese. Through high gas prices and low, Honda has never stopped producing the Civic. They don’t have to rush out a shoddy product to pretend to meet the resurgent demand for small cars. They’ve got a great little car that they’ve been makling all along.
To me it’s almost egregious that Ford will stop making the Fusion. Just a few years ago, that was their “car of the future.” This is very short sighted.
We do?
This sounds so different than Ford as Cars of the Future — wasn’t that the big plan a few years ago?
I can’t believe they won’t make the fusion anymore. It’s so popular as a company car, and with the car rental companies. It doesn’t make sense that they’d lose this business. This is totally out of left field, but I wonder if they are going to try to merge with a company that makes sedans? Or do they have labor problems at the plants that make the fusion and Taurus?