The last Ford Fiesta will be made in Cologne, Germany, on July 7, 2023. This will be the end of 47 years of production. The seventh version of the Fiesta, which went into production in 2017, was not sold in the U.S., but its end is a turning point for small cars everywhere. As more significant, more expensive vehicles take over the world, smaller, less expensive cars are being pushed out. Autocar says Ford’s official reason for stopping production is that it needs the room in its Cologne assembly plant to make the new Explorer E.V., which will only be sold in Europe. The maker will keep the last two Fiestas for its historical fleets. Both will be kept in the U.K., where the car has been loved for a long time. One will also be held in Cologne. Even though sales of new vehicles in the U.K. aren’t excellent, small crossovers like the Ford Puma have recently sold more than the Fiesta, and it has always been one of the best-selling cars on the island. The 2013 release of the sixth-generation Fiesta S.T. speed model in the United States made it a well-known car. Its three-cylinder, 1.6-liter engine produced 180 horsepower, more than enough to move the 2,500-pound car. It had a six-speed manual gearbox and was made in Mexico until 2017. It’s hard to say if tiny cars as we know them will ever be popular again in the United States. E.V.s are becoming increasingly popular, but battery technology has restricted the range and usefulness of most compact E.V.s. Because of its big battery, the new Chevy Equinox E.V. is almost as big as the Chevy Blazer, which runs on gas. We won’t see another car like the Fiesta for a long time until the energy density improves or people change their minds about short-range EVs.
