Say goodbye to nearly all of Ford’s entire car lineup: sales end by 2020

Enlarge / Ford’s truck business will continue growing as the company adds new models and powertrains with an eye toward continued growth in high-end trims. But if you want a sedan or hatchback, you better act now, because they're going away soon. (credit: Ford) On Wednesday, Ford dropped a bombshell during its Q1 earnings call: it's going to stop selling almost all its cars in the US. The Mustang will remain on sale, as will the Focus Active, a model that won't debut until next year. But kiss goodbye to the Fiesta, Focus, Fusion, Taurus, and C-MAX. Instead, the company will focus almost exclusively on SUVs, crossovers, and trucks in the US domestic market. Ford's President and CEO Jim Hackett cited the declining popularity of the car—which the company pioneered more than a century ago—as the reason for the decision. "We are committed to taking the appropriate actions to drive profitable growth and maximize the returns of our business over the long-term. Where we can raise the returns of underperforming parts of our business by making them more fit, we will. If appropriate returns are not on the horizon, we will shift that capital to where we can play and win," he said. As we learned earlier this year, Ford has redesigned Explorer and Escape SUVs coming next year, with a reborn Ford Bronco plus another unnamed crossover coming soon after. And it still plans to expand its line-up of battery electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid EVs, launching six by 2022. Read on Ars Technica | Comments source: https://arstechnica.com/?p=1299455 #Headlines by: Jonathan M. Gitlin

Original Post: https://arstechnica.com/cars/2018/04/ford-to-end-almost-all-us-car-sales-focusing-on-suvs-and-trucks/