Why Ford Discontinued The Iconic Focus After Almost 30 Years

Ford is discontinuing its Focus, a compact car that has been around since 1998. The final Focus was completed in early November 2025 at the German Saarlouis plant. A round of applause from employees as it rolled off the line marked the end of an era for the automaker. Ford has now updated its website to officially confirm that no more Focus vehicles will be built.

The Focus has seen various transformations across its lifespan. It typically has come in sedan and hatchback styles, and in later years embraced technology integration — even though Ford isn't embracing Apple CarPlay Ultra. Often offered at an affordable price, some saw it as an excellent family car to get around town. 

Ford customers are now left wondering what is next for the automaker. It has been turning its attention to electric vehicles (EV) with ambitious plans on building manufacturing plants. However, not all of Ford's EVs have lasted long on the market, and new developments have been experiencing delays. For now, Ford is left with a gap in its car lineup that nothing in the near future appears ready to fill.

Ford's push into EVs hasn't always turned out the best, as some vehicles were short-lived like the Ranger EV. The company was working on a manufacturing facility in Tennessee with the purpose of creating EVs and their batteries. However, production is on pause. In August 2025, Ford announced ambitious plans, led by a $5 billion investment in reworking its operations. The purpose is to create EVs that are more affordable than what is currently on the market, since they tend to be priced higher than gas-powered cars. 

It will also build a battery plant in Michigan, all of which would help support Ford's line of EVs, such as the F-150 Lightning and Mustang Mach-E. With the Focus gone, Ford is left without a traditional car in their lineup. However, since EVs are cheaper to drive than ICE cars, the loss of the iconic Focus may open up an avenue for exciting new cars from Ford. If the Detroit automaker builds more EVs at an affordable price, the future looks bright. 

Ford's EV ambitions aren't the only reason it stopped manufacturing the Focus. In an interview with Car magazine, CEO Jim Farley stated, "We'd always competed at the heart of the passenger-car market, which didn't work out too well for Mondeo, Focus and Fiesta. They were loved by a lot of customers but they could never justify more capital allocation – unlike commercial vehicles." In the United States, Focus sales exceeded 200,000 every year between 2000 and 2004, and after a dip, reached this volume again in 2012. 

However, sales started dropping steadily from here to about 158,000 in 2017. The next year, Ford discontinued the Focus in the American market. Canadian sells were similarly bleak, with less than 12,000 units sold in 2017 before being discontinued. For those in the market for a Ford, you may want to check out the EV lineup. Like the F-150 Lightning, a pickup that costs less than a Tesla Cybertruck, and carries with it the iconic lines of Ford's long-running truck.