Final Friday, the ultimate Ford Fiesta rolled off the Cologne, Germany meeting line, with the Blue Oval’s entry-level nameplate retired. That’s the tip of the story, proper?

Not fairly, in line with Ford of Europe’s passenger vehicles boss Martin Sander, who left the door open for a Fiesta revival on an electrical platform.

That may very well be the Volkswagen Group’s new MEB Entry platform, set to underpin new mild vehicles and crossovers for the Group’s varied manufacturers.

When requested by Automotive Information Europe if Ford may as soon as once more benefit from its tie-up with Volkswagen for a small automotive, Mr Sander stated his firm has “a really constructive and optimistic cooperation with Volkswagen”.

“We’re presumably exploring alternatives to take that to the subsequent degree,” he added.

“Nothing has been determined, however I don’t need to rule that out.”

Ford discontinued the present Fiesta after 47 years and over 22 million international gross sales to deal with extra worthwhile fashions.

“We’re trying into Fiesta as an train for the entire group to grasp what it might take to be aggressive and make a revenue with an electrical small automotive,” stated Mr Sander.

“However smaller autos are smaller margin. We don’t have the size of the Volkswagen Group or Stellantis in Europe.

“Small autos just like the Fiesta aren’t the heartland of Ford Motor Firm. We now have a worldwide strategy. Our first query is: How can we construct merchandise that work globally for Ford in North America, Europe and different components of the world? That is the train we’re doing now.

“It’s simple to spin off a by-product with very restricted funding so as to make it just a little extra appropriate for a sure a part of the world. That’s clearly a part of our plan. However we is not going to create a [passenger] automobile just for Europe.”

Ford ended manufacturing of the Fiesta in North America in 2019, retiring the nameplate there because it discontinued its total passenger automotive vary bar the Mustang and GT.

As soon as the embodiment of the Blue Oval’s previous One Ford coverage, which noticed key traces offered throughout myriad markets as a substitute of quite a few market-specific autos, the Fiesta was manufactured in quite a few nations in its penultimate era.

This included India, Thailand and Brazil. With its seventh and ultimate era, nonetheless, the Fiesta was produced solely in Germany.

Ford and Volkswagen’s tie-up has seen the businesses share a ute platform (for the Ford Ranger and Volkswagen Amarok), with VW lending its MEB electrical automobile platform to the Blue Oval for its European-market Explorer and an upcoming “sports activities crossover”, anticipated to put on the Capri nameplate.

Volkswagen’s Caddy has been rebadged as a Ford Tourneo Join, whereas the model’s next-generation Transporter might be primarily based on the upcoming second-generation Transit Customized.

Ford is engaged on a second-generation EV platform, set to debut within the US with a pickup and a three-row SUV.

Mr Sander says this platform might be localised for Europe, and the market will obtain derivatives of worldwide vehicles.

“Our first precedence is to get our personal platform and our personal know-how to Europe, as a result of I actually imagine we’re constructing a really, very aggressive platform,” Mr Sander stated.

It’s unclear whether or not, per Mr Sander’s remarks, the MEB-based Explorer (and its ‘sports activities crossover’ sibling) – set to be constructed on the Fiesta’s previous plant – will find yourself being offered in different markets.

“We is not going to create a platform, a brand new know-how or a brand new high hat solely for Europe, as a result of we have to scale globally to compete with the brand new guys who’re international manufacturers and who’re creating an enormous quantity of scale,” he stated.

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