Motor1 reports Ford has confirmed it has closed its European order books for the Focus ST, which is due to exit production in November this year.
That will not only bring an end to the 27-year-old Focus, but also mark the first time since the Fiesta Supersport of 1980 that Ford won’t have a hot hatch in its global lineup.
The Focus ST can be traced back to the first-generation ST170, which later dropped the numerical moniker to become the second-gen ST, complete with a turbocharged five-cylinder Volvo engine.
This was sold in Australia as the XR5 Turbo – aligning it with the Falcon XR performance range – but later fell in line with the global name with the arrival of the third-gen turbo-four model, followed by the short-lived fourth and final Focus ST.
While it’s the end of the line for the Focus ST, November will also see the end of the Focus nameplate, having launched in 1998 and since being affixed to more than 12 million vehicles globally.
The Focus was sold in Australia between 2002 and 2023, by which time the model had been narrowed down solely to the performance ST grade.
Across its 21-year local run, almost 206,000 examples of the Focus were sold in Australia, peaking at 19,180 deliveries in 2013.
It’s not yet clear whether the Focus nameplate will one day be revived, as Ford has done recently for the Capri. Once a coupe, the Capri is now an electric SUV, and a rebadged Volkswagen at that.
The Focus’ departure also leaves Ford with just one traditional passenger vehicle in Europe, the Mustang. It’s a similar situation in Australia, where Ford only sells SUVs, vans and utes after the Focus left local showrooms.
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