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Ford to kill Fusion, Taurus and Fiesta cars

Ford will go forward with only two cars in its lineup: the Mustang and a new hatchback called the Focus Active.
The 2018 Ford Fusion. (Photo: Ford)

DETROIT — Ford, backing up its promise to double-down on trucks and SUVs, is killing the Fiesta subcompact, Fusion midsize sedan and Taurus large sedan, it announced Wednesday.

It will go forward with only two cars in its lineup: the Mustang and a new hatchback called the Focus Active. The Ford Active as a beefy small vehicle that will have a higher profile like an SUV, but still be considered a car.

The plan is in keeping with on recently outlined by CEO Jim Hackett to introduce more trucks and SUVs, the vehicles that buyers want the most. Cars sales have been declining industrywide.

Fiesta and Taurus could disappear from the lineup as soon as next year. The new version of the Fusion, which plays in the midsize car segment that used to be the industry's most popular until ferver for SUV fervor took hold, will likely be around for a couple more years.

The announcement came as Ford said it earned a first-quarter profit of $1.7 billion, a 9% increase compared to the same period last year. For the first quarter, the Dearborn automaker earned 43 cents per share, beating Wall Street analysts' average expectations by 2 cents per share.

Ford's revenue worldwide increased 7% to $42 billion for the quarter. The 9% increase in quarterly profit can be almost entirely attributed to a drop in the automaker's effective tax rate to 9% from 28.6%, Ford officials said.

The automaker's pre-tax profit fell 14% to $2.2 billion for the quarter.

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