Ford farewells
Ford’s announcement, in 2022, that the Fiesta would be discontinued the following year, just short of its 50th anniversary, provoked strong and often emotional reactions.
It’s easy to see why, but at the same time this sort of thing has happened before, and will happen again.
Having been around for well over a century, Ford has let many famous nameplates slide into history. Here we present 26 examples, in alphabetical order.
All were around for at least 10 years and were popular, to a greater or lesser extent, in their day. Following the example of the Fiesta, we’re including models which were produced over several generations, often with very little connection between the first and the last.
1. C-Max
This compact MPV was initially known as the Focus C-Max, since it was closely related to Ford’s popular medium-sized hatchback, but was renamed C-Max at the time of a facelift in 2007.
In one sense, the C-Max predated its relative. Launched in 2003, it was based on the same platform as the second-generation Focus, which didn’t arrive until the following year.
A second C-Max, based on another platform, arrived in 2011. It was abandoned eight years later as a result of customer preference swinging from MPVs to SUVs.
2. Consul
The Consul launched in 1951 (pictured) was the first unibody model produced by Ford of Britain, and had a glamorous, US-influenced look quite unlike anything that company had attempted before.
A new model arrived in 1956 and remained on the market until 1962. There was then a decade-long gap before the name was revived from 1972 until 1975 for low-spec versions of the first-generation Granada.
However, the 10-year interruption in the name’s 24-year history wasn’t as complete as it might seem. As mentioned before, there were cars called Consul Classic and Consul Capri during this period.
On top of that, early versions of the Corsair and the first-generation Cortina were known as Consul Corsair and Consul Cortina respectively.
3. Corcel
Little-known in the rest of the world, the Corcel was marketed in several South American countries for 18 years.
Although the styling was very different, the Corcel was closely related to the Renault 12, and went into production a year earlier than the European car in 1968.
Early in its development, it wasn’t a Ford at all but a project created by the Brazilian division of Willys-Overland, which Ford bought in 1967.
The Corcel was redesigned in 1975, and this second-generation model remained on sale for a further 11 years.
4. Cortina
Originally known, though only briefly, as the Consul Cortina, this model was introduced in 1962, and remained on sale for four generations (or perhaps five, depending on how you count these things) until it was replaced by the Sierra 20 years later.
A pick-up derivative, known in most markets as the P100, was still being marketed as a Cortina in its home country of South Africa as late as 1984.
According to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, the second Cortina saloon was the most-registered car in the UK in 1967, while the third held that position from 1972 to 1975.
The last version had the same honour from 1977 to 1981. Examples built from 1980 onwards are referred to as Mk5, though this generation was only a slight upgrade of the Mk4.
5. Courier
Courier has been used as the name for many Ford vehicles – some of them in production at the same time in different regions – since 1952.
The name first appeared on a large, saloon-based panel van which was on the market until 1960. A long series of Mazda-based pick-ups began 12 years later, and although these became known as Ranger in some markets, the Courier name was still used in Australia and New Zealand until 2006.
A quite different Courier, a panel van derivative of the Fiesta, was sold in Europe from 1991 to 2002, while a Fiesta-based pick-up of the same name was produced in Brazil until 2013.
There is now no such thing as a Ford Courier, but the name appears on versions of both the Transit and Tourneo vans known as the Transit Courier and Tourneo Courier.
6. Custom
The 1949 model year Ford was available in two lines, one simply called ‘the Ford’ and the other known as Custom.
Both were available with two- and four-door saloon and club coupé body styles. Customs could also be bought as convertibles or estates, but not with the three-door coupé body which was restricted to the regular Ford.
Custom continued to be used on and off for Ford models built in both North America and Australia up to 1981, 32 years after the name first appeared.
As with Courier, the name is no longer used on its own, but you can still buy a van called the Transit Custom.
7. Escort
Ford’s first Escort, introduced in 1955, was a mechanically identical but less well-equipped version of the Squire estate car.
The name went into abeyance for a while, but was brought back for a famous series of mid-sized European cars produced from 1968 to around the turn of the century.
A completely different North American Escort was produced in three generations from 1981 to 2003.
All of the above have been discontinued, so it would be reasonable to say that in western markets the Escort is firmly a thing of the past. However, yet another line of Escorts has been built and sold in China since 2015.
8. Fairlane
Fairlanes were manufactured in North America from the 1955 to 1970 model years, which is a decent run in its own right.
It was extended considerably further in South America, where Fairlanes (some of them Torinos with different badges) were built up to 1981.
Even that isn’t the end of the story. Ford Australia assembled early North American Fairlanes locally at first, but then began developing its own version. This was built over five generations until 2007.
Back in the US, the Fairlane name was used for a crossover SUV unveiled at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit in January 2005. A production version went on sale in 2008, but the Fairlane name was dropped in favour of Flex.
9. Fairmont
In 1965, the upmarket version of the Australian Ford Falcon was distinguished from the others not by a trim level but by giving it the name Fairmont.
Ford continued with this policy for 43 years, abandoning it only when the seventh-generation Falcon was introduced in 2008.
The Fairmont had been part of motoring life in the region from the formation of The Mamas & The Papas to the 10th anniversary of Westlife. This did not apply to the very different North American Fairmont, a compact saloon which was sold only from model years 1978 to 1983.
10. Falcon
As you’ve probably gathered from what we said about the Fairmont, Ford of Australia built the Falcon over an even longer period.
It first appeared in 1960, and was produced over seven generations right up until Ford decided to stop manufacturing cars in the country 56 years later.
Three generations of a different Falcon were built in North America from 1959 to 1970. The first of these entered production in Argentina in 1962, and almost incredibly survived with only minor updates right through to 1991.
11. Fiesta
The Fiesta was one of Ford’s earliest front-wheel-drive models, and its first example of what we would now call a supermini.
That term didn’t exist when the original Fiesta made its debut in 1976. It was immediately popular, and led to a series of similarly successful versions.
Later Fiestas topped the UK registration charts in an unbroken run from 2009 to 2020.
For various reasons, sales collapsed in 2021. Ford decided the Fiesta had run its course, and announced in autumn 2022 that production would cease in the summer of 2023.
The final Ford Fiesta came off the production line in Cologne, Germany, on 7 July 2023.
12. Focus
Ford could have continued calling its medium-sized family cars Escort for longer than it did, but in 1998 it decided to introduce the Focus name instead.
The new car was outstandingly good – so much so that it felt about 10 years newer than the Escort it replaced.
It sold very well in its first three generations, but by the time the fourth was launched in 2019 things were starting to go wrong. Ford has confirmed that European production will end in 2025.
No decision appears to have been taken about the fate of the Focus manufactured in China, but monthly sales of that car are less than a 10th of what they were just six years ago.
13. Galaxie
Galaxie was first used as the name for the top trim level in the Fairlane range towards the end of 1958.
It subsequently became a model name in its own right, and retained a presence on the US market until 1974. Galaxies were also manufactured in Australia in the 1960s.
In addition, production took place in Brazil up to 1983. Later examples are sometimes referred to as Landau, but this seems to be a contraction of the full name, Galaxie Landau.
14. Galaxy
Although their names sound the same, there is almost no connection between the Galaxy and the Galaxie other than the fact that they have both been built by Ford.
The Galaxy is a large MPV which was launched in 1995. The first generation was a joint venture with Volkswagen, and vehicles of that era were almost identical to the VW Sharan and the Seat Alhambra.
Ford later withdrew from the agreement, and developed the second- and third-generation models on its own.
Public interest in MPVs has declined to such an extent that Ford will discontinue the Galaxy in 2023, 28 years after the original version went on sale.
15. Granada
Ford used the Granada name on both sides of the Atlantic, but it had far more staying power in Europe.
The original model was introduced in 1972 and replaced five years later. Both were called Granada in all markets (though some lower-spec versions were given the old Consul name).
The third generation was known as Scorpio everywhere other than the UK and Ireland, where Granada was retained and Scorpio was used only for a trim level.
In North America, the Granada name was applied to a compact saloon from 1975 to 1980, and then to its successor for a further two years. The later car remained in production for longer than that, but became known as the LTD in 1983.
16. Ka
Closely related to the third-generation Fiesta, the original Ka went on sale in 1996 and remained on the market for 12 years. Hot hatch and convertible derivatives were named SportKa and StreetKa respectively.
That Ka was replaced by another model of the same name which was closely related to (and built on the same production line as) the Fiat 500.
A third-generation version marketed as the Ka+ arrived in 2014, and became a replacement for lower-spec variants of the contemporary Fiesta.
The Ka’s European history came to an end after 23 years when it was discontinued there in 2019. Production continued in Brazil until early 2021.
17. Laser
Five generations of Laser were marketed by Ford, starting in 1981.
All of them were small cars originally developed by Mazda (in which Ford had a stake at the time), though Ford often made minor changes.
The last Laser was produced for the New Zealand market in 2003. The same car was sold elsewhere for a few more years under other names.
18. Model T
Ford has produced many significant models, but none had such a dramatic effect on the motor industry as the Model T.
The car that put America on wheels was introduced in 1908, and wasn’t much different when it was discontinued 19 years later.
Compared with other nameplates used by Ford, that was a relatively short run, but 15 million examples had been built and sold, a record which stood until 1972 and is still remarkable today.
19. Mondeo
The Mondeo was originally intended to be a car for the whole world, though since different versions were produced in different continents, it’s clear things didn’t quite work out that way.
Nevertheless, the Mondeo was a big success from its introduction in early 1993, when it replaced the Sierra. While the Sierra was built in a single generation for only 11 years, the Mondeo kept going through four generations for nearly 30.
From a western perspective, the Mondeo story came to an end in 2022, but a fifth-generation version is being built in China, and sold both there and in Arab countries.
20. P100
The P100 name was given to first Cortina- and later Sierra-based pick-up trucks which were of no interest to the general motorist, but very useful to people who needed that sort of thing.
As niche models, they were not built in countries such as the US, the UK or Germany. Instead, manufacturing took place at various times in South Africa, Portugal and Turkey.
They did not become known as P100s for some time. From 1971, they were sold as the Cortina Pickup. The P100 name was not used until 1982.
Still, it stayed around until 1995, easily exceeding our self-imposed 10-year minimum.
21. S-Max
Like the Fiesta and Galaxy, the S-Max is still on sale now, but won’t be for much longer.
It’s a large MPV, very closely related to the Galaxy and essentially the sporty version of it, for certain values of ‘sporty’.
People liked that sort of thing when the S-Max was launched in 2006, but not so much now. The second-generation model will disappear in 2023, after a run of 17 years.
22. Scorpio
As mentioned earlier, the Granada became the Scorpio in all markets except the UK and Ireland in 1985.
Nine years later, a new version was named Scorpio everywhere. This is regarded as the last of Ford’s large European saloons, though it was actually smaller than the fourth-generation Mondeo, a car conventionally described as being one class down.
The Scorpio run came to an end after 13 years in 1998. This was no longer the type of Ford people wanted, but its demise was perhaps hastened by the later model’s front-end styling, which inspired a great deal of imaginatively worded criticism.
23. Sierra
At just 11 years, the Sierra nameplate didn’t hang around for long compared with others on this list, but the car made a big impact.
That impact was initially negative. In the early days, people pointed at the curvy body and shouted, “jelly mould!” There were also questions about why Ford had carried over the Cortina’s rear-wheel-drive layout, which was beginning to seem anachronistic in 1982.
Soon, though, Sierras were everywhere, and the public became used to them. Spectacular motorsport success in circuit racing, and to a lesser extent rallying, no doubt helped increase acceptance, too.
The Sierra was replaced by the far more modern Mondeo back in 1993, but high-performance Cosworth versions in particular are still highly prized today.
24. Taurus
While it couldn’t compete with the most popular pick-up trucks, the Taurus was the best-selling car in the US from the early to mid 1990s.
The story had begun when the car first went on sale in late 1985, and ended (in western terms, at least) in 2019. The Taurus had been around for twice as long as the Model T, admittedly over six generations rather than just one, and with a brief interruption around 2006.
Like the Escort and Mondeo, the Taurus has not entirely disappeared. It lives on in China, where the current model is based on an extended version of the Mondeo platform also used for the Lincoln Continental.
The Taurus is name is also being used in Arab countries for the China-built fifth-generation Mondeo.
25. Thunderbird
Though not the longest-lived Ford nameplate, Thunderbird was used consistently for 43 years in the 20th century and four more in the 21st.
Originally a two-seater launched in 1954, the T-bird went through many changes over 10 generations until it was eventually canned in 1997.
An 11th Thunderbird (but only the second two-seater) went on sale in 2001. Initially popular, it gradually faded from view and was abandoned in 2005.
26. Zephyr
The Zephyr name was first applied in 1951 to a variant of the Consul with a slightly longer front end to accommodate a 2.3-litre straight-six engine rather than the Consul’s 1.5-litre ‘four’.
The rounded body of this car was in complete contrast to the sharp-edged one of the fourth-generation Zephyr which arrived a decade and a half later.
This model remained in production until 1972, completing the 21-year history of the Zephyr badge. It was replaced by the first of many Granadas.
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