BERLIN -- Ford will stop building the Fiesta small car in Cologne, Germany, by next summer, a year earlier than planned. At the same time as Fiesta output stops, production of Ford's new Volkswagen-based all-electric crossover will begin, also a year earlier than planned.
"The electric car will be built in Cologne from summer 2023," a company source familiar with the plan told Automotive News Europe sister publication Automobilwoche.
The crossover will use VW Group's MEB electric platform that underpins the VW ID4, among other models from the group.
The production switch will not affect staffing levels and there will be more jobs in Cologne at the end of the ramp-up of the new model than there are at present, the source said.
The Fiesta, which launched in Europe in 1976, has been one of the automaker's most popular models but sales have been declining as buyers switch from hatchbacks to crossovers such as the Ford Puma.
Fiesta sales in Europe fell to 39,395 through August from 72,302 in the first eight months, according to figures from Dataforce. The Puma is now the automaker's best-selling passenger car in the region, with 91,604 units sold through August.
