Did Ford Take The Easy Way Out By Killing Sedans?

Ford can afford to give away the small car segment. They have what has been for a long time the #1 profit generator in the entire auto industry for a long time. They aren’t necessarily giving the Chinese a foothold...there are plenty of small vehicles available for sale from Asian automakers.
Ford did give the Chinese (and Indian) auto industry a probablyba 20 year leap forward when they sold them Volvo and JLR. Both Geely and Tata now possess tier 1 automaker know how thabksnto Ford.

With the Manufacturers now emphasising Profits over volume - the logical result is that the smaller offerings simply make less profit than the larger ones. Entry level vehicles and current EVS lose money - It even took Toyota 10 years of Prius Production to start making a profit on them - and I doubt others are.

IF Ford could get away with it - it would get rid of everything except Full size pick ups with Large Cabs. IF GM could get away with it - they would only make GMC Denali vehicles as well. They cannot do that though.

However -FCA preceded Ford in eliminating small cars. Note - when FCA was looking for someone to make smaller cars for them - they had no takers - because few make profits on those cars - why increase volume and lose money for FCA?.

Of course - the possible problem will be WHEN the Economy tanks - it should be moving towards a recession now - the expansion has been quite long. Will FORD be stuck without salable product - they might need the bailout that they did not take last downturn.

Ford did not file for bankruptcy but did get a bail out in long term government loans ($5.9B from DoE) that they have not paid back as of early this year. Next downturn won't be easy for Ford.

Ford needs to speed up their EV development to remain relevant. Gasoline trucks and SUV may not survive long. If gas price heads back to $4 a gallon, it will be game over.

yes!

Small SUVs now get the same or better mpg as econoboxes did a decade ago. They are simply doing what any industry does, make what the consumer wants. Also, the current administration's plan to ease significantly the CAFE standards makes this an easier decision.

Ford is just choosing to make products that sell well, and trim those that don't. Note that Ford has not "killed" (i.e., eliminated) sedans, as the title asserts. Significantly reduced? Yes indeed.

Making what consumers want makes good business sense.

FCA did a similar thing as well - leaving only the Chrysler 300 platform based vehicles so also down to ONE car.

The question is whether basically offering Trucks (AS defined by the EPA) - is whether the dealers are likely to attempt to pick up another franchise for Cars.
THere are still dealers who have local loyal customers - and say if they add MAZDA for cars - how will that effect the FORD sales - and in addition - if the economy tanks - and they need to re-introduce cars - will the dealers who added a franchise then really sell the cars again.

FCA is still making small cars. Have you ever heard of a company called Fiat? Yes they are still are selling cars in this country although for how long remains an unanswered question. If gas prices creep up again FCA may decide to keep Fiat in the USA. Fords argument though is you can still have bigger heavier vehicles as long as you make them hybrid with smaller gasoline turbo engines. I think that technology and the development of EV's is going to allow Ford to offer larger vehicles/SUV/CUV's without the mileage issue. However as pointed out this strategy by Ford depends on a robust economy. If the economy tanks again into a deep recession what fallback will Ford have for Cheaper SUVs/CUVs. Hybrid and EV technology are still pretty expensive. Importing sedans and compact cars from Europe is an option but then your dealing with less profit and currency fluctuations.

Pointing to Fiat as an example of FCA still making cars is hilarious. Fiat's volume is tanking.

Ford is merely getting out of loser models to maximize profit for investing in EV/hybrid vehicles, and be ready for the next spike in fuel prices. If not, Ford would never meet future efficiency/pollution standards. Next big change in industry will be tanking truck/SUV sales.

The next big change in the industry will be affordable EVs and not EVs that are double the cost of their ICE equivalents. I suspect Ford is headed in that direction. If Ford can create the Model T of EVs, it will score big time.

If there was a big vacuum being left, Ford would have a problem. But Ford cars aren't selling, and that failing isn't (apparently) hurting non-car sales. So whatever Ford loses as a result of dropping cars, it's highly unlikely to be huge. Too, Lincoln is apparently still going to be in the car business and the Mustang's still around. And the Focus is still around, just not as a sedan. So any time Ford may change their mind, they can bring back cars fast and easy enough.