• Could Ford reverse course and make its way back into the car segments? The idea is no longer far-fetched.
Remember Ford’s earth-jarring decision a few years back to remove itself from all car segments in North America? In short order, the auto giant killed its Fiesta, Focus, Fusion and Taurus models to focus on SUVs and pickups, become by far the most popular segments in the U.S.
In a nutshell, there just wasn’t any money in cars, as North American consumers continued to go for ever bigger – and ever more lucrative for automakers – SUVs and trucks. Let the Korean and Japanese automakers have the sedan segments. When Ford was done with its spring cleaning, only the Mustang remained in its catalogue.
Affordability on the brain
Well it seems that in the auto industry, just like in politics and in life, nothing is forever. Ford CEO Jim Farley recently mused aloud that a return to the car segments isn’t out of the question. With “affordability” in the early running to be declared Word of the Year for 2026, sedans might once again be looking like a format with some potential. Many buyers have been priced out of the new SUV and pickup segments and decry the lack of affordable options.
Meanwhile, the Korean and Japanese automakers have persevered in offering sedans and hatchbacks and racked up decent if not spectacular sales numbers on them.
To be clear, sales of cars remain low compared to the more popular SUV and pickup formats. In 2025, cars accounted for only 12.4 percent of new-vehicles sales in Canada. But for consumers, concerns about cost aren’t going to go away, and increased availability of cars would very likely contribute to boosting that market share. Said Farley in an interview with Automotive News, the “sedan market is very vibrant”; he added that for Ford, a return to format can’t be excluded.
The CEO explained the thinking thusly: the decision to pull out of the segment had more to do with the difficulty of being competitive than to lagging sales as such. Presumably, that means that Ford may be making different calculations now, and it may feel it can now be competitive in a segment that it maybe can’t afford to keep ignoring.
Again, a lot comes back to the question of affordability. Ford is actively working on developing a new generation of more affordable EVs, showing it is keenly aware of the issues facing consumers in the era of tariffs and inflation. Realistically, though, we’re still a long way off from a return of the Focus. The company doesn’t seem to have even made a decision yet on whether to invest in a return. Perhaps this is a trial balloon floated by Jim Farley, just to gauge the level of interest.
