Ford Will Stop Selling All But 2 Models In North America

If you’re a Ford fan and looking for a new car, you better look soon!

DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) – Ford Motor Co. said Wednesday it will shed most of its North American car lineup as part of broad plan to save money and make the company more competitive in a fast-changing marketplace.

This includes getting rid of all cars in the region during the next four years except for the Mustang and a compact Focus crossover vehicle, CEO Jim Hackett said as the company released first-quarter earnings.

Hackett said the decision was due to declining demand and profitability, means Ford will no longer sell the Fusion, Taurus, CMax hybrid compact and Fiesta in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. This also is in part that the U.S. market continues to make a dramatic shift toward trucks and SUVs.

One-third of Ford’s belt-tightening will come by the end of 2020, Chief Financial Officer Bob Shanks said. Ford also promised to raise its operating profit margin from 5.2 percent to 8 percent by 2020, two years earlier than a previous forecast. That includes a 10 percent pretax margin in North America.

Shanks wouldn’t say if employees would be cut but said nothing is off the table. In addition, executives talked about the need to further improve operations in Europe and South America.