Ford Puma EV teased in Fiesta farewell video

It’s official: Production of the Ford Fiesta will end in June 2023 and, to celebrate the end of almost 47 years of the Blue Oval supermini, Ford has released a farewell video that also teases the all-electric Puma SUV that will indirectly replace it.

In the short video, which was made to celebrate all eight generations of Fiestas that found 18 million homes, there's a shadowy tease of what looks like a Puma SUV quietly leaving a garage after being topped-up by a wall-box charger.

In an official statement, Ford of Europe boss Martin Sander not only confirmed the car-maker was discontinuing the Fiesta but said production of the S-Max and Galaxy people-movers would also end in April 2023.

“We will introduce three new exciting electric passenger vehicles and four new electric commercial vehicles in Europe by 2024,” he said.

“We plan to sell more than 600,000 electric vehicles in the region by 2026, and the electric passenger vehicle production at the Cologne Electrification Centre will reach 1.2 million vehicles over a six-year timeframe.”

Expected to be introduced in 2024, the all-electric Puma and the remaining combustion and hybrid versions of the current light SUV will cater to those looking for an affordable small car, Ford bosses hope.

Set to be the first of three all-electric SUVs introduced to the European market, the Puma EV will be joined by two further SUVs that will be based on the Volkswagen Group's MEB architecture.

There's no official confirmation, but it's thought the Puma EV is being co-developed alongside the upcoming all-electric Transit electric van.

It will also be made at the same Romanian plant as the zero-emissions delivery van.

That means the Puma EV will be all-new and share little with the combustion-powered Puma, which is based on Ford's Global B small-car platform – the same architecture as the Fiesta that has been judged too costly to be packaged with an all-electric powertrain.

The Cologne plant in Germany where the Fiesta is currently built will be turned into an EV factory where the Ford MEB-based SUVs will be made.

Not mentioned by the Ford of Europe boss is the fate of the Focus, which like the Fiesta has already been axed Down Under and is also widely tipped to be dropped globally – by 2025 – and replaced by yet another battery-electric SUV.

It's thought a concept for the all-electric Puma EV will be shown next year ahead of its 2024 debut.

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