Soon after Ford announced that the Fiesta will be axed in June 2023, M-Sport has taken to social media to confirm that it will continue to build Fiesta-based rally cars.
Ford has been building the Fiesta since 1975, making it the brand’s second longest-running nameplate behind the Transit. The current generation model has been on the market for six years and underwent its most recent facelift just two years ago.
Read: Ford Confirms Fiesta’s Demise In 2023, Will Be Replaced By An Electric Puma
Given that Ford will end production of the Fiesta in just over seven months, one would have assumed that this would impact M-Sport, a British racing team and motorsport engineering company that has been running Ford cars in the World Rally Championship since 1996. While it has competed in the Fiesta in recent years, M-Sport actually started using the Ford Puma as the base for its 2022 WRC competitor but it continues to build Fiesta-based rally cars for other racing series.
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M-Sport did not say for how long it will continue to produce its Fiesta rally cars.
Ford is wrapping up production of the Fiesta as consumers move away from vehicles like this and begin to favor crossovers. Indeed, the Fiesta will be indirectly replaced by an electric variant of the Puma while the company’s main factory in Cologne that produces the hatchback will be transformed into the Ford Cologne Electrification Center, exclusively building EVs in the future.
Ford sold more than 18 million examples of the Fiesta during its production run and will keep order books open until the remaining production run is sold out. The Fiesta ST hot hatch will stick around for one more year.
