Last week was a big one for what used to be the UK’s two heavyweights. Both Ford and Vauxhall (via parent company Stellantis at least) announced their long-awaited future plans, setting out a roadmap that they hope will address a lengthy decline.
Ford’s very passenger-car future in Europe had been questioned in the past 12 months, with its downward trajectory prompting rumours that it would give up altogether and stick to selling vans – something it has proven much more successful at. But five much-needed new cars are on the way. With the firm having spent more time killing off nameplates such as Fiesta and Focus than it has launching new cars in recent years, it’s nice to see a buzz of anticipation around a brand that retains so much goodwill in the UK.
Ford’s challenge, apart from getting these cars to market as soon as possible, is retaining its character in an age of cooperation. We know the new Fiesta will be based on Renault’s 5, which is really not a bad place to start, but it needs to be an engineering success as much as a styling one if it’s going to be seen as part of the solution. Ford has done a reasonable job of giving the Explorer and Capri a distinct character to the Volkswagens they’re based on, but the spotlight will be trained on the new Fiesta with a brightness never seen before.
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Not to be outdone by Ford’s announcement, Stellantis, parent company of Vauxhall, Peugeot, Citroen, Fiat and many others, set out plans for no fewer than 110 new and refreshed models globally, split roughly equally between all-new and facelifted vehicles, by the end of the decade.
Like Ford, most Stellantis brands have struggled of late, although there are some great cars within those ranges, including our 2024 Car of the Year, the Citroen C3. But sales have been on the slide, and the Stellantis group felt like a leviathan that didn’t really know where it was going, particularly with the likes of Vauxhall, Maserati and Alfa Romeo, but also some of its other brands.
As with Ford, only time will tell if this is a new dawn or it will end in failure in a time of unprecedented turbulence in a market still plotting a path through electrification and the huge disruption of new entrants. But, for both, at least it now feels like there is a plan.
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