By ROB HULL, MOTORING EDITOR
One of Britain's favourite cars of the last three decades has officially been killed off with the last version rolling off the German assembly line on Friday (14 November).
Having amassed over 12 million global sales since hitting showrooms in 1998 as the direct replacement for the Escort, the Ford Focus is the second most common car on our roads today.
But numbers are now set to dwindle as manufacturing of the evergreen hatchback has stopped.
Factory employees at the company's Saarlouis car plant at the weekend circulated the news on social media that the last Focus had been built.
'The last Ford Focus rolled off the production on November 14, 2025, at the Saarlouis Plant, Germany, marking the end of vehicle manufacturing at the facility,' a Ford spokesperson told the Daily Mail and This is Money.
It brings to an end a 27-year production run of one of the great modern-era family cars.
The decision to axe the Focus comes just two years after Ford bosses culled the Fiesta, which remains Britain's most-owned model with over 1.5 million registered to owners currently.
The move to axe both models is part of Ford's accelerated switch to electric vehicles - but this has dramatically impacted the brand's popularity in Europe and the UK.
Out of focus: Ford employees have confirmed production of the much-loved Focus came to an end on Friday (14 March) after 27 years
The void left by the Focus will be immediately filled by the Explorer and Capri electric SUVs, both of which are based on the Volkswagen Group’s MEB architecture but have so far proved relatively unpopular among Britons with disappointing sales.
A new mid-sized Ford crossover coming in 2027 is expected to be its direct replacement.
The end of production also means the downing of tools at Ford's Saarlouis plant, with no future models expected to be built at the site as the company looks to find a prospective buyer for the 3.1 million square foot facility.
The Ford spokesperson told us: 'The Saarlouis plant will now transition its operations to focus on component manufacturing, adapting to the evolving landscape of automotive production.
'The Focus has been an important part of the Ford family in Europe for over 27 years, and we are deeply grateful for the loyalty and passion our customers have shown for this iconic vehicle.'
Ford execs announced earlier this year that Focus outputs would come to a halt this month.
At the time, a spokesperson for the car giant said: 'The Focus has been an important part of the Ford family in Europe for over 20 years, and we are deeply grateful for the loyalty and passion our customers have shown for this iconic vehicle.
'We remain committed to serving our Focus customers with ongoing service, parts, and support.'
Having launched in 1998, the Focus won European Car of the Year in 1999. Prince William was pictured learning to drive in one the same year.
The Focus then went on to cement itself as the nation's favourite cars for a decade.
It topped the new car sales charts for 10 consecutive years until 2008 when it was dethroned by the Fiesta - which then held the crown for the next 12 years.
The Focus first arrived in 1998 and became an instant hit for its dashing looks, practical interior, brilliant drive and affordable price
A decade at the top of the sales charts: From 1999 to 2008, the Focus was Britain's most-bought new car
The fourth - and last - generation of the Focus was launched in 2018 and even up until last year was one of Britain's favourite family hatchbacks
Yet the Focus remained one of Ford's most in-demand models and has been snapped up by tens of thousands of drivers every year, even despite the influx of new SUV options.
Between July and September, official records show that it's the fourth most bought used cars with 55,888 examples changing hands in the three-month period. Only second-hand Fiestas, Vauxhall Corsas and VW Golfs were bought and sold in greater volumes.
And DVLA records show there are approximately 1.3 million Ford Focuses registered today.
Yet Ford has been plotting its demise for three years.
Back in 2022, the company confirmed its plans to pull the plug on Focus production, with then Ford of Europe boss Martin Sander [now member of the board at VW] stating: 'In the long run, we are still deeply convinced that EVs will be the future and we will see a significant increase in volume.
'By the end of this year [2022], we will have a full range of electric vehicles – both in the passenger vehicle sector but also in our commercial vehicle business line – and we are quite flexible to adapt to market demand. For the next couple of years, we have a broad choice.
'Basically, our customers have the power of choice to pick what they want.'
Ford has already slaughtered a number of its volume-selling modern car names. The Mondeo was culled back in 2022
Production of both the Galaxy (left) and S-Max (right) MPVs came to an abrupt end in 2023
On 7 July 2023, Ford made its last Fiesta model, signalling the end of the road for Britain's most-bought car of all time that had been in production for 47 continuous years
Some 4.8million Fiestas had been sold in the UK since it first arrived in 1976. There's still over 1.5million of them on our roads today
Ford Europe's General Manager, Martin Sander, on 6 July 2023 shared this snap of him with workers on the Fiesta production line in Cologne the day before assembly of the small hatchback ended
The Ford factory in Cologne (pictured left) produced its final Fiesta on 7 July 2023. Images of the last car built have circulated on social media. Every member of the team on the assembly line and working on Fiesta at the Ford factory signed the model
The US maker has been killing off some of its most recognisable combustion-engine model names in recent years as part of its ongoing efforts to switch to EVs.
The car giant wound-up outputs of Mondeo in April 2022.
Just 12 months later, bosses oversaw the discontinuation of the S-Max and Galaxy MPVs, much to the annoyance of taxi and airport shuttle operators who have relied on them for years.
But the biggest shock came in July 2023 when the Fiesta was dumped, despite still being one of the most-ordered new cars in Britain.
With Ford culling some of its biggest-volume models, the brand has slipped down the pecking order in terms of European sales.
According to figures held by the European industry body, the ACEA, Ford has dropped from the second largest car maker in Europe in 2015 to the 12th most popular last year.
It has also recorded a similar trajectory in Britain.
Ford in 2014 was the nation's most-bought brand with a total of 326,643 registrations, which represented more than one in eight (13.2 per cent) of all new cars sales that year.
However, data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders last year showed it had dropped to fifth in the rankings with 109,955 sales, which was is just one in 18 (5.6 per cent) of all new models entering the road.
This put Ford behind Volkswagen (166,304), BMW (125,265), Audi (122,431) and Kia (112,252) in the manufacturer sales charts.
1971 Austin Morris 1100/1300 - 133,527
1972 Ford Cortina - 187,159
1973 Ford Cortina - 181,607
1974 Ford Cortina - 131,234
1975 Ford Cortina - 106,787
1976 Ford Escort - 133,959
1977 Ford Cortina - 120,601*
1978 Ford Cortina - 139,204*
1979 Ford Cortina - 193,784
1980 Ford Cortina - 190,281
1981 Ford Cortina - 159,804
1982 Ford Escort - 166,942
1983 Ford Escort - 174,190
1984 Ford Escort - 157,340*
1985 Ford Escort - 157,269*
1986 Ford Escort - 156,895*
1987 Ford Escort - 178,001
1988 Ford Escort - 172,706*
1989 Ford Escort - 181,218
1990 Ford Fiesta - 151,475
1991 Ford Fiesta - 117,181
1992 Ford Escort - 121,140
1993 Ford Escort - 122,002
1994 Ford Escort - 144,089
1995 Ford Escort - 137,760
1996 Ford Fiesta - 139,680
1997 Ford Fiesta - 119,478*
1998 Ford Fiesta - 116,120
1999 Ford Focus - 103.242
2000 Ford Focus - 114,529
2001 Ford Focus - 137,087
2002 Ford Focus - 151,236
2003 Ford Focus - 131,701
2004 Ford Focus - 141,021
2005 Ford Focus - 145,010
2006 Ford Focus - 137,694
2007 Ford Focus - 126,928
2008 Ford Focus - 101,593
2009 Ford Fiesta - 117,296
2010 Ford Fiesta - 103,013
2011 Ford Fiesta - 96,112
2012 Ford Fiesta - 109,265
2013 Ford Fiesta - 121,929
2014 Ford Fiesta - 131,254
2015 Ford Fiesta - 133,434
2016 Ford Fiesta - 120,525
2017 Ford Fiesta - 94,533
2018 Ford Fiesta - 95,892
2019 Ford Fiesta - 77,833
2020 Ford Fiesta - 49,174
2021 Vauxhall Corsa - 40,914
2022 Nissan Qashqai - 42,704
2023 Ford Puma - 49,591
2024 Ford Puma - 48, 340
*figures not confirmed