Tag Archives: Ford

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Ford Mustang Still Dominates the American Sports Car Market

Sports cars have never been about mass appeal. They’re indulgences—loud, low, occasionally impractical statements made by people who still care about steering feel and redlines. But even by those standards, 2025 was rough. Sales across the sports-car landscape largely collapsed last year, with only a handful of bright spots punctuating what looks like a slow retreat from the enthusiast market.

The Ford Mustang remains the genre’s immovable object. America’s best-selling sports car didn’t just hold the line—it improved it, posting a modest but meaningful 3.0-percent sales increase to 45,333 units. In a market where “up” is now an exotic concept, the Mustang’s resilience speaks volumes. Whether it’s brand recognition, accessible pricing, or the fact that Ford still bothers to market the thing, the Mustang continues to do what it’s always done: sell.

That success only highlights the pain elsewhere. Chevrolet’s Corvette, once a reliable counterweight to the Mustang’s dominance, fell hard. Sales dropped 26.4 percent year over year to 24,533 units. That’s a steep decline for a mid-engine car that still looks like it escaped from a Le Mans paddock. Supply constraints, price creep, and the fading novelty of the C8 layout likely all played a role. The Corvette is still aspirational—but aspiration doesn’t always translate to signed paperwork.

Dodge’s situation is less subtle and far more dramatic. With the two-door Challenger officially discontinued at the end of 2023 and replaced by new Charger variants, Dodge effectively reset its performance lineup. The result? Charger and Challenger sales collapsed by more than 80 percent year over year, falling from 61,810 units to just 9,562. That’s not a slump—it’s a reboot hangover. Whether buyers eventually warm to the new Charger’s mission remains to be seen, but the old-school muscle crowd didn’t follow immediately.

Elsewhere, the Japanese brands delivered the most interesting surprises. The Nissan Z quietly had a banner year, with sales jumping an impressive 73.4 percent to 5,487 units. That figure nearly doubles Toyota Supra sales, which themselves rose a respectable 12.9 percent to 2,953 cars. Even more interesting is the context: the Supra is mechanically related to the BMW Z4, which barely moved the needle at all. BMW sold 2,113 Z4s in 2025, down less than one percent from the year prior. Toyota outsold BMW by roughly 500 units—a reminder that badge engineering only works when the badge resonates.

The Mazda MX-5 Miata also did what the Miata always does: quietly succeed. Sales climbed 7.7 percent to 8,727 units, making it one of the few sports cars besides the Mustang and Z to post a gain. Lightweight, affordable, and blissfully unconcerned with horsepower wars, the Miata continues to thrive by sticking to fundamentals.

Not everyone was so lucky. Volkswagen’s hot hatches took a hit, and pricing is the obvious culprit. Golf GTI sales fell 24.4 percent, while the Golf R dropped 20.9 percent. Tariffs pushed the R past the $50,000 mark, while the GTI now starts near $36,000—roughly $6,000 more than it cost in 2020. That’s a tough sell for cars once defined by attainable performance. Enthusiasts noticed, and many walked.

Subaru had an especially rough year. WRX sales plummeted 41.1 percent to 10,930 units, a decline Subaru attributed to production priorities at its Gunma Prefecture plant, where Foresters—particularly the Hybrid—took precedence. Translation: sedans got sidelined. The BRZ didn’t fare much better, with sales down 13.8 percent to just 2,881 units. Subaru even raised the BRZ’s starting price by nearly $1,000 for 2025, offering a new Sport mode for manual cars as consolation. Buyers weren’t impressed. Toyota’s mechanically similar GR86 sold nearly three times as many units despite its own 13.0-percent decline.

Step back, and the picture becomes clear. Sports cars aren’t dead—but they are shrinking. Rising prices, shifting manufacturing priorities, and a market increasingly obsessed with crossovers have squeezed a segment that already lived on the margins. The winners are the cars that either offer something truly unique (Miata), carry massive cultural weight (Mustang), or hit the sweet spot between nostalgia and modernity (Nissan Z).

Everyone else is fighting gravity.

For enthusiasts, that makes every surviving sports car feel a little more precious—and every sales report a little more sobering.

Sale

The Original Ford Probe IV Concept Emerges After Decades in Hiding

Every so often, the internet does what the internet does best: turns up something extraordinary in the least dignified way possible. This time, it’s a piece of Ford history long thought lost—a genuine 1983 Ford Probe IV concept car—now casually listed for sale on Facebook Marketplace like a used lawn tractor or a mismatched set of wheels.

According to the ad, spotted by the editorial team at Ford Authority, this is no replica or forgotten show car shell. This is the first Ford Probe IV, chassis 001—the original prototype built by Ghia as part of Ford’s advanced aerodynamics program in the early 1980s. Its current location? Spring, Texas. Its current condition? Let’s call it “historically significant but functionally inert.”

The Probe IV program began in 1979, when Ford asked Ghia a deceptively simple question: just how slippery could a car be if fuel economy were the only priority? The answer arrived in 1983 in the form of a concept so extreme it still looks alien today. Ford claimed a drag coefficient of just 0.15—an absurdly low figure that remains out of reach for modern production cars, even with four decades of computational fluid dynamics and wind-tunnel wizardry.

Of course, there was a catch. Actually, several. The Probe IV wasn’t designed to meet safety standards, carry groceries, or survive a pothole. The composite body sits atop a wooden chassis—yes, wood—with steel subframes solely there to keep the wheels attached. The suspension is manually adjustable, built for testing rather than driving, and the car doesn’t even have a complete gearbox. It doesn’t start. It doesn’t run. It was never meant to.

Chassis 001 lived its entire life as a research tool, shuffled in and out of wind tunnels and engineering labs. Then it disappeared. For years, its whereabouts were unknown, turning it into one of those quietly whispered-about artifacts that historians assume has either been destroyed or buried deep in a corporate warehouse.

We do know what happened to its sibling. Chassis 002 surfaced publicly and sold for around $125,000 in 2022, eventually landing at the Petersen Automotive Museum in California. That car, however, was in far better shape—and still, it wasn’t exactly road-ready.

This newly rediscovered Probe IV won’t command the same money. A non-running, non-driving, purely experimental concept isn’t exactly a weekend cruiser. But value isn’t always about usability. For the right collector, museum, or deep-pocketed Ford obsessive, this is a one-of-one artifact from an era when automakers were willing to ignore reality in pursuit of a single number on a wind-tunnel readout.

That such a car reemerged not at a high-profile auction, but sandwiched between used pickup trucks and patio furniture, feels strangely appropriate. The Probe IV was never meant to fit neatly into the automotive world. Forty years later, it’s still doing things its own way—this time, by reminding us that some of the most important cars ever built were never meant to drive at all.

Source: Ford Authority

News

The Ford Fiesta Is Poised for a Shock Electric Revival

After a brief but painful absence, Ford’s most famous supermini could be heading back to Europe—this time powered by electrons and a Franco-American alliance.

The return of the Ford Fiesta was never supposed to read like a resurrection story. And yet, just two years after Britain’s best-selling car of all time bowed out, the groundwork has been laid for a comeback that feels almost biblical in scale.

A newly announced electric-vehicle platform-sharing deal between Ford and Renault, confirmed in early December 2025, has opened the door for the Fiesta nameplate to return as soon as 2028—reimagined as a fully electric supermini aimed squarely at the heart of Europe’s B-segment.

A French Platform, an American Soul

At the core of the agreement is Renault’s AmpR Small architecture, a dedicated EV platform that already underpins the new Renault 5 and 4, the Alpine A290 hot hatch, the upcoming Nissan Micra EV and the reborn Renault Twingo due in 2026. Ford will gain access not only to this platform, but also to Renault’s battery and motor technology—crucial leverage in a segment where scale is everything and margins are tight.

Ford plans to launch two new electric models off the back of this deal. One will revive the Fiesta as a compact hatchback; the other will be a second small EV, likely with a more crossover-inspired silhouette. Crucially, these will not be rebadged Renaults. Both cars will be designed by Ford, wear unique bodywork and be engineered to feel distinctively Blue Oval in character.

If history is anything to go by, that distinction will matter.

Familiar Footprint, Sharper Edge

Sharing its underpinnings with the Renault 5 suggests the new Fiesta EV will sit in broadly the same dimensional ballpark, but expect a noticeably sharper and more dynamic design. That approach aligns neatly with Ford’s recent styling direction and with the outgoing Fiesta’s reputation as the driver’s choice among small cars.

Pricing is also likely to be competitive. The Renault 5 range spans roughly £22,000 to £30,000, placing a future Fiesta EV right in the thick of the emerging electric supermini battleground.

More important than price, however, is how it drives—and Ford is keen to underline that point.

Ford DNA, Carefully Engineered

Both the Fiesta EV and its small-SUV sibling will receive bespoke chassis tuning, with Ford taking the lead on ride, steering, handling and braking. It’s a strategy the company has already employed successfully with the Explorer and Capri EVs, which are built on Volkswagen’s MEB platform yet feel markedly different to their ID-branded cousins.

“We’re very confident that we can completely differentiate the offering,” said Jim Baumbick, president of Ford of Europe, speaking to Auto Express. “Ford will lead on the development of the design and things like the ride, steering, handling and braking to inject the uniquely Ford DNA.”

Baumbick also revealed that early designs have already been shared with dealers and key stakeholders, suggesting the project is well beyond the exploratory phase.

What Could Be Under the Skin?

Thanks to its shared architecture, the technical picture is already taking shape. The Renault 5 offers 40kWh and 52kWh battery options, with the larger pack delivering up to 252 miles of WLTP range. In its more powerful configuration, a 148bhp electric motor drives the front wheels, dispatching 0–62mph in under eight seconds.

Those figures would place a Fiesta EV firmly among the most capable electric superminis on sale—practical enough for daily use, but lively enough to honour the badge.

And then there’s the question enthusiasts are already asking.

Could the ST Badge Return?

Sharing DNA with the Alpine A290 raises an intriguing possibility: a Fiesta ST reborn for the electric age. The A290 pushes up to 217bhp through its front axle and features a heavily revised chassis, uprated brakes, tuned suspension and a wider track.

A high-performance Fiesta EV would align neatly with Ford’s renewed focus on enthusiast and halo products, from the extreme Mustang GTD to the Ranger Raptor.

“Ford is at its best when we connect with customers at an emotional level,” Baumbick said. “When we enable them to do things that they love to do.”

An electric Fiesta ST would do exactly that.

Built in France, Moving Fast

Production of both new small EVs will take place at Renault’s ElectriCity complex in northern France, underlining the deal’s focus on economies of scale and speed to market. Renault’s rapid development cycle—helped by a new R&D centre in China that enabled the next Twingo to be developed in under two years—has clearly caught Ford’s attention.

The first Ford vehicle born of this partnership is expected to arrive in 2028, a remarkably short timeline by industry standards.

Ford CEO Jim Farley described the agreement as “an important step” in building a leaner, future-proof European business, while Renault Group CEO François Provost hailed it as proof of the competitiveness and depth of the two companies’ partnership.

Where It Leaves the Rest of the Range

The Renault deal focuses squarely on B-segment cars, complementing Ford’s existing Puma Gen-E rather than replacing it. According to Baumbick, the new models will “augment” the Puma, not supplant it—suggesting Ford is aiming to cover more price points, potentially with a baby SUV or even a Ka-style city car based on the Twingo.

What it won’t do, however, is resurrect the Ford Focus as a Volkswagen ID.3 rival. Ford’s partnership with VW remains confined to larger C-segment EVs, and there are no plans to use Renault’s larger AmpR Medium platform for a Focus replacement.

Beyond passenger cars, the collaboration may yet expand further, with both companies having signed a letter of intent to explore joint work on light commercial vehicles—an area where Ford remains dominant.

A Small Car With Big Expectations

If it all comes together, the electric Fiesta won’t just be another EV—it will be a litmus test for Ford’s European future. Affordable, desirable small cars built at scale are notoriously difficult to make profitable, but they’re also essential to brand relevance.

For a nameplate as storied as Fiesta, a quiet fade-out was never going to feel right. An electric rebirth, shaped by French engineering and sharpened by Ford’s driving DNA, might just be the comeback story it deserves.

Source: Auto Express; Photo: AVARVARII