Ford says it has no regrets about sending its last remaining sedans and hatchbacks to the great junkyard in the sky six years ago. However, that doesn’t mean it hasn’t considered reviving the segment it abandoned in 2019. Since then, the company has soldiered on with an all SUV, truck, van and Mustang lineup. Just because Ford killed the sedan doesn’t mean it can’t miss it.
While speaking with Automotive News, Ford Blue and Model E boss Andrew Frick said the company was “absolutely” happy with its decision to sunset sedans, but he wouldn’t deny the Blue Oval is considering bringing the body style back once again with the help of the Mustang. I can hear your keyboards furiously typing already. Here’s what Frick told Auto News:
We look to expand on the Mustang family as we move forward. I think, for us to do it, it’s going to have to make sense within our portfolio. It’s going to have to make sense within a family that we may already offer. And it’s going to have to be very cost-effective for us to do it. That’s what we’re focused on in general with a lot of our new affordable products,” Frick said. “We want the concepts to be right and the costs to be even better.
That sure sounds like the Mustang sedan is something that could really be coming down the pipeline, and I’d have to assume it’ll be aimed squarely at something like the Dodge Charger 4-Door — especially once it regains its V8 engine. There has even been chatter about a sedan version of the Chevy Camaro on the horizon, so buyers who are looking for a more practical muscle car might be in for some fun in the nearish future.
No regrets
Still, despite the fact that Ford is thinking about bringing a sedan back to market, it’s not losing sleep over its decision to kill them off in the first place. As Frick put it, the company was “competing to compete” in some segments, and it was able to take the money it would otherwise be using on vaguely popular sedans and hatchbacks and spend it elsewhere. That’s apparently how we ended up with crossovers, SUVs and pickups like the Bronco, Bronco Sport and Maverick, according to Automotive News. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather have the Bronco and Maverick than a third-generation Fusion. That’s just me.
We wouldn’t have some of the product lines like Tremor. We wouldn’t have expanded Raptor the way we did. […] I would do it all over again. It doesn’t mean that we don’t have an opportunity in those segments,” Frick told AutoNews. “I would trade the way some of our cars were competing with the way Maverick’s competing every day of the week.”
This isn’t the first time Ford executives have talked about reviving the sedan. As we reported in January, CEO Jim Farley told Auto News, “never say never” to the concept of adding a sedan back to market, but he didn’t get into the same sort of Mustang-based specifics that Frick did.
He only added that the market is “very vibrant,” and the company could find a way to rejoin it.
