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Audi R8: super sports car with ten cylinders – slowed down
Photo: sagmeister_potography
It is considered a design icon and a driving machine - and has had a lasting impact on the brand's image. But after almost exactly 25 years and three generations, Audi is now discontinuing the TT. The last example of the sports car rolled off the assembly line in Hungary in November.
And as if the end of the coupé and roadster wasn't painful enough for fans of the four rings, Bayern have also confirmed the farewell to their sporty top model, the R8.
Both series are too old for further careers, the manufacturer argues that the investment funds would be needed for electric, automated and digitalized vehicles. Patience is required until plans for an electric sports car have developed, which will then possibly replace both series. Audi has been struggling with problems in software development for years, and the launch of future models has been repeatedly delayed.
Ford without Fiesta and soon without Focus
The clear-cutting at Ford is even worse: Ford Mondeo sedan and tournament, Galaxy and S-Max - these models have already been wiped out, according to press spokesman Ralph Caba. And the two most important ones haven't even been named yet: Since the summer of 2023, after 47 years and around 20 million units, production of the Fiesta in Cologne has been suspended. And Focus will have to believe in it soon, says Caba. This week, the works council and union at the Saarlouis plant were able to negotiate a social plan to postpone the end from May to November 2025.
Ford needs the space in Cologne to build the Explorer as the brand's first European electric car - and neither the Fiesta nor the Focus can make money in the long term, says Germany boss Christian Weingärtner. Especially not when everyone in the world is craving SUVs.
However, there are already signs of the next change in strategy. On Tuesday, Ford CEO Jim Farley announced that he wanted to focus on smaller and cheaper electric cars. A Californian team led by former Tesla developer Alan Clarke has been developing a platform for two years with which Ford wants to take on the "ultimate competition": mass-market electric cars from China, and in the coming years also from Tesla and others. Farley said he expects this to become an industry-wide trend. It turned out that although customers were interested in electric vehicles, many did not want to pay a high premium for them. The production of large, expensive electric vehicles such as the US pickup F 150 Lightning, however, was recently throttled due to weak demand and high losses.
Compact and small cars have long been Ford's strength in Europe, where the US company was the second best-selling car brand until 2015, but fell back to twelfth place by 2022. When it comes to electrification, the company is one of the most ambitious with an announced end to combustion engines in Europe by 2030, but currently has a smaller proportion of battery vehicles than the other major brands.
No more notchback Passat
Market leader VW has also thinned out its model range. So the adventure with the Arteon ended. The sedan has no longer been built since the end of 2023, the station wagon variant has been given a reprieve until 2026. And when the Passat generation changes this February, the version of the classic notchback sedan will be left behind.
Luxury instead of A and B class
At BMW they are currently saying goodbye to the 6 Series GT. And at Mercedes-Benz there is also a lot of cleaning to do: While there was previously a coupé and a convertible in the C and E classes, the CLE is now set to replace both models. According to the factory, the four-door E-Class Coupé CLS will be canceled without a replacement, and models such as the Coupé and the Cabrio of the S-Class or the Roadster of the AMG GT will remain without a successor.
“We have to use our resources wisely and, when developing new electric models, look carefully at which series we can and want to keep, and to what extent, in the combustion engine world,” says development director Markus Schäfer. »Otherwise we would quickly have double the portfolio. Neither the developers nor the factories can do that, and the customers would also be overwhelmed by it. But the expensive switch to electric drive is not the only reason for the impending demise of models.
The fact that Mercedes is reducing its compact class and phasing out cars like the A or B class around 2025 is due to its striving for higher things: CEO Ola Källenius wants to use his luxury strategy to bring the star up to par with Louis Vuitton or Chanel; reasonably affordable cars no longer fit into the picture.
Emissions standards or cybersecurity, the main thing is Brussels
The corporations do not want to attribute the end of popular models to the search for higher profit margins. So the bureaucrats in Brussels also get their share. The teeth of the Euro 7 pollution standard have now been pulled out. It has no longer served as a reason for manufacturers to explain why the effort for small cars is no longer worth it.
Christian Kaiser from strategy consultant Berylls in Munich sees cybersecurity requirements as so strict that they often only cost millions to implement in existing model series. “For many vehicles with small volumes or a short remaining service life, this may no longer be worthwhile,” estimates the expert.
Individual manufacturers are already highlighting the issue: VW boss Thomas Schäfer, for example, has used this to justify the early end of the Up small car in autumn 2023. And at Porsche, the 718 series sports cars with Boxster and Cayman will be phased out at the end of 2024.
But that doesn't always mean saying goodbye for eternity and sometimes it's even electromobility that makes the reunion possible in the first place. Just like with Porsche: When - probably in autumn 2025 or spring 2026 - the first two-seater electric sports car comes from Stuttgart, then - according to company circles - it will inherit the Boxster and Cayman.
ahh/dpa