The future of the Ford Fiesta has recently been put into doubt. Ford decided against bringing the current Fiesta to the U.S. market. Instead, the U.S. will get the EcoSport, basically a Fiesta on stilts. Rumors indicate the Fiesta could be killed off completely, due to the popularity and profitability of crossovers. We aren't quite sure what to believe, because Automotive News Europe reports Ford could use the factory where the Fiesta is currently produced in Germany to build EVs. In reality, this plan is a number of years away from execution.

Ford says it wants to wait to retool the factory in Cologne, Germany, until the lifecycle of the current Fiesta is due to end. Luckily for Fiesta fans, the current model is expected to last until 2023. Gunnar Herrmann, chairman of Ford of Germany, said it would take around 15 months to retool the factory to build EV models, but the investment would only be worthwhile if EV sales reached 30,000 to 40,000 units per year. "It will be possible if the sales' numbers are moving up more powerfully. Unfortunately, today electric cars are not especially profitable yet," Herrmann said. BMW echoed similar claims about the profitability of EVs.

Ford plans to invest $5 billion in electric vehicles by 2022, and introduce at least 13 electrified models in the next five years. Today it is too expensive for automakers like Ford to invest heavily in EV production, but government subsidies could help. "The state could do its part to initiate the structural shift, as could the federal government," Herrmann said. At least for now, Ford will keep the Fiesta going.