At the Aspen Ideas Festival last weekend Ford CEO Jim Farley stated that there is a societal need for consumers to fall back in love with smaller cars. Ironically, Ford culled nearly every car from its model lineup. The Mustang is the only car in the ballpark of being classified as small still produced by the Blue Oval.
What small cars should America fall in love with? Farley claims Ford is developing a small $30,000 EV with the aim of bringing it to market within the next three years. However, I wouldn’t put all my eggs in the Ford basket. There are a plethora of smaller vehicles that are either currently available, recently discontinued, or only available in overseas markets.
In this hypothetical near future, a low-cost, small Ford could be directly rivaled by the long-awaited Tesla Model 2. Elon Musk reportedly killed the holy grail high-volume project amid a change of course towards robotaxi and stiff competition from China. However, Musk shot down those reports despite being based on accounts from people within Tesla.
A smaller car future doesn’t have to be fully electric. Toyota generated a lot of amount of hype around its small models like the GR Corolla and the hybrid Prius Prime. Or do you think automakers should attempt to revive nameplates that were tossed in the trash? I would love it if Ford brought the Escort or the Focus back from the grave. Leave your suggestions for us in the comments below.