The Ford Focus is officially dead, and we want to hear your fondest memories of it

It’s official: the Ford Focus is no more. Yep, after 12 million global sales and 27 years, the much loved hatchback has gone to car heaven. We’re not crying, you are.

News that the final example had rolled off the production line at Ford’s Saarlouis plant in Germany broke on social media over the weekend, following in the footsteps of its ST sibling into the grave, the latter having met its maker last month.

It’s been coming of course, with Ford having announced that it would kill off the hatch back in 2022 – joining the Mondeo and the Fiesta – as the carmaker goes all in on its electric SUV-centric future.

But what a ride it’s been. Launched back in 1998 we immediately named it our Car of the Year – with the Focus RS going on to score further Car of the Year gongs in 2003 and 2015 – and that was just the start. 

It would go on to feature heavily on Top Gear telly and as our star, including when we decided to drive the Focus ST from LAX to NYC, avoiding any and every interstate: 3,333 miles, 12 states, one car. Top Gear magazine subscribers may well remember the cover that featured the car in California, Colorado, Kansas and New York.

We also helped to build the first production ready Focus RS – and then deliver it back to Blighty where we introduced it to some proper British B-roads.

And just to make sure the hype surrounding its launch was on point, we then took it on a 2,000-mile roadtrip across the Alps – from the factory in Cologne to the Rallye Monte-Carlo – over five days. Needs must, and all that.

More recently, we welcomed the final – not that we knew it back then – Focus ST with a little meeting with its ancestors (including a rather delightful Escort XR3i)… on an Alpine mountain pass. Yeah, it was as epic as it sounds.

Now though, we’ll never get the chance to make any more memories. So while we’re finding the tissues, join us in leaving your fondest memories in the comments below.