Ford stops taking Fiesta orders due to ‘significantly affected’ production

Ford has confirmed that it has temporarily stopped taking orders for its popular Fiesta supermini as the brand grapples with Covid-19 pandemic-related parts shortages.

Automotive manufacturers have been struggling to produce cars due to a shortage of semiconductors, which are small chips used widely in cars, including in touchscreens and safety systems. Ford, however, seems to be suffering more than most, with the Blue Oval saying it has been ‘significantly affected’ by a shortage of semiconductors.

While Ford recently stopped taking orders of its Focus, the same issues are now affecting the once best-selling Fiesta, despite only being updated a couple of months ago.

A message on Ford’s UK website reads: “Due to customer demand and supply chain disruption, new factory orders are currently unavailable on the new Fiesta.”

The same message reads for the Focus, as well as the S-Max and Galaxy MPVs, while for the electric Mustang Mach-E, Ford says ‘ordering is currently limited’.

In a statement to the PA news agency, a Ford spokesperson said that existing customers on the Fiesta “now constitute more than six months of production”.

They added: “We are therefore temporarily suspending new Fiesta orders while we work through these customer orders.

“As we manage our way through the global semiconductor shortage, production of Fiesta and Focus have been significantly affected. We feel the right thing to do is to temporarily close the order banks to new orders while we work through this backlog.”

Though Ford says it “anticipates that this will improve throughout the year”, it said it was “too early to say a date” for when Fiesta orders would be accepted again.

Despite production of the Fiesta and Focus being badly impacted, and neither car appearing in the list of best-selling cars year-to-date (somewhere they used to be placed regularly), Ford’s Transit Custom remains by far Britain’s best-selling van.

Meanwhile the firm’s Puma and Kuga SUVs remain popular, and are currently the second and seventh best-selling cars in the UK respectively for 2022, up until the end of May.