With the announcement that it will not resume production of its poorly selling Freestar minivan (left), Ford has officially pulled out of the minivan market. The Freestar's Mercury Monterey sibling has met the same fate.
Ford had originally planned to continue making the Freestar though the 2007 model year, but customer demand simply wasn't there. Freestar sales as of late were a fraction of how many minivans Ford was selling at the beginning of the decade. The Freestar, formerly known as the Windstar, was yet another victim of Ford's policy of killing the golden goose. The Windstar was a hot seller early in its life, but like the Focus and Taurus, the Freestar/Windstar was left to languish for years without any major updates while the competition turned up the heat. The Freestar joined the Taurus's fate as a fleet vehicle, with retail customers instead choosing offerings from Chrysler, Toyota and Honda.
With the demise of the Freestar and Monterey, the Oakville, Ontario plant where the minivans were built will be fully concentrating on building the new Ford Edge and Lincoln MKX crossovers. Freestar's place in Ford's lineup will reportedly be taken over next year by a full-size crossover based on the Ford Fairlane concept.