- Ford is cutting prices on parts for older vehicles in Europe.
- Discounts apply to bumpers, doors, lights, and crash repairs.
- Cheaper parts are meant to extend the life of older cars.
We hear a lot about sustainability in the car world these days, about plant-based plastics and recycled interiors. Arguably, the greenest thing to do, though, is to not buy a new car at all, but extend the life of your old one, and Ford’s latest announcement might help.
If you’ve been quietly nursing an ageing Fiesta, Focus, Kuga, C-Max, Ranger or Mondeo along, Ford has some unusually good news. It’s cutting prices on some genuine parts by up to 25 percent, making it a lot cheaper to repair, maintain, and generally keep your faithful old car alive.
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More than 6,000 Original Equipment parts are getting the discount treatment, covering 35 different models built up to 2019. That includes everything from bumpers and body panels to headlights, grilles, and door skins, which also happen to be the parts most likely to get crunched in low-speed mishaps.
Millions of Older Cars
Ford says the move is about supporting the millions of customers still driving older vehicles across Europe. According to the company, around 1.2 million Fiestas built between 2008 and 2017 are still on the road today. That’s a lot of cars whose owners may be weighing up whether a repair is worth it or whether it’s time to give up and call the scrap man.
By making genuine parts cheaper, Ford hopes to tip that decision back toward repair rather than replacement. That’s good for owners who save money, good for independent garages that can offer more competitive quotes, and good for Ford, which keeps its older fleet looking presentable and safe.
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Ford also argues that using genuine parts helps preserve vehicle value, improve crash repair quality, and reduce the risk of poor panel fit or mismatched paint that can happen with cheaper alternatives.
Cheaper and Greener
There is also the sustainability angle we touched on earlier. Keeping a car running longer is often better for the planet than scrapping it early and building a new one. But you know what’s even more sustainable and certain to be even more affordable than buying new parts for an old car? Buying good quality genuine used parts from another smashed Ford that is too far gone to be returned to the road.
