The Ford C-Max, launched as a 2013 model, never really served the purpose its maker intended.
The tall five-door compact hatchback was intended to be Ford's counter to the successful Toyota Prius hybrid line, more stylish and comfortable inside with almost the same fuel-economy rating.
Its owners' real-world experience, however, bore no resemblance to the car's EPA fuel-economy ratings.
DON'T MISS: 2013 Ford C-Max Energi Plug-In Hybrid: First Drive (Nov 2012)
In the end, Ford was forced to reduce the C-Max Hybrid EPA ratings not once but twice, and the energy efficiency and electric range of its C-Max Energi plug-in hybrid version once.
Now, the plug-in hybrid C-Max has gone out of production, and the hybrid model will follow within months.
"Ford C-Max Energi production has ended," Dan Jones, Ford's North America Car Communications Manager, told Green Car Reports.
2018 Ford C-Max
"We will continue to make C-Max Hybrid [models] at [the] Michigan Assembly Plant until mid-2018," he added.
Sales of the C-Max give part of the reason for the double death sentence.
WATCH THIS: How to drive Ford C-Max Hybrid for best gas mileage? Owner video explains
In the first 10 months of this year, Ford sold just 8,331 C-Max Hybrid models—little higher than the 7,181 C-Max Energi plug-in hybrids it sold over the same period.
Toyota sold more than 90,000 of its four Prius models by comparison.
2013 Ford C-Max Energi - Driven, June 2013
Ford will apparently continue for another year or more with the hybrid and Energi versions of the Fusion mid-size sedan, which uses identical hybrid and plug-in hybrid powertrains to the C-Max.
Those two sedans sold 49,764 and 8,026 copies of those the conventional and plug-in hybrid models, respectively, in the first 10 months of this year.
CHECK OUT: Ford Model E hybrid, electric range to include crossover as well?
The C-Max will reportedly be replaced in 2019 by a new compact vehicle (possibly called the "Model E").
It allegedly will encompass full battery-electric, hybrid, and plug-in hybrid variants, similar to the Hyundai Ioniq launched for the 2017 model year, and possibly a crossover utility model as well.
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