Ford Freestar discontinued

DEARBORN, Mich., Jan. 3 (UPI) -- Ford Motor Co., the No. 2 U.S. automaker, announced Wednesday it would discontinue production of the Ford Freestar minivan.

Ford's Oakville, Ontario, plant will now focus on building the new Ford Edge and Lincoln MKX crossover vehicles, The Detroit News reported.

The automaker, pinning hopes on the Edge and the MKX in its restructuring, initially intended to continue building the Freestar early this year, but changed its mind after minivan sales lagged and demand for the Edge and the MKX increased, spokeswoman Anne Marie Gattari said.

Ford sold only 50,000 Freestars in 2006 and discontinued the Freestar twin Mercury Monterey minivan in August.

The Freestar replaced the Ford Windstar in the 2004 model year. The name change accommodated Ford's strategy to rename their cars with words beginning with "F."

Ford said its overall sales of cars and light trucks plunged 13 percent to 233,621 vehicles in December, compared with 267,881 a year ago.