![\"Ford](\"https:\/\/www.globalvillagespace.com\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/why-affordable-hot-hatchbacks-are-disappearing-and-why-it-matters-for-car-lovers.jpg\" "\\"Ford")
<\/a><\/p>\nThe hot hatches still on sale today cost from \u00a340k \u2013 but most are being taken off sale<\/p>\n
It\u2019s taking a while, like closing an ill-fitting lid on a plastic kitchen container. But another corner on the \u2018affordable hot hatch<\/a>\u2019 tub is clicking shut, and, unlike sometimes previously, I don\u2019t think a corner on the other side is about to pop back open again in defiance.<\/p>\n Which is a slightly clumsy way of avoiding the \u2018nail in the coffin\u2019 clich\u00e9. Also I think it\u2019s vanishingly rare (I could be wrong) that a coffin lid\u2019s opposite corner creeps open again when someone is hammering down the opposite side.<\/p>\n Anyway, what I\u2019m saying is that Ford<\/a> is preparing to unalive the Focus ST<\/a>. Production ends in November, and it has been removed from price lists in the UK<\/a> because all the remaining ones are accounted for.<\/p>\n And this time I don\u2019t think anyone is about to launch a new affordable petrol hot hatchback you could choose to consider instead. Although do go ahead and prove me wrong, somebody, please.<\/p>\n It seems like a very long time, partly because it is, since my mate Jason, when he was a young man, bought a Citro\u00ebn Saxo VTR<\/a> on low- or no-interest finance and got free insurance thrown in. It even feels like a long time, although it isn\u2019t, since Hyundai<\/a> offered the i20 N<\/a> for under \u00a325k.<\/p>\n The hot hatches that remain on sale today \u2013 and there are fewer than a handful, including the Focus ST \u2013 are basically \u00a340k cars. So it has sort of been true for a while, but only now, with the demise of the Focus ST confirmed, does the malaise feel as terminal as it clearly has been for quite some years now. The hot hatch era is gone.<\/p>\n Should one be sad about it? I think so. Because not very long ago, if you were young and you wanted to get into cars, you bought an ordinary hatchback with a bigger engine and some tidy suspension, and you had a nice time driving it. Then, when you were older and had a house and some money, you bought a sports car<\/a>. But the mood was established early on.<\/p>\n What\u2019s the option now? New hot hatchbacks are too expensive, and while some fun electric cars, like the Alpine A290<\/a>, are becoming affordable, that will be little solace to you if you live in a rented flat, because buying an Alpine<\/a> will be too expensive, and your rented accommodation has no charger anyway.<\/p>\n A used one? This is a possibility, if it hasn\u2019t already been stolen or crashed. Or how about an affordable used sports car<\/a>? This is also a nice idea, but it requires one to choose wisely. Since April, cars registered between 2001 and 2017 have had some wacky VED rates applied.<\/p>\n My Audi A2<\/a> emits 119g\/km of CO2 and costs \u00a335 a year to tax. I like the lovely idea of a bargain Porsche Boxster<\/a>, which emits 239g\/km of CO2 \u2013\u00a0twice the amount, so naturally that will cost twice as much as the Audi<\/a> to tax, yes? Actually no. It is \u00a3735 a year, 21 times as much.<\/p>\n