Strong suspicion that this has a lot to do with the need to start recouping for the drastically higher R&D costs, associated with internal combustion alternatives and autonomous technologies.
I don't think that people are making the case that Ford should avoid serving higher demand markets or loose money or try to change our culture. Only that Ford should continue to offer a diversified lineup. Haven't heard any statements that they have been or will start loosing money on these alternatives. I understand that dealers will not want to stock these because they're taxed on their inventory. Ford may need to take a page out of Tesla's book and begin marketing them to order, directly to customers.
I think most of us will note that they weren't really *trying* to sell it. I've seen countless truck and SUV ads, never an ad for Fiesta. Personally only discovered it by going directly to Ford's website and clicking around for the complete lineup. Went to several dealerships in the area looking for it and they weren't even interested in fetching one from another location. At most, they only wanted to push the Focus ST already on the lot. Two dealerships blew me off completely. The vehicle I have, came from 400 miles away. There is a Woody Sander dealer that I had totally forgot about. They have them now, don't know about back in 2016.