[3] Because the Poissy factory could not resume complete automobile production immediately after World War II and had no stamping equipment, many vital components had still to be made by various subcontractors, which reportedly had an adverse effect on the quality of the car and contributed to its limited popularity.

[4][6] Under the direction of the new company president, François Lehideux, Ford France refreshed the car for 1950, and again in 1952, when it finally received a one-piece windscreen, new interior and bumpers, better brakes, lengthened rear overhang and trunk, and a cigarette lighter.

Also updated in 1953 was the five-door, five-seat Abeille (French for "bee") estate with a two-piece tailgate, advertised as both practical (with a payload of 500 kg (1,100 lb)) and comfortable.

[1][5][6][7] The Abeille, originally exhibited with little fanfare at the October 1951 Motor Show as a "farmer's car" (voiture agricole) and launched more formally as the "Ford Abeille" in June 1952,[8] was a "no frills" development of the Vedette with which it shared its wheel base and engine, but the rear overhang and therefore the overall length were shorter by 220 mm (8.7 in)[9] The interior surfaces of the Abeille were almost without exception of painted metal, and the front bench seat of the Vedette was replaced with two "rustic" seats apparently taken from a commercial van, but behind them the rear bench was easy to remove, allowing for the installation of a flat "false-floor" of timber planks, and facilitating the use of the car as a load carrier for farmers and small-scale traders.

[9][10] Facing unsatisfactory sales results, as well as disruptive strikes at the Poissy plant at the turn of the decade, Ford had been trying to dispose of the factory since shortly after the end of the war.