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Ford March 2018 Sales Up 3.4% Overall; Lincoln Down 2.1%


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Believe me, I know.

 

Ranger is still 7 months out and it still feels like an eternity

 

I really wish Ford would adjust its production changeovers to more closely align with the auto shows (move them up a few months) so that products would come out maybe 3-4 months after debuting rather than the almost year long wait we have now.

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I really wish Ford would adjust its production changeovers to more closely align with the auto shows (move them up a few months) so that products would come out maybe 3-4 months after debuting rather than the almost year long wait we have now.

the new RAM is being shipped to dealers. Has been for a month now.
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the new RAM is being shipped to dealers. Has been for a month now.

 

Got to see it at the Fort Lauderdale Auto Show (the FCA display was actually done by a local dealer, and they had the new Ram) - there were some things I liked about it and some things I didn't. Haven't gotten around to making a post yet, though.

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Got to see it at the Fort Lauderdale Auto Show (the FCA display was actually done by a local dealer, and they had the new Ram) - there were some things I liked about it and some things I didn't. Haven't gotten around to making a post yet, though.

the dealer near me has several front and center on their lot just rubbing it in the face of the Chevy dealer across the street.

 

Ive been seeing the trucks full of them for a month on southbound 275 on my way to work since southbound I-75 is closed through downtown Detroit.

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Ford's product lifecycles are on the longer side of industry standard, the Escape is actually a really good example of that since it's about 2-3 years behind the average and WAY beyond average if you factor in its Kuga origins. That was the same story with the first generation Escape which lasted 12 years. This has always been the case for Ford which tends to iterate less frequently but invest bigger up front. That's why every all-new Ford model is a pretty big deal because it doesn't happen often and it has to be pretty outstanding...and it typically is. It also usually comes with some major new platform strategy and drivetrains. That's why I find Ranger and EcoSport such odd products for Ford, they are lightly updated aging products that fail to standout besides filling a gap they could have filled with the exact same product years ago.

 

As for Ford, I know they like to reveal major new products with a significant 12+ month lead time which is largely an outdated practice but it's also an important part of their marketing strategy and discourages sales to their competitors. It's actually a bad habit that Ford has now extended to 3+ years with teases like Ranger and Bronco, but again that's part of their effort to reassure investors and begin the promotion to prep their customers so they don't buy the competition. Ford seems to have a noticeably longer development cycle which means many of their products are locked in place well before launch so they can start talking and showing them long before production while others are operating on much leaner schedules. This is something Hackett is trying to fix and maybe they are because right now we're not seeing much evidence that they are working on stuff that is due fairly soon.

Edited by Assimilator
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Ford's product lifecycles are on the longer side of industry standard, the Escape is actually a really good example of that since it's about 2-3 years behind the average and WAY beyond average if you factor in its Kuga origins. That was the same story with the first generation Escape which lasted 12 years. This has always been the case for Ford which tends to iterate less frequently but invest bigger up front. That's why every all-new Ford model is a pretty big deal because it doesn't happen often and it has to be pretty outstanding...and it typically is. It also usually comes with some major new platform strategy and drivetrains. That's why I find Ranger and EcoSport such odd products for Ford, they are lightly updated aging products that fail to standout besides filling a gap they could have filled with the exact same product years ago.

 

Lots of this has to do with what has happened over the past 20 years or so:

 

No Sedan investment in the late 1990s leaving the Taurus to "rot" on the line til 2004 or so

 

Ford mortgaging the company in 2006

 

2007-09 The Great Recession

 

Worldwide platform consolidation since 2012 or so-Only completed in 2015 or so

 

So basically it seems like once the platform consolidation between the EU and NA happened there was a bump in the road with keeping the peddle down with replacing the consolidated platforms with newer ones-

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Kentucky Truck Plant Production Figures - March 2017

Vehicle..............03/18...............03/17

Super Duty.......32,237..............31,430

Expedition..........6,846................7,180

Navigator...........2,074................1,288

Total.................41,157..............39,898

 

That;s right folks, over 41,000 vehicles made last month.

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