2005Explorer

You should. It’s just as exciting as a better motor on your air compressor.

What do these results tell me? People want affordable vehicles that are filled with value for the price. That doesn't mean cheap, but it means something other than $85k+ F-Series or Broncos that have become overpriced in the last couple years. Look at the Maverick, Bronco Sport and Escape? Build more. The Edge? WTF are they canceling that model? I promise it makes good money and it's in demand.

Everest is T6. They'd have to run it down the line with Rangers and Broncos to be cost effective.

I'm not a car dealer by any means, but would it be better to leave MSRP what it was and just offer large rebates or actually lower the MSRP when it comes to resale or does it make little difference?

I just read this article. Terrible idea on these big price cuts and huge incentives. Higher ATPs should be the focus. https://electrek.co/2024/02/20/ford-slashes-prices-2023-mustang-mach-e-incentives-for-f-150-lightning/

'19-'23 Ford Ranger. It's probably isn't the kind of vehicle they want, but it's been very reliable. The Maverick is also doing very well in reliability.

True. lol

Yeah, but the expensive ones are also turning out to be flops as well. The manufacturers need affordable BEVs that are also compelling to the consumer. Look at affordable ICE products that have been successful and follow that formula. Weird stuff doesn't sell.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/tesla-gm-and-ford-price-cuts-suggest-that-electric-cars-may-be-at-a-dead-end-1091aa16 Everyone said Toyota was making the wrong decision prioritizing high mileage hybrids over BEV. At least at this stage and for the foreseeable future Toyota might have made the right choice instead of being drawn in by "shiny objects." https://fortune.com/asia/2024/01/24/toyota-chairman-akio-toyoda-ev-skepticism-thirty-percent-battery-electric-cars/#amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&aoh=17061852701795&csi=0&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&ampshare=https%3A%2F%2Ffortune.com%2Fasia%2F2024%2F01%2F24%2Ftoyota-chairman-akio-toyoda-ev-skepticism-thirty-percent-battery-electric-cars%2F

I recently watched a YouTube video where someone drove over an object on the road that would have caused a minor amount of repairable damage on an ICE vehicle completely total out a Kia BEV. The object caused a small dent in the battery pack and battery replacement was so high the car was totalled. If these kinds of things become common and repair costs are much higher than comparable ICE vehicles insurance cost will skyrocket.

Unfortunately the new UAW contract makes it even harder to build affordable vehicles in the US and make a profit. All affordable vehicle production needs to go to Mexico. Your ideas are good.

Honestly I think there were 2 reasons that the Maverick went from standard hybrid to optional 1) battery supply and 2) the hybrid powertrain is likely more costly to make than the ICE powertrain. Ford might want to rethink plans to cancel the Escape and should probably be thinking about developing one more ICE/hybrid generation. The BEV "revolution" is just not happening yet. The whole Edge fiasco should make them re-think canceling popular products when the BEV replacement might not make any profit at this time. Too many money pits in the line-up long term = bankruptcy.

I'd have an extremely hard time believing even with some incentives the Edge isn't profitable. I bet it's a hell of a lot more profitable than the Mach E. I believe that's also taking incentives to sell right now. The Edge has a solid and still modern platform. They could have easily extended it with a facelift and an available high MPG hybrid option, but I guess Farley knows best. I just hope the replacement actually makes more profit than the Edge. Looking at the current state of the Ford Model e business I'm doubtful.

Ending production on a product like the Edge when it’s still a hot seller and definitely making money for Ford is a bad idea. They won’t do it, but how about rush a facelift and offer a high MPG hybrid model? Toyota keeps platforms around for years and just updates them. If it was a failing undesirable product I could understand, but the Edge still has life in it. I’m afraid what they are canceling the Edge for is going to be a slow selling money pit.

The rake of the windshield must really make a difference. I never had even one rock chip after 3 years on my 2019 Ranger. I haven't had one on my 2022 Ranger either. Knock on wood of course. lol

I wouldn't buy after those price increases because if it's not selling they will lower it again. They did it once before. If I was a Lightning customer I'd wait awhile.

The fact is automobile prices are rising much faster than wages are increasing. This coupled with the fact many automakers are trying to exit the affordable vehicle categories because they are low profit makes things even tougher for middle class consumers to buy new vehicles. Public transportation isn't really an option in some places, but if new vehicle prices keep rising at the rate we've seen over the last 2-3 years people will be quickly priced out.

They already have an Escape Hybrid with AWD correct? I don't see how it could take much work to offer a similar set-up in the Maverick and Bronco Sport.

I think Ford is starting to realize that the whole transition to BEV is going to take much longer. I wanted to share because there has been a lot of discussion on this forum about the need for a stronger focus on hybrids right now. https://fordauthority.com/2023/12/ford-cfo-says-company-became-complacent-on-hybrids/

Wouldn’t that technically be a Maverick with the rear end enclosed? I’d like to see Ford explore these affordable markets more. Really the only affordable vehicles they have right now is the Maverick, Escape and Bronco Sport. There is room for another one.

The fact that the Escape and Bronco Sport are priced higher than the Maverick sort of takes you back to the early 90s when the Bronco was always more expensive than an F-150 or an Explorer was always more expensive than a Ranger. The lines have blurred today, but traditionally pickups were the cheapest entry compared to the SUV based on them.

Ford claims supplier issues for deleting the standard hybrid in the Maverick, but it was probably most likely done to make the line more profitable. The hybrid powertrain most certainly costs Ford more than the Ecoboost.

We have a 2022 Maverick XLT AWD FX4 in our family. We made a 700 mile round trip in it to see family for Thanksgiving and averaged right at 30 MPG over the whole trip. On the way down we drove 70-80 MPH highway speeds and averaged over 30 MPG. On the way, back we were forced to drive solid ice/snow roads home in slippery mode at 55 MPH or less. That was a stressful 350 miles! I was thankful for AWD and the smart drive controls. I will say the optional Falken Wildpeak AT3W's were very helpful on the extremely bad roads. So although the Ecoboost won't return the kind of MPG the hybrid will it does have excellent performance and still does very well on fuel economy. My niece has a 2018 Escape with the 2.0 EcoBoost and I have no idea why, but the Maverick will beat it all day in fuel economy. Maybe the new Escape does better. I'm not sure.

Compared to a higher trim level F-150 they are low profit. Now generally speaking lower profit margin vehicles can be very profitable, but you need volume. Interestingly it does appear from November sales data the more affordable vehicle lines are seeing better sales increases vs the expensive ones. 2024 might be an interesting year for auto sales.

You were also the person that wanted Ford to spin off it's Blue ICE operations into a new stand-alone company ASAP when they announced the whole Ford Blue and Model e division restructuring. Just imagine if Ford had went ahead with your plan right now. They'd be bankrupt. Heck they'll be bankrupt if they did that in the next few years. Heck not long ago you were calling for Ford to ax all ICE product in the next 2 to 3 years.