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Ford to reveal future product plans on Thursday (Bronco under cover and a baby Bronco!)


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OK, here's the big kicker. Farley said that Trucks and SUVs will make up 90 Percent of Ford's North American volume by 2020. Right now Cars make up 22% of their business as of February. We know Mustang is staying but does this mean the rest are gone, including Taurus/Fusion/Fiesta? They didn't talk about it but the only new sedan on tap is the NG Ford Focus.

 

That's just insane to me. I think it'll be a Ranger situation, where sales are dropping, they drop it, and only for the market to return and they'll have to scramble to bring a competitor back.

 

If it was conceived as a Bronco then it was BOF at one time. And if they’re really keeping the off road capability I think it would still be on the same T6 platform. I don’t think you can make a good off-roader off the Escape platform.

 

Hmm, so maybe as fuzzy mentioned, this is the third MAP model?

 

I personally am wondering if it's actually the small-C crossover.

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Autoblog has what I think is the most comprehensive summary of todays releases

 

https://www.autoblog.com/2018/03/15/ford-baby-bronco-explorer-st-mustang-gt500/

 

So Bronco 2 and 4 door confirmed, as well as a hybrid model.

 

Supercharged V8 for GT500.

 

Explorer ST confirmed (this made sense, as ST is replacing Sport models).

 

F-150, Mustang, Bronco, Escape, Explorer, will be hybridized in some form (plug in or non plug in). By extension, I presume Aviator and MKC will be too (and eventually Expy/Navi)

 

Nearly all models 4GLTE capable.

 

Ford CoPilot360 - The standard Co-Pilot 360 package will include automatic emergency braking for vehicles and pedestrians, blind spot monitoring, lane-keeping assist, backup camera and auto high beams. (Ford believes customers want blind-spot warning systems more so than expensive adaptive cruise-control systems.) Customers will be able to add other features to the Co-Pilot 360 package, as well.

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“It's low, it's sleek, it's zero-emissions. I'll make a prediction: That vehicle is going to be famous without having to shoot it into space," Farley said.

 

 

ROTFL

 

I wonder if this "crossover" is really the reimagining of Fusion?

 

Low and sleek don't exactly describe your typical crossover.

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That’s the Mach I BEV.

 

But there was confusion at the name at time and Ford seemed to walk back from it also. I can see it being called the Mach 1 as a development name- but Fusion (or Fusion Mach 1) would work good as a hybrid/electric car name too.

 

Plus the Fusion is more or less the 4 door Mustang in size.

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If it was conceived as a Bronco then it was BOF at one time. And if they’re really keeping the off road capability I think it would still be on the same T6 platform. I don’t think you can make a good off-roader off the Escape platform.

 

I don't see them making 2 different size vehicles on the same T6 platform. I see the smaller 'C' Bronco being a soft roader made to look the part. The 'regular' Bronco will walk the walk.

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That’s the Mach I BEV.

 

What is?

 

 

But there was confusion at the name at time and Ford seemed to walk back from it also. I can see it being called the Mach 1 as a development name- but Fusion (or Fusion Mach 1) would work good as a hybrid/electric car name too.

 

Plus the Fusion is more or less the 4 door Mustang in size.

 

Agreed on the Fusion name.

 

 

I don't see them making 2 different size vehicles on the same T6 platform. I see the smaller 'C' Bronco being a soft roader made to look the part. The 'regular' Bronco will walk the walk.

 

I agree with this. I think this is the small C model that's made to look tough/offroading (trying to take a page from the Soul and look different than the competition).

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The Small CUV is almost certainly based on C3 along with the NG Escape/Focus. This fills a gap that EcoSport doesn't really cover well but I assume it will be priced like Escape but offer a more unique personality and style. The Off-Road pitch isn't quite as mainstream as I was expecting but I'm hoping there is a spectrum of trim levels to make this a broadly appealing vehicle. This is basically a replacement for C-Max in Europe as well, the MPV/Van styling is no longer fashionable there but it's also a segment with more stylish SUV-chic offerings with angled sheetmetal and painted rooflines. This might be a big deal or another SUV niche, but I suspect it's targeted at Renegade/Compass among others.

 

In either case, this is precisely the vehicle Ford has been missing for far too long in its global portfolio which EcoSport has largely failed to fill.

Edited by Assimilator
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sorry but when they said the Escape was all new for MY2012 and the Explorer was MY2013 I stopped reading.

 

When did fact checking cease to exist?

Yeah I noticed that too. There's the photo clearly of Edge ST which had the caption of 'Explorer ST'. It was one of few articles I saw right when embargo passed and I posted it along with what I thought was couple others but must have gotten lost in my editing of the post. But glad others posted better articles though.

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The Small CUV is almost certainly based on C3 along with the NG Escape/Focus. This fills a gap that EcoSport doesn't really cover well. The Off-Road pitch isn't quite as mainstream as I was expecting but I'm hoping there is a spectrum of trim levels to make this a broadly appealing vehicle. This is basically a replacement for C-Max in Europe as well, the MPV/Van styling is no longer fashionable there but it's also a segment with more stylish SUV-chic offerings with angled sheetmetal and painted rooflines.

 

The whole thing is that this CUV was design competition for the actual Bronco if our insider info is correct-which to me means that its going to have good off-road chops and not be a soft roader

 

They still haven't tipped their hat about the Short C CUV yet-unless this is it.

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I don't see them making 2 different size vehicles on the same T6 platform. I see the smaller 'C' Bronco being a soft roader made to look the part. The 'regular' Bronco will walk the walk.

k

 

They called the other one a true off reader too. Just with a softer more mainstream exterior and presumably more luxury inside.

 

Isn’t that exactly what Everest is/was?

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Not sure you can easily downsize a design meant for a BOF T6 platform onto a smaller short C transverse engine crossover, but I guess anything is possible.

 

I still think this will be in addition to the short C crossover and will be on T6. But I’ve been wrong before. At least once. I think. Or maybe I’m mistaken about that......

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There will not be any cars from CD6, keep dreaming. Ford is giving up on larger cars. No new sedans or coupes. News release says 90 percent trucks, nothing about a CD6 "Town Car", "Mark IX" or "Thunderbird".

Edited by 630land
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The whole thing is that this CUV was design competition for the actual Bronco if our insider info is correct-which to me means that its going to have good off-road chops and not be a soft roader

 

They still haven't tipped their hat about the Short C CUV yet-unless this is it.

 

The design could be scaled down a bit. Same design, just smaller vehicle.

 

k

 

They called the other one a true off reader too. Just with a softer more mainstream exterior and presumably more luxury inside.

 

Isn’t that exactly what Everest is/was?

 

I didn't see the piece about true off roader. You have a point, but I thought it was smaller, and not the same size.

 

But I’ve been wrong before. At least once. I think. Or maybe I’m mistaken about that......

 

That happens to me at least once a week!

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The whole thing is that this CUV was design competition for the actual Bronco if our insider info is correct-which to me means that its going to have good off-road chops and not be a soft roader

 

They still haven't tipped their hat about the Short C CUV yet-unless this is it.

 

I personally think this is it, and they're going for the more stylish stand out model.

 

I see Ford did not mention hybridizing the Expedition which probably means that's not happening alongside F-150.

 

I'm surprised at that as well. BUT, seeing as this is just a 2 year plan (isn't it?), perhaps that's coming the year after with an Expy/Navi refresh? I find it hard to believe that they'd go through all the effort of developing that powerpack that can go in F-150 and Mustang, only to not put it on the other models that use the same powertrains (Expy/Navi).

 

Not sure you can easily downsize a design meant for a BOF T6 platform onto a smaller short C transverse engine crossover, but I guess anything is possible.

 

I still think this will be in addition to the short C crossover and will be on T6. But I’ve been wrong before. At least once. I think. Or maybe I’m mistaken about that......

 

Eh, given that it's just a sketch, you can change it still.

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There is absolutely zero chance that the small utility is based on a frame. Not even Jeep does that. You'd have no room left for the passengers or the Hybrid batteries.

 

Mustang is not moving to CD6, that was cancelled quite a few years ago now.

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I personally think this is it, and they're going for the more stylish stand out model.

 

 

I'm surprised at that as well. BUT, seeing as this is just a 2 year plan (isn't it?), perhaps that's coming the year after with an Expy/Navi refresh? I find it hard to believe that they'd go through all the effort of developing that powerpack that can go in F-150 and Mustang, only to not put it on the other models that use the same powertrains (Expy/Navi).

 

 

Eh, given that it's just a sketch, you can change it still.

 

They talked about their electrification schedule through 2022 (6 new BEVs) so my guess is they would have mentioned that as well.

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