I joined the Flex club

[blazerdude20]

The biggest thing against the Flex's position in the marketplace is the same issue that plagued the Freestyle and Taurus X before it: Ford's internal column structure for marketing.

 

Freestyle literally came out of the gate as a bastard child that was pushed into the truck division's marketing structure, even though their own marketing folks had fought the very development of Freestyle as it was thought to compete directly against Explorer, which was then in its heyday.

 

When Flex came online they still had no mechanism to effectively market what was essentially an alternative to some of their own successful products.

 

Remmy said he still gets people asking him about his... inquiring about what it is, etc.. and I've had a few people already ask me about mine. There was just never enough awareness as to what it is and where it fits.

I know everyone thinks Flex is dead but Im not so sure. With the increase in crossover and suv sales, I think there is going to be room for unique vehicles to pick up buyers who dont want an explorer or highlander like everyone else.

[PREMiERdrum]

I know everyone thinks Flex is dead but Im not so sure. With the increase in crossover and suv sales, I think there is going to be room for unique vehicles to pick up buyers who dont want an explorer or highlander like everyone else.

 

There was a plan for a next-gen Flex that was placed on hold in early 2016 and unceremoniously killed entirely shortly thereafter.

 

There is decidedly *room* for it in the lineup, but a decision was made that resources were better spent fleshing out what was already becoming a crowded utility stable of Ecosport/Maverick/Escape/Edge/Bronco/Explorer/Expedition.

 

There was a push to revive the program when the NA product mix plans shifted dramatically a few months ago, though I don't think it ever took hold.

[NLPRacing]

I would love to see an all new Flex based on the new RWD architecture with Range Rover-esque sleekness & style. Put suicide doors on it or maybe sliders that look like suicide doors. Make it bigger than the Explorer and and a bit smaller than the Expedition.

[Assimilator]

Ford may want to do a new 3-Row Edge successor since it fills a popular midsize gap in their global portfolio, it may come here as well. Flex was an alt. Explorer, I don't think you can make that work anymore with new Explorer coming online.

Edited May 15, 2018 by Assimilator

[2b2]

The Flex also had a bad start because it arrived during the Great Recession (it's that freaking old). I think Ford generally had a hard time nailing the 3-row crossover segment early on, treating it mostly like a minivan successor and less like an SUV. The Flex was born from the Freestyle/Taurus X bones and still had that low slung wagon-like packaging which is ultimately much less popular than the similarly priced tall 3-Row crossover (Explorer/Traverse/Pilot/Highlander/et.al). It's also a product that was born to be something of a hard to categorize icon, it started life as a Concept design study with no foundation in their product cycle...which is something that never happens at Ford today...the concepts are born from the production car now. So essentially, Flex was always something of a pet project (Mark Fields) and wasn't born as a response to market forces or trends. As a result, Ford has always had a hard time finding a place for it. We definitely will not see a successor which is a shame, but understandable.

 

I know everyone thinks Flex is dead but Im not so sure. With the increase in crossover and suv sales, I think there is going to be room for unique vehicles to pick up buyers who dont want an explorer or highlander like everyone else.

I happened to catch a glimpse of a Freestyle/TauruX today - still a darn fine looking "true-CUV", imho...

 

1- really think the whole D3/4 program might have been ahead of its time

1b- was definitely ahead of the necessary [3.5 & EB] engine porgrams

2- killed by marketing [lack of] and awful nomenclature** AND

2b- endemic not-reaching-high-enough during product-planning

 

** Flex name is about worn out ...unless they can't think of anything fresh ...a real possibility imho

Edited May 15, 2018 by 2b2

[ZanatWork]

The lower lift-in height on the Flex made it preferable to my old Expy when it came to loading amplifiers/guitars/etc on a regular basis. As it has typical car ride height, I imagine that advantage would continue vs. the Explorer and/or other CUVs.

It's fairly unique in a very conformist market.

[ANTAUS]

The Explorer to me, reminds me of the Pathfinders life just all over the place. The Pathfinder trying to find it's Path essentially... First a unibody RWD vehicle, then BOF RWD, now Unibody FWD based platform. Now we have Explorer in a similar world.BOF RWD, then FWD Unibody, now supposedly going to Unibody RWD based.

 

Freestyle to me was just an Explorer, before Explorer migrated to what it currently is. But with vanilla flavoring on the outside...