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Ok, time for a bit of...."the way we were".

Hardly! No one does trucks like Ford and Ford would be producing the 2023 F-150 Lightning regardless of anything Tesla or any other manufacturer might attempt. Ford's been the truck leader for 43 years and that's not going to change. No one knows, understands or is as committed to truck buyers as Ford. Ford continuously raises the bar leaving the competition in a perpetual mode of trying to catch up!

Seriously? The BEV F150 has been in development for YEARS. The prototype pulled a freight train 2 years ago. The Cybertruck was Tesla's answer to the already announced BEV F150 and Rivian, not the other way around. This isn't a new model, it's the same BEV F150 they've been developing. They just named it Lightning.

Per Friday's FDNB (Fleet Distribution News Bulletin) below is the updated production timetable for the 2021/2022MY F-Series Super Duty. 01/20/2021 - 2021MY Final Fleet Order Date 03/18/2021 - 2021MY Last Day to Spec Change (KTP) 03/18/2021 - 2021MY Last Day to Spec Change (OHAP) 06/23/2021 - 2021MY Balance Out Date (KTP) 07/14/2021 - 2021MY Balance Out Date (OHAP) 03/15/2021 - 2022MY Order Bank Open Date 05/13/2021 - 2022MY Scheduling Begins (KTP) 05/20/2021 - 2022MY Scheduling Begins (OHAP) 06/24/2021 - 2022MY Job #1 Date (KTP) 07/20/2021 - 2022MY Job #1 Date (OHAP)

Only way Ford would have made it to #1 is if they bought Detroit Diesel before Daimler did. That was the golden ticket...best engines back then and still the best engines today, and the prime reason Freightliner outsells every other truck brand by a 3-to-1 margin. Even if Ford built the best trucks on the planet today, they still would struggle to sell them because they don't have a dealer network that can handle it. They would need some major investment on the dealer side to build service bays and parts inventories to handle it. (Not to mention a culture change....handling commercial truck customers is a lot different than your Mustang, Explorer or even your typical Super Duty customer.)

It all goes back to Ford's over reaction to the not real profitable Class 8 market in the 80s when most of the profit in a new truck went to the engine and powertrain suppliers. Fearful of the cost of the upcoming emissions standards, Ford (mis)management decided they could make more money sending big SUVs instead of big trucks down the Louisville assembly line and pretty much gave the big truck business including the new HN80 conventional to Daimler. A quarter century later Class 8 is owned by only four makers who have used their market power to raise prices to profitable levels and pretty much pushed outside engine suppliers out of the market. If Ford had smarter management they'd be #1 or #2 of the four surviving truck makers.

100% that is exactly why we have safer cars. Accidents that were thought to be not survivable 30 years ago people walk from now. Headlights that actually light up the road and systems that are preventing accidents from even happening at all. Always get better.

Me, I see it as Kia standardizing everything across the board, just as how they're retiring the name "Sedona" in order to the global "Carnival."

Try the 2022 Lincoln Aviator Order Guide which is available for download in the Dealer Order Guides section/link in the menu at the top of each page. https://blueovalforums.com/forums/index.php?/files/file/559-2022-lincoln-aviator-order-guide/

Solid State technology will be a game changer for BEV vehicles.

According to Detrout Yes, the building being built now will be close to Henry Ford Museum. And today Ford announced $130 million investment along with BMW in Solid State technology based in Denver area.

Some people just need to prove it for themselves,,,, https://www.mavericktruckclub.com/forum/threads/frist-to-buy-frist-to-wreck.121/ HRG

Overdrive was an "opinion leader" for owner operators, who were 20% of the market back then, and probably less than 10% now. As for service availability, some like Boyer Ford in the midwest did a great job and helped build the Ford heavy truck brand while some did nothing or next to nothing. Even if you didn't have a good dealership, All the 9000s and much of the smaller series came with industry standard components from Cat, Cummins, Detroit, etc. that could be fixed by just about any heavy truck repair shop.

The 60 Series was a gem, and Penske knew it. Detroit probably stayed with the 2 strokes too long, but the 60 more than made up for that. Anyone remember Overdrive magazine? They had an particularly low opinion of Ford class 8 trucks, to the point that they refused to advertise them. Of course Ford probably wasn't about to pay them anyway, so it was likely a case of mutual disgust. One of Overdrive's major complaints was that service and parts support from Ford heavy truck dealers was notoriously bad throughout the country, and this was during Ford's truck heyday in the late 70's.

And even if Ford did all of that, it’s products would look like a “me too” of all the other equipment already being supplied elsewhere. Marketing 101, why would buyers choose your product over the ones they already get from other manufacturers, I think that the business case just doesn’t stack up - at least the way Ford is looking at it. IMO, Ford’s biggest strength is low cost gasoline engine and by extension, a dedicated CNG setup , so why not develop a 90 degree V12 of say 11 litres that could be a diesel alternative and give Ford a genuine point of differentiation, add some air brakes and let’s go for it.

Correct, god forbid that Ford lay out a decent road map of future product, gotta keep it a national secret in case buyers and investors get excited.......

It’s not hard to understand at all. For Ford to really break into class 7 & 8, it would need to offer “industry standard” power trains, equipment and features that match buyer expectations and those already supplied buy manufacturers leading sales in those segments. Let’s say Ford does that and produces class 7 & 8 trucks with all the right stuff but with a low profit margin, are fleets really going to pass up established brands to buy these new Fords? I doubt that very much and so does Ford.....

Hopefully the BS and Escape do well in the new side impact test coming soon. IIHS let manufacturers know the specifications in 2018 for the new test. Heavier vehicle (4200lbs) and faster speed. (37mph) vs the 3100and 31mph crash now. Creates 82% more force than the current test.

What we call minivans, much of the rest of the world calls MPVs.

IUAW IUAW !!!!! Ahhh always one step back .... Always out front with the umm... the company is going to do what? I`ll get back to you. Wonder when the latest feeeasko is going to hit the less than truthful news? How many weeks has Fords golden geese been unconscious and not laying those big profit units? Then Lord knows you can`t make up this unemployment goofy shit... verify your address, verify your drivers license number and according to the TRA administration I worked at a Ford plant in Hazelwood Mo.? (how many years has St. Louis been closed?) Then my Ford retirement benefits have been suspended? Let see... never worked at St. Louis assembly, never signed up for retirement benefits, filing an interstate claim from Indiana not Missouri and ain`t seen a deposit yet. 2021 is turning out to be just as fun as 2020. Maybe the rainbow, all inclusive and alphabet soup crew can find someone with that silly old school thing, what`s it called?, oh yeah experience cause right now CAP is just about ready to cancel the 2022 launch cause the all inclusive crew can`t figure out what a balance out is. Or oh my do we cancel current orders and roll next model year without doing anything? then wait.... who was suppose to pick up the chips? Heard a few of the less that 6 months in crew try to be cute and said "can`t have a party without chips" Then the all inclusive decision makers kinda giggled their frightened little giggle. Lord help us... multi bazillion bongo bucks corporation and the leadership is giggling.... at party jokes. But!!!! We got us a Jobama and a Hyena Veep so all is good, hell the Jobama approval ratings give me all those warm and fuzzy feelings. has the Veep been to the southern boarder yet?

Ford is still getting off light, especially when you realise that it sold over 1.1 million focus between 2013 and 2018. assuming that around 80% of them had the dry clutch power shift and that’s close to 880,000 before we consider that there’s also fiestas with the same flawed transmission. Not all of them were glitchy and failed but there were more than enough to alert reviewers that there were problems. Ford introduced the cure in 2015, a 1.5 EB and 6R35 auto transmission that sold everywhere else but North America. I can vouch for the night and day transformation, it cured a lot of ills with the Focus.

I believe the Rawsonville Ford plant is technically in Ypsilanti Township.

I highly doubt it and that's the biggest reason why I refuse to take it. Funny how "my body my choice" suddenly doesn't apply, isn't it?

The reasons I went from sedan to crossover? Hauling capacity (though you can get much of that in a station wagon too), visibility in traffic (it is something of a self-feeding loop, as the more trucks and SUVs/crossovers out there, the more you need one to be able to see anything at all through the traffic ahead or behind), ease of egress (hey, I'm not 18 anymore), and, at the insistence of my wife, safety (but not in the way one normally thinks; my VW Passat and CCs were three times rear ended at lights by trucks and each time I had major damage and they had almost none because their bumpers were higher than mine and plowed into the rear of my car above my bumper). I find crossovers equally as attractive, though they don't corner as well, even the Audi Q5 I had because, well, physics and all that. But in other ways I find they handle just fine and I'm not taking them out to the track.