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My Mustang is in there!

Investors care about bottom line profit not so much where it comes from with the exception of diversification. There is no reason to believe making new more affordable vehicles would compromise profitability of other vehicles to the point that it's a net loss. But to answer your other question affordable doesn't mean cheap - these won't be the absolute cheapest vehicle but would still be in the lower tier of pricing. Think previous Focus not Nissan Versa. This, combined with lower costs (remember ce1 brings a completely different design and manufacturing process) should allow Ford to still turn a healthy profit as opposed to the previous situation where they were only good for CAFE compliance. This also represents an opportunity for revenue growth. It's not going to displace higher profit sales - those sales are already going to Hyundai, Nissan and Toyota already. What you see as corporate greed with automakers dropping small cars is the direct result of too stringent CAFE rules - the opposite of what was intended. Tariffs are only there to ensure a level playing field. Trump offered to drop ours if they drop theirs. Why should we allow other countries to put our producers at a disadvantage with tariffs while we let them export here for free? And we've already seen commitments for moving production to the US in response.

https://www.motortrend.com/news/ford-maverick-2026-truck-of-the-year “Are pickup trucks becoming caricatures of their former selves? They seem to grow larger and heavier with each successive redesign to the point where staircase tailgates are needed just to load them. Swimming against this tsunami is the wee Ford Maverick, a pickup that allows normal-sized human adults to reach in over the side rail and grab items off the bed floor without even standing on tippy-toes. The climb into the bed is manageable without steps, and many tailgate partiers may find their feet resting comfortably on the ground. Revolutionary.”

Coming soon: The all-new 2027 Ford Explosion.........it'll blow you away! It fits with Ford's EX naming scheme too...... 😛

If only Ford had Class 8...........650/750 sales would be on FIRE!!! 🔥🔥🔥* *allegedly

'I know we're way off topic but indulge us a bit here.... We just paid off our mortgage last week. Wife wanted to pay it off last year but I talked her out of it along with the financial adviser. We're getting around 11% with very little risk and mortgage was 2.9%. We were down to $60k so it was no longer a huge difference monetarily so I agreed to pay it off just so I didn't have to hear about it any more. On a good note she is finally starting to trust that we won't run out of money and it's ok to spend a little.

My gosh my MIL is the worst! My FIL passed away 21 years ago, and her son is out of touch most of the time, so I'm the only guy she has for advice. She'll ask me a question and I'll give her my thoughts. She ignores me. She'll talk to her son months later and he'll tell her the same thing I said and suddenly "Wow, that's a great idea!" Ugh, you think? 🙄 A few months ago, she said she wanted to pay her house off. I said why and her response was "to get rid of the payment." OK, but your interest rate is low, and it would be costing you money to pay your house off because you are earning more interest than you are paying. Mumble mumble. This weekend she comes over, showing me some paperwork from her financial guy. She says "I asked him about paying my house off. fordmantpw says I shouldn't do it blah blah blah." He says "what is paying it off going to get you? You should probably listen to him because he's got the right idea." I laughed and of course had to say "see, I told ya!" 😄

She probably didn't like your "tone" 😂 Using logic on your wife is like trying to teach your dog to speak French....... Now if her girlfriends suggested the same thing she'd be all over it.

It boils down to confirmation bias-it's just like EV fires-they get a lot press because they are something new/different, but yet have lower rates then ICE powered vehicles

Finally mounted one of the replacement wheels on the front. Not quite finished with that but at least you can see what it will eventually look like. Also reglued the inside rearview mirror mounting button to the windshield and reconnected the wires for the auto dimming features for the mirror and headlights.

Don't worry, it'll make even less sense when they delay it, then double down on it, then cancel it.

Is this like all the cheap Chinese things you can buy off Amazon? It works perfectly for the first week, then things quit working and suddenly blue tooth doesn't connect and then you have to send it back and buy the more expensive item like you should have done the first time?

Specification Corolla Cross RAV4 Length 4,460 mm → 175.6 in 4,600 mm → 181.1 in Width 1,825 mm → 71.9 in 1,855 mm → 73.0 in Height 1,620 mm → 63.8 in 1,685 mm → 66.3 in Wheelbase 2,640 mm → 103.9 in 2,690 mm → 105.9 in Ground Clearance 160 mm → 6.3 in 190 mm → 7.5 in It's not that difficult... Ford needs 2 different size compact CUV. A short one and a long one. That's the competitive landscape. ~4.4 meters/175 inches: Bronco Sport vs. Corolla Cross, HR-V, Crosstrek, CX-30, Trailblazer, Encore GX, Taos, Qashqai, 3008, Karoq, Compass, Grandland, C5 Aircross, Austral ~4.6 meters/180 inches: Escape/Kuga/Territory vs. RAV4, CR-V, Forester, CX-50, Equinox, Envision, Tiguan, Rogue/X-Trails, 5008, Kodiaq, Cherokee, 5008, Espace The fact that Bronco Sport was North America only and come exclusively with AWD was just a product planning mistake. It works for the US market and is a very well presented product but it should have been rolled out to other markets. Same with Maverick. Who knows what Ford is really planning on doing next gen but it is very obvious why it's market share is plummeting in Europe, China, and few other markets. A brand that is known for SUVs does not have enough SUV for sale... How to fix it is also very obvious.

Looks like somebody clicked on this. I didn't because on my old computer it said I had a virus when I clicked on an IQ test. I shut computer off and rebooted and it was fine again. Last time I took an offline IQ test it was rather high, but I don't remember the score. My high school math teachers use to make me tutor my classmates in Algebra, Geometry and Trigonometry. Does that count?

There is a huge difference between affordable and cheap cars.

It makes it possible whereas the old rules made it almost impossible. Someone will fill that void but don't expect to see $11k Nissan Versas. Affordable doesn't mean cheap sedans or tiny cars.

Agreed, Ford should apply much of what they learned during the engineering and manufacturing process of CE1 and carry as much of that over to their ICE offerings as possible.

Or they could have shuttered that business later and missed out on billions of $$$ in profit from Super Duty sales.

The gas tax indexed to inflation would handle most of this naturally. The federal gas tax hasn’t gone up since the early 90’s. Everything else has gone up in price significantly. Creating a much smaller pool of real world dollars for transportation projects.

‘I heard she had a nail appointment….. (ducks and runs)

Trump also signed legislation this year that ended fuel economy penalties for automakers Based on that statement, what difference does this "roll back" make? When the big shot in the White House, the Congress critters, and the agency bureaucrats do all of the following, THAT will be a (partial) victory for common sense. Repeal CAFE altogether Index the federal gasoline and diesel fuel excise tax to inflation Get rid of the ridiculously outdated DOT lighting regulations

Ford's product decisions are usually confusing, but they've been getting increasingly head scratching lol.

Yikes, Ford got rid of its own European engineering team and now wants to outsource small vehicles to other European companies..,,,

Couple things to consider: A segment is roughly 110-150 inches long B Segment is 146-165 inches long They are also narrower then C segment also. So that being said, once you start making major changes to the passenger crash cell like making it narrower and shorter, your losing cost savings-your better off using something designed to meet that criteria vs modifying C class product. Also i'm going to assume that A/B class uses more cost sensitive/Less complex parts to make it cheaper to build-i.e. things like an independent rear end on a FWD product might be a solid axle on B sized car that wouldn't lend itself well to a more luxurious product.

Fiat's Smallest (And Most Affordable) Car Is Officially Coming to America - Autoblog Fiat is betting that Americans are finally ready for its smallest car yet. The Fiat Topolino, a pint-sized electric city car that’s become a common sight in Europe, is officially coming to the US. The announcement slipped out during Art Week Miami, where Fiat unveiled a one-of-one artist collaboration designed by Romero Britto, but the bigger news came straight from the brand’s CEO. “The Fiat Topolino, our small, joyful, colorful car that is now everywhere in Europe, has made several appearances in the US over the past year,” said Olivier Francois. “So much so that I’m happy to share that we’ll be bringing the Fiat Topolino to the US, with more details to come next year.” At a time when mainstream cars are only getting bigger, this thing barely takes up more space than a golf cart. But will it be popular among Americans? So their small cars don't sell, let's sell something even smaller?

Everything we know regarding CE1 is focused on compact models - Maverick, Escape/Kuga, Focus, etc. I don't know if it was designed to be able to go smaller/into the sub-compact models. This move makes sense if it's meant for Fiesta sized models (or smaller), otherwise, I'm there with you that it's confusing if it is meant for compacts, which CE1 should cover.

I'm just confused why Ford invested all this money and time into developing an affordable EV platform if they're just gonna partner with other companies to build affordable EVs for them. Maybe it's a case of Ford wanting to partner with another brand to minimize risk. If these affordable EVs turn out to be wildly successful, they'll bring CE1 based EVs to those markets a few years later? I'm just struggling to make sense of this move.

For the record, you think people should pee in cups on long trips to maximize the advantage of fast refueling times of gas vehicles.

Also keep in mind that the Japanese Yen was strong against the USD up until early 1990s when they had their market crash that resulted in a lost decade. They also have built in healthcare paid by the country and not privately like it is in the USA.

Don't be so quick to just blame "high labor costs", Japanese workers of the same era were compensated similarly and their product was 1st rate....US industry built crap because that was how it was designed by their respective manufacturers. US consumers got tired of buying the inferior designed cars built domestically and began to gravitate to Japanese models that were designed better and lasted longer.

I wonder if this new PHEV will have Pro Power Onboard. It would strengthen its appeal.

It's not a premium. The only options were the wheels and the paint, vapor blue, was a 450(!) dollar option. I liked the color so much, and I didn't want another grayscale car, I ponied up for the paint.

Cheap is basically built to the lowest standard possible, to be as cheap to buy as a new car could be. Affordable is basically making a car great value for what it offers, but not necessarily the lowest price. Like using cars I've owned as an example, I had a 2009 Kia Rio. That was a car that was like 11 grand brand new, but frankly was a shit box. It wasn't super unreliable, the powertrain didn't have a single issue in 13 years and 110k miles. But it had a lot of smaller issues like if you parked and turned it off with the wheels turned, the key wouldn't turn in the ignition when you went to restart it. So you'd have to wrestle the wheel as straight as possible and then try to start it. Basically just a lot of issues over time that made you say "Wow they cheaped out on everything". Like hand crank windows and door locks, my entire door was about as thick as the door panel on my 2017 explorer, just didn't feel safe. The steering wheel would shake back and forth violently at highway speeds. Just not a great ownership experience. Whereas my maverick hybrid, I would call that an affordable car. It wasn't cheap, it was significantly more expensive than my Rio, I bought one of the first hybrids and it was about 28k for my XLT after registration and sales tax with a few options. Despite being more than twice the price of the rio, it feels like better value. Like a maverick doesn't feel like a shit box. It doesn't feel like a luxury car, but I feel like I'm getting more dollar for dollar in terms of value than I did with my Rio.

If Ford does bring back smaller affordable cars over time, it's because the company is able to innovate with products and production processes, like what it's doing with the skunkworks, Universal Electric Platform, and Universal Electric Vehicle Production System. Them politicians, industry lobbyists, and company big shots can huff and puff all they want about what’s good for consumers and the auto industry. But in the end only innovation and forward thinking management can achieve that, not changes in regulations

It's well documented that strict emissions regulations played a sizable role in brands like Ford phasing out smaller, affordable cars over time, it was just too difficult to make money on them. I wonder if they'll be thinking about bringing some of those models back to the states with these changes.

Not sure you want to use that term in describing a car....

Notice who was at the White House for the announcement. CEO Farley from Ford, CEO Antonio Filosa from Stellantis, and plant manager John Urbanic from GM. Yes, a plant manager. Guess Mary Barra had other plans.

You're right. No, I don't think they did that at all....

Escape or Explorer Sport. But yes it will be styled similarly to the boxy Escape and current Explorer.

Looks great! Congrats on the new ride!

That's good news.

I knew you were going to call me out on "fact" as soon as I typed it! Well it's a FACT that when Ford abandoned class 8 in 1996/1997, DOT's, municipalities and utility providers who had been purchasing Ford exclusively from cars up to class 8 dumps, now found themselves looking at other class 8 providers AND non Ford vehicles from cars to class 5. That is a fact because it happened, and if something happens, it's a fact. It's also a fact that because Ford was a full-line producer, they could afford to be the low bidder and maybe eat a little loss in some categories but more than make it up in others. It's also true that all these drivers/employees driving everything from a Taurus to F850's to C-series commercial fire apparatus to B-series school buses just might tend to buy a Ford car or truck for their own personal use.

So last Saturday a page I follow called Lincoln Addict posted about the 8th Annual Lincoln Kennedy Blvd Cruise in Tampa, FL. He posted that it was open to all Lincolns and we would be a parade of Lincolns stopping at several locations and taking lots of photos then ending in Ybor City to grab lunch at the Colombia restaurant. I used to be part of a large car group the TCCA (Taurus Car Club of America) and used to go to meets all the time, when I had my Mercury Sable. After my Sable I had a Lincoln LS and joined the LLSOC (Lincoln Luxury Sport Owners Club) but by the time I joined I think the group was on it's last wind and never was part of any meetup sadly, I know some members are on this forum now a shame we never got together when I had my LS. Since then I joined other Lincoln groups but never was able to be part of any meet so for me this was an opportunity to get back into it. I reached out and asked if I could join with my MKZ and was told absolutely that it was open to any and all Lincoln vehicles. I got to work cleaning my MKZ and making it spotless and headed out. We had a great turnout about 30 cars total ranging from the oldest a 1940 V12 Zephyr to a 2018 Continental Reserve, in between a 50s Continental, lots of 60s Continentals, 70s Town Coupe, 90s Mark VIIIs, and my BL MKZ. Everyone was very welcoming, nice, and talkative about their cars. I even had a few check my car out and ask me questions about it. Most of them complimented the color (Chroma Cabernet) and the huge sunroof. I also had a few ask about the engine and they had no idea Lincoln even offered the 3.0TT in the MKZ and were really impressed with the power, one of the Mark VIII guys said to me "oh forget it you will blow my doors off that's almost too much power for me". It was an awesome time and I 100% plan on doing it again next year. I told some of the folks there that my mom called me to finalize plans for Thanksgiving and asked if I had plans that weekend, I told her I was doing this, and she asked which car I was driving in the parade.... seriously???? everyone got a good laugh at out of that and one of the wives told me next year I better show up in the 04 Aviator 🤣 Of course if anyone is in FL and owns a Lincoln you all should join up next year it's a great group of people and great group of cars. We even had someone drive down from Ohio with the 61 teal Continental, though I think they had it on a flat bed. I believe they do this every year on the anniversary of the JFK Assassination but I think it's also the anniversary of JFK visiting Tampa too maybe? I know that was brought up during the ride when we stopped at UT to do a picture in front of the JFK statue.

A few of them had them. I was told by the owners a new company is making larger hub caps that look like the original ones and honestly they look good. Far better than after market wheels that ruin the look.

Yeah, the One Ford plan was good - pare down to a solid global platform with a few core global models (i.e. Focus, Escape/Kuga etc)......I think those should've remained global mainstays with additional regional-specific models added around those models.

The insane part is that there probably is a hardcore RWD car niche market that Ford could easily fill with a four door based off the Mustang’s platform. All the elements have been there for years but Farley and Ford gave us a hint at priorities when Bromco was launched - the biggest demographic open to buying a Bronco came from Mustang owners….. So yeah, Maybe Mr. Farley was cautious about offering the car knowing that eyes could be distracted from those lucrative Bronco sales? …I wonder if that view is starting to change?

Definitely can't trust Ford's site, their color guesser on the site is terrible at showing these flatter "clay" colors. I own a Glacier Gray and it is absolutely brighter and lighter than what Ford's site led me to believe. You should be able to see pics online or even see both colors on a dealers lot (maybe not at the same location / same time). Avalanche to me in pics looks like an off white, and is probably the "clay" version of white so a bit more flat than their normal white. The problem is even if you find a side by side picture I don't think it'll help too much -- these colors are so dynamic in real life. I actually love my glacier gray truck, though I was a bit shocked when I went to pick it up. The tone and personality of the color change depending on sunny or cloudy and time of day. Flat pictures don't really communicate that well; I think you are better off finding these colors at a local dealer and seeing them in person to see which one sings to you. Good luck!