7Mary3

Wow, that looks pretty good. If I buy a Bronco, I for one would never take the top off. So yes I would consider a Land Cruiser to be a competitor to a 4 door Bronco in my particular instance. Note to Toyota: Make the Tundra look like that and you will double sales.

I wouldn't doubt that. I had a GMC engineer tell me years ago that at the time A GMC Brigadier with an L10 Cummins an 9 speed Fuller transmission had the lowest operating cost-per-mile of any class 8 tractor in the U.S., and this was consistently proven by one of the nation's largest fleets. Which probably explains why Yellow had so many of them....

And Ford leaves Europe.

Interesting there will be a PPV version available.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/22/business/ford-department-of-energy-loan/index.html

That's it for Yellow-Roadway, they are closing their doors today. Sadly the merger between the two LTL carriers just postponed the inevitable. Remember all those Roadway Ford C series and Yellow GMC Brigadier tractors pulling single axle van trailers? Such a common sight up into the 90's.

Starting to get nervous. This is a punt.

Keep in mind that Mustang sales have dropped from over 160,000 in 2006 to less than 50,000 in 2022. It's clearly a segment in decline, and 50,000 units isn't really enough to justify a unique platform. If the trend keeps up Ford will of course abandon the segment as well, which is why I think it was a good move to introduce a BEV 'Mustang' to keep the name alive.

No, on the ground and ready to go. What is a bit distressing is that dealership is in an affluent area of Southern California that has a very high rate of BEV acceptance. I wonder what their sales rate is for Mach-E's.

FWIW, a quick check of my local Ford dealer show 55 2023 Mach-E's on the ground. No more than 9 of any other 2023 Ford model, including F-150's, currently in stock.

Back to the 650/750, I really think now Ford should stick to the configurations they have, I doubt a tandem axle or Cummins option would get them any meaningful increase in sales. However, something that might be able to help sales of these trucks would be adding the Allison 2500 and 3000 series transmissions to the option list. Ford would be able to offer a lot more P.T.O. configurations with Allison transmissions. The 6.7L Powerstroke is fine and very comparable overall to the Cummins ISB, and Ford would likely have a hard time getting engines from Cummins anyway. Did air brakes for the 7.3L gas engine make it to the option list yet? I see very few new 650's and 750's with the 7.3L.

I think quite a few dealers will but the emphasis is on high roof Transits and stripped chassis step vans, along with F-450-600 trucks with specialized body equipment. But that's a whole different ball game than the open-all-night heavy duty truck centers of the past. Ford is trying to get car dealers interested in the lighter end of commercial.

In all fairness we have some very specific needs and though we are a 'big fish', we are not big enough for any manufacturer to really go out of their way for. The Freightliner M2-112 works well as it just happens to offer the right wheelbase, cab-to-end-of-frame (and clean rails), Allison 3000 transmission and CNG engine. We also want a class 7 de-rate so no CDL's for most employees. Still, I think the F-650 represents exactly were Ford wants to be in the medium duty game. It's a low cost truck for price-sensitive small fleets and municipalities looking for a basic class 6. It's designed to be sold and serviced by most car/light truck dealers which helps it's 'accessibilty'. Which brings me to another point. The big Ford commercial truck dealerships are for the most part a thing of the past these days. If for were to expand back into that market, they would need a dealer network to back it up.

Interesting. We were buying Fords in the Blue Diamond days, but our upfit required @$5000 worth of modifications to the Ford, while the Freightliner could be ordered to require no modifications. Good by Ford. Since Freightliner offers the ISL/G (now the L9N) that locked them in. Won't look at another medium duty, and we will just order and wait if there are availability issues.

Some things never change, I remember years ago being in a new Mack RD (maybe one of the last ones built) and thinking how old and small the cab was..... But I still liked the truck! I know about the Cummins B6.7/Allison being the preferred medium duty powertrain of many fleets, but given that Isuzu owns 40% of the DMAX plant(s) maybe they would have been smart to use the 6.6L Duramax in the FTR/FVR. Maybe GM sees the supply issues truck builders are having with Cummins B6.7's, and figures they can sell them a few Duramax's. Yeah Ford tried to get other OEM's interested in the 6.7L Powerstroke a few years back but it was married to a Ford transmission. At least the Duramax mates to Allison transmissions. International and Isuzu would seem to be likely customers. Heard a rumor the 2024 Silverado medium duty trucks will get an update. Can't see that alone being reason enough for such an increase in Duramax 6.6L production, even if they added a class 6/7 version.

Unless they can't get Cummins engines. Still can't see that happening, they just engineered the Cummins into the big Isuzu cabover and with Isuzu being a Cummins partner, I would think they would not have issues getting B6.7's. Something is going on though. Even if they completely close the Moraine DMAX plant the expansion to the Brookville plant looks to add 50% or better capacity overall. That's a lot of engines.

You can get a Cummins/Allison powertrain in Chevy 6500 and 7500 LCF's. These are Chevy-badged Isuzu FTR/FVR's built by the Shyft Group in Charlotte MI,, No idea if GM (and Isuzu) is looking to replace the Cummins with the 6.6L Duramax in those trucks. The DMAX plants that produce the 6.6L Duramax is owned 60% by GM and 40% by Isuzu.

I was thinking that myself. GM does not appear to have a problem making enough Duramax diesels to keep up with current demand.

The Mack MD seems to be doing well to me, just based on the number I am seeing. I assume it's priced competitively with Freightliner and International. And also for what it's worth, I am seeing very few Ford F-650's with the 7.3L gas V-8. Maybe Ford is having second thoughts about making air brakes available on gas engine trucks due to sales volume? Ford is really pushing class 3-4-5 and Transit commercial sales to small fleets these days.

This just in: https://news.gm.com/newsroom.detail.html/Pages/news/us/en/2023/jun/0605-flint.html

Good points, and none of the current commercial trucks produced by Otosan or JMC would be successful in North America.

It will be interesting to see where Ford Otosan's heavy truck business goes. I don't think they have the resources to go it alone concerning electrification/fuel cells, so I figure they may either form a JV with another manufacturer or simply stay in markets like Eastern Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.

Maybe the rumor I heard about Toyota spinning Hino off.....is more than a rumor. Daimler Truck bought Fuso out years ago, and since that time has not done much with it other than sharing some (large) diesel engine platforms and bail out of the North American market. Keep iamweasel's comments in mind. You never know, this agreement may have a bearing on Hino's continued presence in the North American market.

I can't comment on any vehicle but the Super Duty presently (though I hear the Maverick is very good). As for the Super Duty, quality-wise it's running a distant 3rd. I think it may be longer than 2 years for it to gain parity with GM or Ram. Maybe not until the next generation is introduced.

https://www.thewattcar.com/home/binary-thinking-the-enemy-of-climate-friendly-transportation-solutions Great article, it ackowledeges the problems with binary thinking on the environmentalist side as well.