7Mary3

I have been seeing quite a few Maverick's in fleet service. It's a little early to tell, but it seems that much Ford's recent fleet success is not coming from traditional cab and chassis trucks like the Super Duty line. It seems to be coming from lighter vehicles like the Transit and now possibly the Maverick. The funny thing is the Ford Pro website emphasizes telematics and connectivity over eveything else, you have to scroll down clear to the bottom of the page to actually see the vehicles.

Well, that's going to take the Ranger out of the Ford Pro commercial vehicle portfolio. Probably of little consequence anyway, and if Ford can maximize Ranger profits by only offering higher margin configurations it will make up for lower Ranger production. Ford Pro = Transit!

Is the Super Cab version coming back?

I have been following this issue for a couple of months. It's a vendor problem, I am not sure who exactly the vendor is but it used to be Sanden that supplied most of the Ford A/C compressors. Replacement compressors are indeed on backorder with no ETA. With all the heat waves going on across the country, it's not a good time for Ford to be having problems like this.

A couple of observations regarding Ford Pro and commercial sales: First, a direct comparison with GM in full size trucks is a little tough as Ford includes F-150 through 550 as 'F Series' sales. Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra sales are inclusive only of 1500 through 3500 models, 4500 through 6500 sales are considered 'Silverado Medium Duty' sales. It indicates Ford pickup sales are likely slightly weaker against GM than the charts indicate. The Ford 'Heavy Truck' category is 650/750 and I believe F53 sales. The GM equivilent would be the Silverado 6500 only as GM does not offer a stripped chassis. The other interesting fact is how well the Transit sells. Ford Pro literally IS the Transit aside from a percentage of F Series sales. That the Transit is primarily a commercial vehicle is all the more noteable, and just for comparison it outsells the F-650/750, also a commercial vehicle, by nearly 10X's! It's no wonder why Ford Pro emphasizes the Transit so much over other Ford commercial trucks (much to the chagrin of other frequent posters around here, myself included!). Also surprising is the Transit currenty outsells every Ford SUV/CUV, though I suspect after the Escape is gone Bronco Sport sales will substantially increase.

Yes, Lincoln posted some good gains. Heavy truck sales are up a bit, but still off for the year. I assume those figures include F53 chassis models as well. Chevy's Silverado medium duty is gaining, and that total does not include the International-branded versions of the same truck. Also, the Chevy totals to not include the Isuzu-supplied LCF's. The Colorado/Canyon mid-size pickups are selling well here, particularly the sporty off-road versions. It's a very nice truck, the most competitive mid-size pickup GM has had in years. The Colorado/Canyon are built it the Wentzville MO. plant that also produces most of the GM full size vans (Navistar builds the cut-aways), so it may be that those Colorado/Canyon sales are at the cost of some van sales. Ford builds the Ranger where the Bronco is built, so you know what is going on there. The Ranger is in a tough place, it looks like GM can out-produce it, the Maverick is stealing some sales, and you have a new Frontier that beats it on price.

Ford sedans say company lost billions on CEO Jim Farley.......

Well, if the 2025 650/750 models equipped with 6.7L Powerstroke diesels are not available in CARB states, it does make some sense to reallocate some of that diesel engine production to other trucks. I am really at a loss to understand why Ford started the 650/750 2025 model year so early when by doing so it caused this emission compliance issue. No word on the availability of air brakes on gasoline powered 650's and 750's.

Healthy gains in many segments. What jumps out to me is how well the Maverick is doing, and it appears it's taking sales from the Ranger. I know Ford struggles building Rangers as the plant is shared with the Bronco, so it looks like the Maverick's popularity may be allowing Ford to build more Broncos. Another precipitous drop in heavy truck (F-650 and 750) sales. I would hate to see Ford leave that market, but I don'r know how they are justifying staying in it at those levels. Particularly with a unique platform.

EV technology and improvements to the infrastructure will eventually make hybrids obsolete. It won't happen tomorrow, but I have a feeling it will happen sooner than a lot of people think. This is a good short-term strategy but I hope Ford does not go too far with it.

#1, Is there any talk about upcoming heavy duty commercial truck plans? Some of us do find that interesting! #2, Totally agree. But if you want over a 500 H.P. mid-engine sports car under $80,000 just buy a Corvette. I don't think there is room for two competitors in that market. Keep the Mustang a Mustang, don't turn it into a Corvette wannabe. #3, Farley says an EV Mustang coupe won't happen. Probably safe for him to say, because WHEN an EV Mustang coupe does debut, Farley will be the CEO of some EV startup or a tier 2 supplier.......

Going back to the original comment about Ford loosing a potential Ranger fleet order to Nissan, you have to remember that every low-margin Ranger fleet sale would mean one less high margin Bronco retail sale.

Chevy did return to class 7, but they did it wisely by simply branding and distributing the Shyft manufactured Cummins/Allison powered Isuzu FVT. And they seem to be doing quite well with a truck they didn't have to spend any money to develop or build in their own plants. Partnering with Navistar for class 4 through 6 conventionals was also a great idea, leveraging a partnership to lower development and manufacturing costs. If GM at some point decides to expand offerings in the class 7 market, most likely it will be with either Navistar or Isuzu. I think Ram is out, the European overlords of what is left of Chrysler do not seem to be the least bit interested in the U.S. commercial market. I am not sure how committed they are to the U.S. market in general. Both Ford Pro and GM Evolve seem to be primarily about providing commercial customers with aftersale vehicle management support. For Ford and GM this can be a substantial revenue stream for the life of a commercial vehicle. Of course it's about selling vehicles as well, but it seems the emphasis is much more on marketing existing vehicles to commercial customers rather than developing vehicles specifically for commercial applications.

There is no denying Ford's overall strength in commercial vehicle sales. What is interesting is while Farley talks about Ford's overall position in class 1-7 truck sales, the reality is that the bulk of Ford's commercial sales is coming from the Transit and class 1-5 F series trucks. Ford is a niche player in class 6-7 and I just don't see any reason for Ford to go beyond that as it would take considerable investment for a likely very modest return, if not a loss for that matter. Also consider that Ford is having trouble keeping up with SD 250 through 450 demand. How long before some Ford exec. says in a meeting "you know if we drop the 650 and 750 we can build x more 250's and 350's"? FWIW, a very quick check of the Ford Pro dealers in my area show very few 650's and 750's in stock, most are left over 2024's. My local dealer has none, Galpin has one. This is not really surprising considering 2025 diesel 650 and 750 models are not availble in California. I have also heard talk that orders for new 650's and 750's require 6 month or longer lead times. I did see several hundred F53 chassis in inventory, looks like Ford is doing well in that business. Plenty of 150 through 550 F series and Transits too. If you think about it, the Transit is really the star of the Ford Pro show. It sells in huge numbers, it's highly profitable from what I understand, has limited competition (just the Ram Promaster), and is leveraged by high sales in Europe. It's easy for any Ford dealer to sell and service too. And there is a BEV version. Sure the 250-600 Super Duty is a commercial winner too, but it faces intense competition externally from GM and Ram and internally from non-commercial private sales.

I am surprised MT was even able to find a Ranger to test.

Don't know if I agree with all of this, but it raises some points: https://247wallst.com/investing/2024/04/30/ford-needs-to-replace-chairman-revamp-board/

You ain't seen nothin yet: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/apr/29/taxing-big-fossil-fuel-firms-raise-billions-climate-finance Make to mistake, those taxes will be passed straight to the consumer. EV's will start to make a lot of sense.

Reminds me of a story I heard about the Excursion: Supposedly it was discontinued only because Bill Ford Jr. was on a 'green' kick and didn't like the negative publicity large SUV's like the Hummer were getting at the time. The Sierra Club was calling it the 'Ford Valdez' after the tanker that sunk. Even though the sales of the Excursion never came close to the GM Suburbans I can't believe the vehicle wasn't profitable. Nonetheless, Ford probably should have offered a long wheelbase Expedition from the start. I had a buddy that really wanted an Excursion but could only find ones with the 5.3L or 6.0L Powerstroke. It was a good wagon with the 7.3L or V10, and everyone knew that......

As for the gas 650/750 air brakes, my hunch FWIW is that it ended up requiring some expensive engineering and Ford doesn't see enough demand to justify it. We use a lot of large single-axle dumps, but they are 33,000 GVW with a Cummins L9N and Allison 3000 series transmission. Don't even look at Fords for that application, GCW is too light.

Does it have anything to do with emissions? The 6.7L Powerstroke appears to be non-compliant for 2025 CARB. Since Ford has already started the 2025MY for the 650 and 750, the trucks are gas only now here in California. Diesels are not available in 2025 650's and 750's. Isn't Mass. a CARB state?

Interesting topic, but it is ironic that Ford will probably be the LEAST likely truck manufacturer to offer the B6.7 Gas. The engine is attracting considerable interest, particularly from the manufacturers currently offering the B6.7 Diesel. Freightliner has already confirmed to their dealers, International is likely, Isuzu/Chevy a strong possibility in their class 6/7 LCF, and Mack would be silly not to in their medium duty. Good thing for Ford is they should still maintain a substantial price advantage over those potential gasoline medium truck competitors.

Oh yeah! That was done at the request of White Motors. When White spun off Diamond Reo in 1972 the Reo gas engines were included, that left White without a gasoline option. For a year or two White offered the GMC V-6's in some 4000 series trucks until they introduced the 'Giesel'. The 'Giesel' or 'Mustang VIII' as it was sometimes called was basically a Cummins 470 V-8 re-engineered into a gasoline engine. Lower compression pistons, spark plugs where the injectors were, a distributor and a 2bbl. Holley carburetor. I know few were made, but I never heard anything bad about the Giesel either. It was bound to be better than any of the small Cummins V-6 and V-8 diesels!

As I said, while the BEV mandate so to speak is being pushed faster than is technically and economically feasable at this point, I am nonetheles very much AMAZED at the rate of progess that has been made over just the last 5 years regarding BEV's. If it keeps up at the current pace near 100% of new light passenger vehicles may well indeed be BEV's by 2035. HEV's may represent something of a temporary stop-gap or bridge on the road to electrification, but I don't think they should be viewed as any sort of permanent solution. But in the end no one really believes we can give up ICE's by tomorrow anyway.

Sadly the French and Italian masters of the ruins of Chrysler Corporation seem very content to let the Ram HD's wither on the vine. From what I understand the Hemi gas V-8 will continue in limited production for the Ram HD.

The point is to get away from ICE's. Hybrids still have ICE's. Hybrids, plug-in or otherwise, therefore are not the solution. The recent increase in hybrid interest is driven by current consumer reluctance to buy BEV's and auto manufacturers wanting to recoup ICE costs in danger of eventually becoming 'stranded'. While I believe it is true that many of our elected (and otherwise) officials and environmental advocates are pushing the BEV mandate faster than is technically and economically feasable, it is very clear that BEV's are the long term solution to clean and efficient ground transportation.