Donaldo
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Posts posted by Donaldo
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5 hours ago, akirby said:
Why not?27MPG in hybrid only Land Cruiser sets it apart from Bronco, but not Grand Cherokee 4xe. Probably hard to compare Explorer Timberline without low range 4WD. Maybe when the Bronco PHEV goes on sale or the Timberline gets more off road parts, there could be some more cross shopping
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23 hours ago, ice-capades said:
As Ford develops and starts to implement plans for future products, it's common for Ford to bulk up hiring for staff to be dedicated to developing and implementing those plans further. Once those plans are developed and implemented further, Ford discovers that staffing needs change in order to meet the objectives. As a result, staff reductions can be made across multiple job descriptions including a change in the mix of staff talent deemed desirable to meet the revised goals and objectives.
This is an interesting insight. It appears that instead of hiring a staff that has a broad base of talent to address a variety of challenges, Ford focuses staffing more on the crises of the day. One day the crisis could be that its products are too old and behind the market, the next day could mean focusing on quality control and the supply chain of the current products. It seems like a chaotic way of doing business, since these days there will be more than one crisis at a time.
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On 7/29/2022 at 10:49 PM, Stray Kat said:
I think Ford should offer an entry level something EV with a single motor and lower cost and greater range.
Doesn't every major drivetrain configuration need its own crash testing (which costs a lot of time/money) in order to be legally sold? I've heard this before as a reason mfgs tend to not offer a lot of choices in transmissions (for example).
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Does anyone have confirmation if the '23 will finally include the PHEV drivetrain from the Aviator?
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Wonder if homes or public charging stations for EVs will have solar panels backed up by large battery storage or capacitors to keep them off of grid power. Or maybe using with the Ford Lightning bidirectional tech, they could steal power from fully charged vehicles. Problem solved!
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20 hours ago, atomcat68 said:
This!
I don't know how much more convenient it can get that not having to drive somewhere to fuel the car. Unless you make long trips, this is a great advantage.
Also you have the potential to charge a lot of places you visit regularly. Going to work, the grocery store, a shopping mall, etc.are all opportunities to recharge.
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16 hours ago, Stray Kat said:
Ford hasn’t played follow the leader in ten years and now their halo truck appears to be a magazine numbers chaser.
If they sneak in a hybrid system or at the very least Pro Power On Board I will partially retract my statement.
Right now they have followed the biggest mook truck right into the Pro Mall Cruiser Nationals.
Yip yip yahoo!
Ford doesn't make a hybrid Mustang either...yet. If Ford can make a few extra bucks with special editions, they'll have even more money for research in development for high tech.
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49 minutes ago, DeluxeStang said:
I see where you're coming from, but the average transaction price for a c8 was $82,489, multiply that by 21k vehicles and you're left with a little over 1.7 billion in revenue. All while bringing wealthier and more diverse buyers into your showrooms, and reducing the average age of Corvette buyers. 1.7 billion dollars isn't a huge amount of revenue when you consider ford and gm both generate more than 100 billion in revenue a year. But it's still significant. If Ford develops a c8 rival, they can offer a new halo model that improves the brands image, while making billions of dollars, and utilizing a lot of the tech developed on that car for additional models. For instance, if the thunderbird is a high performance ev, that same battery and electric motors can be used in an upcoming ev mustang coupe, or sporty crossover.
The profit margin on a Corvette is going to be quite small (even if the price is high) given the low volume, and would also be small for any other sporty car that isn't a Porsche or Ferrari. Each $82K F-150, Expedition, or Super Duty sold probably puts at least $20K in the bank for Ford - maybe someone has the actual numbers?
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On 5/15/2022 at 5:30 AM, sullynd said:
I’m not sure this is a good idea. Bronco name is almost 50 years old. It’s been way too many years since it was relevant.
The Bronco II was just a half baked gift for soccer moms to buy. I’d say the last special Bronco was the FSB in the early 90s. After OJ’s White Bronco it was watered down till end of production.
They would really have to do their homework on this one for it to succeed.
Corvette sales were about 21,000 in all of 2021. Bronco sales are over 12,000 per month now. I wonder which one is a better return on investment?
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2 hours ago, DeluxeStang said:
I pray to God that whatever this is isn't another SUV/crossover. I understand why crossovers are popular, I understand why people like them. Hell, we own a 2017 explorer which imo, was one of ford's better designs these last few years. So I don't hate all SUVs/crossovers. But if Ford adds a 15th crossover to it's lineup, I'm gonna puke. Ford is making a killing with the f-series, transit, broncos, mach-e, and the maverick. Not to mention the rest of their line-up which, imo, is probably the strongest line-up ford has had in years, maybe ever. With them printing money hand over fist, I'm pretty sure they can throw people a bone and do one or two coupe/sport car models beyond the mustang. Even if those programs just broke even, it wouldn't be the end of the world.
Maybe Ford isn't in a great position to spend employee time and factory space on on a car that would sell well for about 2 years. The population of people that really want a new Thunderbird likely will not buying a lot of new cars for much longer anyways.
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3 hours ago, Flying68 said:
Just a thought but my hometown (pop.12,000) Ford dealer has a GT500 in the showroom for $40k over sticker. My dad knows the GM pretty well and he was told by the GM that they put the ADM on there to keep the big dealers from the metro area (100 miles away) from buying their inventory. If someone from the local area wants to buy it, the price would probably be much closer to sticker. Pre-pandemic they used to sell a lot of their Expedition and Navigator inventory to those same dealers at sticker, who would have some sucker waiting to get ripped off.
"Other dealers taking inventory" is a pretty creative dealer tall tale. A fat ADM means the dealer has fallen in love with the inventory, and doesn't care who buys it as long as they pay up. This kind of love turns hilarious when these jewels end up having birthdays on the lot, surrounded with newer models.
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An issue is that although hybrids often last many miles, the number of drivers rebuilding old Ford hybrids with aged batteries is relatively small compared to Toyota. Ford also changes designs and suppliers of hybrid batteries and drivetrains. Availability of quality aftermarket rebuilds or OEM replacements for Ford hybrids is uncertain beyond the 10-12 year mark, but if you live where people drive a lot of old hybrids, you may be in luck!
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On 3/4/2022 at 3:34 AM, pictor said:
The way price of gas have shot up, diesel might be looking better to some.
Forr 2022 the only SUVs with diesel engines sold new in the USA are Wrangler, Range Rover, and Tahoe/Yukon/Suburban/Escalade. Diesel may continue to have a market as more refiners are switching to renewable and biodiesels.
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2 hours ago, bzcat said:
In a word, yes.
Basically, car buyers in the US have the lowest expectation of all the major markets so car companies (not just Ford) tend to give the US market the cheapest interior they can get away with. They wouldn't do that in Europe or China because consumers will not put up with rough plastic or crude designs. This has been the case forever.
From what I can gather the base price 4 cylinder (XLT equivalent) trim Explorer in China costs $45,000 USD, while the USDM market base price is $36,000. I believe Europe is similar in that they pay more than US customers do.
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Is the Bronco Sport PHEV now close to being released?
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2 hours ago, jasonj80 said:
Part of me is tempted to just take delivery of Jail bound Bronco when ever it is released and do exactly that.Question is going to be in 6 months after I take delivery will I be able to sell it for the Z-plan price plus the tax I paid on it.
The remaining 2021s probably aren't going to keep their value well when 2022s, painted tops, and special editions like the Warthog/Raptor start showing up.
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11 hours ago, ice-capades said:
The problem with the Maverick is that customers that want the Hybrid can't see or drive one which is already becoming a problem for the dealerships.
Why couldn't Ford offer 'mannequin' Maverick hybrids to dealers that are not for sale like they are doing for Broncos?
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23 hours ago, akirby said:
Theyre not going to make F150 XLs and XLTs special order only. Too much volume and too much competition.The reason Maverick hybrid will be order only is that they expect to have more demand than supply. Otherwise they’d have those on the lot too.
This probably assumes it's cheap for dealers to have a lot of inventory (and staff) on the lot with 'volume leaders'. Will be interesting to see how this plays out. Maybe more dealers will be downsizing and focusing on after sales service to become more profitable.
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4 hours ago, 2005Explorer said:
If a premium strategy is the way to go why not discontinue all F-Series XLT and XL models and focus on Lariat and above? Let Ram and GM have all those cheap rubber floor fleet sales and value driven products like STX since there is a lot more profit in luxury truck sales.
I'm not saying they should do this, but removing all less then premium trim in their product lines would increase product. Correct?
It's been noted the Maverick hybrid is build to order only. This may be an indication of the way forward, stocking dealer lots with profitable high level trim models and special editions, and leave the lower margin XLTs for customers to order. Just like Porsche, not a stripper to be found anywhere on the lot unless a customer cancelled their order. This way dealers won't have to absorb the flooring costs of low margin vehicles. Customers who must buy something right off the lot will pay the premium, increasing profits.
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22 hours ago, 2005Explorer said:
The whole idea that Ford can move to small volumes and raise their prices thousands over the mainstream competition and remain relevant as a major automaker in the future baffles me.
Ford has been doing this for a long time with premium trim levels and sub-brands like SVT/Raptor/ST, Shelby, King Ranch, Platinum, etc. Maybe Ford will still sell mainstream and premium products within the same brand.
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7 minutes ago, 2005Explorer said:
At some point though volume definitely comes into play if you want to be a major automaker and not a boutique brand. You can price a Ford only so high before people will just go get an alternative brand for less that is just as good. Parts and raw material fabrication also becomes more and more expensive to source when it's only for a few vehicles.
I think Mercedes-Benz shows that a very large carmaker can have a profitable brand of the most expensive and exotic cars on the road, as well as more entry level transportation and commercial vehicles. They usually make it easy to build to order, since it is almost impossible for the majority of Mercedes dealers to have deep inventories of their vehicles. For example MBZ has 8 SUVs , which covers well over 2 dozen individual models when different trims and AMG versions are included.
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16 hours ago, bzcat said:
But sports car is still way more profitable for Porsche. SUV provides volume which pays the bills but Porsche's profit is built on option sheet price gouging its sports car customers, $750 for color matching seatbelts at a time.
I think many of the expensive options available on Porsche SUVs too. The 2021 Cayenne has a base price of about $70,000, but the cheapest new one I could find of 100 on dealer lots around me has a $125,000 sticker. .
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21 hours ago, akirby said:
It’s a temporary problem, but yes - if Ford can make the same profit selling half as many vehicles, why not?Does Porsche still have the highest profits per vehicle in the industry? It should be noted their volume these days is in SUVs, not sports cars.
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On 7/30/2021 at 7:24 AM, rperez817 said:
It is great news for Ford, Ford dealers, and Ford customers. For too long, Ford has struggled with production and inventory planning, its dealers had floor plan expenses that could have been avoided, and customers often bought Ford vehicles for the "deal" rather than for the merits of the product. This led to a vicious cycle where the quantity of sales overrode the quality of sales.
With good online tools for configuring, ordering, and tracking new vehicles by customers and dealers, Farley's build to order paradigm should bring Ford into the "new world" of the automotive industry that Jim Hackett talked about a few years ago.
This story reminds me of car dealers in Japan. Because of the value of the land there, most of them only have a handful of vehicles on a lot for test drives, (like "mannequins') and buyers order what they want. I think new car dealers in many European countries may be similar? Interestingly USA, the Japanese makers have just the opposite approach. Dealers or regional distributors spec what they want stocked and manufacturers build to those specs. Individual options/trims are minimized. They typically make it difficult for the buyers to build to order. It would be interesting to see if build to order really fits a high volume sales model. There are probably many customers who are accustomed to impulse buying and don't want to use a computer to configure a vehicle.
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Escape, Edge, TC to be Killed
in Ford Motor Company Discussion Forum
Posted
To be fair those were a different chassis and drivetrain with Japanese battery packs and transmissions.