slemke

Yes….at first I thought the focus was returning from the grave.

Pretty sure we can thank Govt. mandated safety equipment for this. It’s stuff many people want anyway, and at under 20k is one heck of a deal. Like those old Mazda b2000 trucks for $5k or early 90s Rangers. I can see this being real popular with first time buyers and will make folks forget all about the Focus and it’s dct transmission woes.

Should have listened to the engineer and made the glass smaller.

Maybe Ford is getting a really good deal on cells from SK or whoever the supplier is. Lowest price per KWh is ~$100 for Chinese bus batteries. If Ford got close to that, a 1.5Kwh pack similar to the F150 powerboost would only be a couple hundred bucks. Might be worth the cafe credits.

If the Maverick base powertrain being a hybrid is true, I would expect the hybrid to eventually be the case across the 3 amigos….never mind escape is made in KY.

Unlike diesel, it can be significantly cheaper than regular unleaded, which helps to offset the milage penalty. The milage difference should diminish under heavy loads as the higher octane requires less fuel enrichment. I use E15 in my ecoboost vehicles when I can get it. Slightly higher octane, lower cost, and no milage penalty.

8%...as long as it isn’t traction limited there will be a difference. But, yeah, 510 is more than enough for most. This isn’t 1981 where every lb-ft and hp made a difference because they were so scarce.

Aviator and expanded Explorer production replaced Taurus. Again high margin vehicles replacing a low margin sedan.

My guess is it will get a modest boost in hp and torque similar to the regular 3.5EB in the f150 and the high output version in the GT. Expect 475hp and 550 lb-ft torque. Enough to keep it even with or slightly ahead of a 392 hemi.

more like sell what they can produce with little or no subsidy. Ford is production constrained right now. Firm customer orders helps manage allocation of scarce resources. Ordering far in advance has worked for Tesla. Ford is trying it now and I expect it to become more common. Dealers will need to rely on getting orders instead of selling from inventory. It is a paradigm shift that could lead to better profits as dealers won’t have a large floor plan expense.

Taking pressure off of low price Rangers might be exactly what they are trying to do. Free up some allocation for additional high trim rangers and Broncos.

The special deals used to just expire after the time period and not roll over. Now they continue on a month to month basis. An oil change at the local quick lane is often good for a 3 month trial with no obligation. It was 3 months of their streaming service since my old F150 was pre-SiriusXM the last time I went in.

Is it really cheaper to buy the passenger version and convert it than just buy a cargo version? The transit is made in KC so there wouldn’t be a tax difference...just what Ford can get in market pricing between the two. oh, and can a moderator merge the two threads?

And the settlement will be much less. Ford did what they thought was enough to satisfy the requirements. Looks like a government shakedown to me. As comments to the article stated, close the loopholes and move on. We will see what the final amount comes out to be.

It showed that there wasn’t a zero sum game between the bronco sport and the escape. Combine the 2 and they climb to number 2 on the list and doing OK in the segment. The chip shortage is wreaking havoc on the numbers. Sales are related to who has chips for which products. With people traveling again, rental companies are refreshing their fleets and taking whatever they can get. The standard suv I rented last month was a Durango with a hemi.

With or without chips?

Likely fleet buyers would be those that bought compact pickups in the past: mall/private security, pest control, parts distributors (Napa, Advance, Autozone,etc.), city inspectors. Basically anyone who wants a cheap fleet vehicle that has some amount of exposed storage space. I wouldn’t want my refrigerator delivered from the back of a pickup. Use a box truck and keep it dry and secure.

Maybe some sort of mid-gate like the avalanche to convert from a crew cab to regular cab with a longer bed? Whether or not it sees the light of day will depend on: 1) how much spare capacity MAP has 2) the size of investment needed to make it a reality 3) expected profits 4) whether there are more compelling business cases There must be some level of confidence in it or it would have been cancelled by now.

They also picked up the 2 fabs from IBM. As was mentioned, they are a step behind TSMC and Samsung. I found it interesting that IBM partnered with Samsung on their 2nm node instead of global foundries. Micron is in Idaho, but that is only memory from what I recall. Do TI or NXP have fabs in the US? They were/are large semiconductor suppliers to the automotive industry.

I think you are on to something. I thought there was a Ford patent on some sort of range extender. Of course, that sounds like a PHEV and regulators will not allow for it ?

You need to drive faster. ? That’s probably a record if a train was involved. with something like the Bronco, I’m a little surprised you can’t take factory delivery. My guess is it is prohibited by franchise agreements.

And whether it takes the scenic route. A friend of mine ordered a Fusion. It was comical getting the updated location updates. It took a tour of the western US and 2 months to be delivered. My F150 on the other hand took 1-2 days to get from Norfolk to Raleigh.

I’d change the 12.5k to be built in US by US company (Ford, GM, Tesla, etc). I’d also limit it to vehicles below the luxury car tax threshold. I wouldn’t be upset if all the subsidies went away. Lightning appears to make the case for competitive pricing before incentives on purchase. BEVs already dodge the fuel taxes.

That all makes sense, but a large portion of the shortcomings sighted are due to regulator interference. Regulations are providing the loopholes for folks to abuse. I looked at one of the German PHEVs....the tax credit was more than the up charge for PHEV. No brainer to get the PHEV and then use it as a regular hybrid if you don’t want to bother charging it. I can see why that is frowned upon by regulators. Fix the regulations and the problem goes away. PHEVs may or may not survive on their own, just let the market decide. #2 Makes sense in that you have a choice: a) lug around extra batteries for the few times you need more range or b) lug around an ICE and associated hardware for additional range. A was extremely expensive, particularly on what was billed as an affordable, clean, commuter car. So B. Got the go ahead. As battery technology improves, B will become less attractive.

It’s time hasn’t really gotten started. Batteries were and still are expensive, heavy, and bulky. They were also supply limited. It should be getting easier to get a higher capacity battery that will fit the limited space for a PHEV. It’s about having a diverse portfolio of products. PHEV will work great for those making short local trips and still desire the long range and hassle free fill ups of gas or diesel. Put an inductive charging pad on the garage floor and forget about it. We may be reading different papers, but I don’t see the battery technology and pricing progressing as predicted, it has been slower. The lightning made a big leap in affordability, but the profitability of it is questionable. We all know Ford had some good margins on the Fseries. It will be some time before we know anything about the financials on the Lightning. Tesla wasn’t crushing it in profits either...especially considering their direct sales model captures what would have been dealer profits onto the bottom line along with selling carbon credits.