bzcat

Full speculation mode on The "two" manufacturer "deep" into planning and development is obvious given what we know... GM already on the record as saying they want to do a Wrangler like vehicle for GMC; and Ford Bronco whispers from Robert. The third company... maybe Toyota? They are probably looking around saying there is money to be made on a new 70 series Land Cruiser after seeing how much profit they made on the FJ. As far as Bronco goes, there are a few options but I will go out on a limb and say it will be a 4 door utility vehicle similar to Wrangler Unlimited... the 2 door SWB version will put too much strain on CAFE. The options: F-150 platform - think Raptor-lite... Shortened chassis and aluminum body with 4 cylinder engine. T7 Ranger platform - this will be the next generation Everest but with more "heritage" Bronco like styling. i.e. more expansive fenders and soft top option. Ford can sell the Everest in the rest of the world and sell the Bronco in North America. D6 platform - this will make it unibody and we really don't know enough about D6 to know how capable offroad it will be.

I would be very surprised if MKX doesn't come with 3 rows of seats as options; if not at launch, then soon after. All the engineering work has been done on the 7 seat version of Edge, and MKX already has the long roof line to accommodate the 3rd row. You don't even need LWB.

Huh? VW has been using Caddy trademark for 36 years now.

Refresh is scheduled for 2017 model year, which will most likely be out in early 2016.

Ford sold 10,234 PIS in 2014... so yea... Chevy is a non-factor.

GM sold 3,727 Caprice in 2014... about as much as Ford sold PIU and PIS in two months. If I'm in charge of Ford's Government Fleet program, I'm not too worried about GM now days. Dodge Charger is the only viable competitor.

Me likey the wagon one

Ford will probably continue to sell Flex and MKT as long as they have the capacity to make a few hundreds of them a week at Oakville. Flex is still selling at ~1,600 units a month without any advertising or much incentives so it is probably a positive contribution to operating margin. Ford will turn off the lights on them when one of the drivetrain components are phased out across the board (e.g. retirement of first generation 3.5 V6 or the 6 speed auto) If sales of MKX and Edge swamps Oakville capacity, then Flex and MKT will get an early axe.

Usually Ford's mid cycle update includes a very short model year run so if it is scheduled for 2017 model year, it means the current model will have a very short 2016 model year run. We should be seeing the new model come out in Spring 2016 (i.e. this time next year)

World debut at Shanghai Auto Show in April. Production will begin at Hangzhou soon after.

Focus wagon will not be coming to North America but it will still be one of the most critical product on the C platform. C-Max was originally called Focus C-Max. But it was divorced from Focus for reasons only Ford Europe knows.

You are missing Transit Connect and the pickup version that Ford is working on. Also Focus wagon. I would also add a Focus X Road to the list. These are pretty much slam dunk. Plus Focus wagon, Transit Connect, and Transit Connect pickup. Focus X Road should get a serious evaluation from Ford this time. maybe... if C-Max doesn't come back as a hybrid in North America. probably redundant. 11 is yes for sure. 12 is definitely no. Not enough volume to justify unique design. Just do a PHEV version of #11.

Regal is not a tweener (it is the same size as Fusion and Camry etc). The issue really is that LaCrosse is too small/cheap and that diminishes Regal's value proposition. Regal was originally supposed to be the 2nd generation Saturn Aura in North America leaving Buick dealers with just the LaCrosse to cover the mid/large sedan segment. LaCrosse originally had 4 cylinder engine (2.2?) but the option was dropped when the decision to re-purpose Aura as Regal was made. In hind sight, GM should have made LaCrosse bigger/more expensive like Cadillac XTS and Chevy Impala and that would have improved the value proposition of Regal. But it's a make lemonade with lemons situation.

200 sales volume was about the same as last month (~16,000 units) but ranked higher this month because Hyundai Sonata and Kia Optima sales deflated after year-end incentives were withdrawn.

I'm sure it will be eventually. Ford is likely limiting cab chassis drivetrain availability right now to make sure uplifters don't go crazy. Once they got more durability data in the field (i.e. warranty data etc), they will start to uprate the chassis and make more powerful engines available.

Burrito Class Ford Transit 6,380 Chevy Express 3,852 Ford E-Series 3,308 Ram Promaster 1,580 Mercedes Sprinter 1,505 GMC Savana 1,489 Nissan NV 1,059 Nothing too surprising here. Nissan is really struggling here with its dinosaur van. GM's exit from the 1500 class didn't help Nissan at all. Taco Class Ford Transit Connect 3,689 Nissan NV200 1,184 Ram Cargovan 1,101 Chevy City Express 585 Ram Promaster City 93 City Express vs. Promaster City midget fight! Enchilada Class Toyota Sienna 8,933 Honda Odyssey 7,870 Chrysler Town & Country 6,044 Dodge Caravan 4,665 Kia Sedona 1,670 Ford Flex 1,458 Nissan Quest 708 Mazda5 941 Flex is holding its own considering the lack of marketing and aging product. If it was a worldwide product, I think it will stick around. But since it is a North America only model, it probably won't come back.

Fullsize Ford F-Series 54,370 Chevy Silverado 36,106 Ram Ram 28,618 GMC Sierra 12,621 Toyota Tundra 8,197 Nissan Titan 774 Ford F-150 retail deliveries are starting but we probably haven't seen the full effect yet because fleet orders won't be filled until later this month. Jumbo Shrimp Toyota Tacoma 11,409 Chevy Colorado 5,942 Nissan Frontier 5,868 GMC Canyon 2,205 Honda Ridgeline 214 GM is not conquesting any buyers as Tacoma and Frontier sales are both up. But Colorado moved up to 2nd place behind Tacoma.

Bell weather midsize car sales I think someone forgot to tell Nissan the year-end battle is over. I'm not aware of any super awesome retail incentives so there must have been some serious fleet stuffing going on with Altima this month. Toyota Camry 26,763 Nissan Altima 26,408 Honda Accord 21,011 Ford Fusion 19,694 Chrysler 200 14,157 Hyundai Sonata 12,363 Chevy Malibu 11,878 Kia Optima 9,394 VW Passat 6,305 Subaru Legacy 3,881 Mazda6 3,766 Buick Regal 792

One factor on C-Max sales that we rarely see mentioned - right around the same time MPG was revised, Transit Connect started showing up for taxi fleets and Ford pulled back on C-Max going to NYC. If Ford is going to do a real Prius or Volt like dedicated PHEV on the next generation C-car platform (as oppose to C-Max, which is the wrong form factor for the US market), they might as well start thinking about putting a non-hybrid version of C-Max out there with lower MSRP.

Ford did the same thing when Mustang was first revealed... final horsepower rating is pending emission calibration and competitive factors. Power is inversely related to fuel consumption and emission... Ford has to find the right balance. I'm guessing the final production version will be 330hp, which leaves plenty of room for the eventual RS500 version.

3.5 EB hybrid makes a lot of sense for SD especially if it has a plug-in Energi option, as an alternative to 6.2 gas V8. Not sure about 3.2 diesel hybrid... You are constantly cycling on and off the diesel engine in a hybrid setup... it's not going to pass emission.

T450 and T550 trademarks could be just smart play to prevent other people from using it in the US. I wouldn't read too much into it. T350 and T450 were used in Europe previously for certain configuration of Transit minibus.

I'm old enough to remember when WRC was running with midsize Group A cars (e.g. Ford Sierra Cosworth 4x4, Subaru Legacy WRX, Mitsubishi Galant VR4 etc). When it went down to C-segment cars (Escort Cosworth and later Focus RS, Impreza WRX, Lancer EVO), I kind of lost interest. And then it was downsized again to B-segment cars.

Those shots were taken in Michigan, and they've been around for about 2 months now.

You wife's 2010 has 6 speed auto and VVT version of the 3.0 V6... not the same as my ancient 2001 which has 4 speed and no variable valve timing. I'd expect at 2010 to have least 10% better MPG than my 2001 did.