Motorpsychology

Kei trucklets are on the horizon, maybe Ford can cobble up a CE-0.5 platform. DJT likes them, too.

Everest might be a player in the future here. Tail fins, crushed velour, jelly bean styling all came and went. As more people arrive at the point of buying new 37 in tires for their Raptors, Sasquatch Broncos, and Rubicons, they may well question the wisdom of a Hell's Revenge-capable vehicle as a daily driver. Top tier 4 X 4 Suv's and trucks are expensive to buy, maintain, and insure. This too shall pass.

So many DOG's are out later than in the past- infighting over what to decontent?😜

We must have the most varied gas prices in a 3 mile radius in the country. Kwik Trip is the de facto bellwether here, so the others will raise regular prices today or tomorrow. BPs Premium I think is an error. they are across the street from the Circle K and typically there prices are the same.

TPMS sensors are powered by a non-replaceable battery. Either the battery or the pressure sensor itself failed, and there are no replaceable parts, the entire unit must be replaced. The best time to replace one or more is when getting new tires. I was quoted $120 to replace one on my 2009 Mariner when I bought new tires for it a few years ago, but declined as there were 3 more on deck. $480 for all four TPMS' seemed like a lot, so I bought a $4 gauge at Walmart to keep in the console.

The net may not be too significant, but as is the practice with the competition, the higher capacity battery pack may only be available in a higher trim, or in combination with other options, inflating the cost.

Kill F-150, make all F-Series Super Duty's, add an "F-200" as an entry level with slightly more capacity than the current F-150. It would still be #1 as those that want full size trucks are able to afford $8-900+/mo payments. Tool KCAP for Ranger (Maybe rename it F-150), DAP builds F-200s, or vice versa, introduce a Regular cab/8 ft box and add SuperCrew/6 ft box. MAP builds Broncos.

Might sell neck and neck with the Fiat Topolino

Up next: Paccar brings out a compact car as the Class 8 market softens.

I think the retail model we have in the US will need to evolve into something less capital intensive than what we currently have. Think about the acres of real estate needed to run a profitable dealership. Then all of the financed (in most cases) new inventory sitting on that taxed and probably mortgaged real estate, collecting interest and guano over time. And of course the year end blowout sale to clear the lot for the next year's model, and the old maids that carry forward into the following year, all sold at little or no profit, maybe a loss. We hear about how much faster-better-cheaper the new CE-1's will be to build, so streamline the order process so that the customer can order a car in person or online, and pick it up within 2-3 weeks, and have a few, maybe couple dozen vehicles on hand for spot delivery, at a premium price over an order out. The remaining acreage can become expanded used car sales or boat & RV storage.

The old Conventional Wisdom was to wait until the second year to buy a new model- let them work the bugs out. The new CW is, best to buy the first year, because the following years will have less standard equipment, or moved to a higher trim and the series will likely have recalls anyway.

More like the 60's GM B Series (top) Ford N-Series (bottom)

We had gotten as low as $2.51 87 E10, and as low as $3.09 91 E0 up until Sunday 12/28. Monday afternoon it jumped to $2.79 87 -$3.09-3.99/gal 91. on another forum I'm on, one poster put up a photo of $1.89 85oct. in Denver. I wouldn't run that low octane in my vehicles, but it's widely available there.

Farley's vision is to emulate Lamborghini; niche emotional vehicles and work vehicles. “I will build a motor car for the great multitude. It will be so low in price that no man making a good salary will be unable to own one — and enjoy with his family the blessing of hours of pleasure in God's great open spaces.” -Henry Ford “It wasn’t a mistake to try, but our costs were not competitive with Toyota and Hyundai/Kia, and in the end, we have to change to Broncos and pickup trucks.” -Jim Farley. I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer on here, but I believe there is more to it than cost competitiveness. Ford discontinued the Escape, because it wasn't "cost competitive" in the hopes that people will rush to CE-1 (someday), while the best selling CUV, Toyota RAV4, is built 78 miles away. I think it maybe time for Bill Ford to put an engineer back in the wheelhouse, Boy Racer ain't butterin' no parsnips. Lamborghini Reveulto & R6 140:

"If it ain't broke, fix it 'til it is."

We had microcars here into the early seventies. Fiat 500Ns and Subaru 360s duking it out with Fleetwood Broughms. The novelty wore off even in spite of the oil shortage, just as the Smart did and as I predict the Topolino's fate will be: wildly popular for about 10 months then, crickets.

The CW is barking about the cost and increasingly, the physical size of pickups Ranger is a viable "real" truck. Make it the next F-150, while the Super Duty Line retains its current dimensions SDs are becoming a larger portion of F-Series sales. Ranger Super Duty has proven that a midsize truck can be made as capable or moreso as an F-150. CE1 truck becomes the Courier. VW may want to buy in and get a version of either or both.

I suspect it's far more complex than reconfiguring Legos. Different door mounts, body mount points, exhaust plumbing, suspension rates, Crash engineering, on & on. If It would've been more economical to build a "Bronger" pickup rather than the one that is already sharing some ROW parts, they would have done that for 2024, After all, this is the company that saves money by deleting the light for the shifter. Therefore a pickup version of the Bronco would be significantly more expensive to build than the current Ranger, and therefore result in less, not more combined sales. @fuzzymoomoo can probably address this better, but I think Ranger's less than stellar sales have more to do with parts shortages than low demand.

That's assuming a Bronco Pickup would sell as well, which I'm not sure it would. They are two different approaches for two different customer perceptions, mechanical innards notwithstanding. Maverick would also benefit profit wise from shared styling with Bronco Sport, but each serve different market segments.

https://www.dakotaforums.com/forum/threads/2027-ram-dakota-confirmed-for-us-north-america.24108/

The grass is always greener on the other side of the region. For some reason, NA gets cheaped-out interiors compared to the same or similar vehicles sold in other markets. If it does come here, I'm betting it won't be the same interior trim level-due to the tariff situation, of course.

Very similar to the Honda E0 Saloon (left), shown at CES 24 & 25:

They still look fresh

The '73+ C/K's were the best looking GM pickups IMHO

Maybe it will be like Stellantis and we'll see a couple pop up two years from now...