DeluxeStang

It's a real challenge for sure. Kinda disappointing that even if they add sales volume to the mustang by offering a sedan, it's still gonna be an uphill battle to make any costly improvements to the platform. With Ford rolling back EV plans for now, and with this renewed emphasis on performance and aspirational products, it would be neat if Ford developed a new unibody performance platform, not just for the mustang coupe and sedan, but maybe for other products as well, like certain crossovers. Developing something where the development costs could be spread across a wide range of models. But I doubt we'll see that, it's almost certainly too expensive to justify. It sounds somewhat similar with Ford's plans you were describing earlier, moving more vehicles to a modernized shared platform.

Isn't the core structure of the mustang made from steel? I could be wrong on that. I doubt they'll do it for an s650 based sedan, but moving forward, it seems like switching to all aluminum would save hundreds of lbs and wouldn't be as insanely expensive as something like using more carbon fiber.

Calling it now, this company is dead once Ford launches their own compact affordable EV truck. Who's gonna buy from an unknown brand when you can get something pretty similar from one of the most well known brands in the world? Sure Ford's EV truçk will be a bit bigger, but that broadens it's appeal. Smaller than these massice trucks, bigger than something the size of a mini cooper.

I kinda dig it, it's almost like this swedish take on a mach-e.

The current sante fe is one of the worst looking crossovers on sale. The front isn't terrible, but the rear is genuinely hideous and is already aging terribly.

But there's very clearly a market for both. If everything became boxy, the market for vehicles with the styling would become oversaturated. Ford has the boxy styling covered, but should explore other avenues. If escape and bronco sport are both compact crossovers with boxy styling, you're gonna see a lot of cross model cannibalization and in-fighting. The two most successful sorts of lifestyle crossovers are boxy rugged off-roading stuff like jeeps and broncos, but there's also a sizable audience who are buying sexy curvaceous road going sport SUVs like Porsche, the Mach-e, and Alfa Romeos crossovers. I see no reason why Ford can't do both. I think they should, both are lucrative markets.

It seems like the best course of action is to redesign escape with the intent of turning it into an "icon" of its own. The BS has the boxy off-roader thing covered, trying to turn the escape into that as well would mean too much overlap. But you can go the other way, take inspiration from like the mach-e. It's clear the mach-e appeals to a lot of people, even with the significant kickback EVs are receiving Ford is selling like 40-50k of them a year. Imagine styling like that with a far more affordable price, and better tech/performance. It would make the escape far more appealing while also preventing it from stepping on the toes of the BS as both cars would be very different things. Cast as wide of a net with as few models as possible .

Hopefully for the coupe as well as the sedan.

We'll see how things unfold. I believe it's implied that the mustang will indeed get a new platform after the s650, which makes sense that Ford is basically all in on the mustang right now. But given consumer preferences, I believe this next gen mustang platform will be ICE powered still, likely with 2.3 and 5.0 hybrids. We've heard about hybrid mustangs for years, and know ford wants to offer them. We've also seen mustang mules with clues that they could be hybrids. So my guess is Ford brings in the 2.3 and 5.0 hybrids for the s650 refresh in a couple of years. Then the next gen mustang coupe and sedan utilize those same powertrains. That's just what I see happening, who knows how accurate that prediction will be.

Didn't you own a Tarus sho? I've heard those things are pretty damn reliable, and surprisingly fun to drive.

Because we're talking about complexity and long term reliability, do we have any accurate data comparing Ecoboost engines to the 5.0 and to the competition's v8's? My uncle bought a 2018 f-150 5.0 10 speed recently because he wanted something really reliable and thought the 5.0 would be more trouble free than a 3.5. the truck had about 45k miles on it when he bought it and had already had it's, it believe they're called cam phasers and lifters, replaced. The front dif also went out and was about 6 grand, that's apparently a very common issue on that gen of f-150. He's only had it for like 20k miles. Whereas my neighbor has a 2019 ranger that's been dead reliable believe it or not despite only having a 2.3 4 cyl, an even smaller engine that what our significantly lighter maverick hybrid has, and it seems to get by just fine. I take your point, but there are so many high mileage Ecoboost motors now, the highest I've heard of was 600k on a transit fleet van, original motor still. It seems like it mostly comes down to maintaince, people beat the shit out of cars, and neglect them, then blame the brand when they break.

The 4 door bronco also accounts for about 70% of bronco sales. I've seen some purists who think this will doom the mustang, when it will actually save it.

I think part of the issue is most of these interesting wagons and sports cars are either too expensive, or horrifically compromised. Some of the only truly affordable sports coupes for instance are things like the Miata or gr86 that are the size of a shoebox, blow their engines after 5k miles, and spin out the second any snow hits the ground. Reliable, affordable sports cars are very few and far between, which scares a lot of younger buyers off.

I respectfully disagree, I'm of the mindset that everything old becomes new again. My generation is begging for cool new wagons and sport coupes, and is generally burned out on crossovers because it's all they see, they're ready for something else. That doesn't mean crossovers and trucks will stop selling all together of course, I just see the consumer sentiment towards them shifting in favor of other products. Nothing remains a best seller forever.

The narrative I've seen almost across the board has been Ford needs to focus on profitability, that just so happens to mean focusing on trucks and utilities more as they can command a price premium. But almost everyone on this site I've seen has supported the idea of offering a mustang sedan. It just makes a lot of sense.