Focus and fiesta may return as affordable evs

[DeluxeStang]

1 hour ago, tbone said:

The BS may be a better vehicle, but people are a lot more price conscious than they were a few years ago.  The pre-2024 Trax, by most accounts, were not good, but the 2024 appears to be a better vehicle.  
 

Chevy has nine SUVS, including EVs, and a car (10)  Ford has seven, including the MME. Three of the Chevy SUVs start below the 2025 Escape.  The Edge and the Malibu are going away so it will be 9 and 6.  Nobody really cares about the Malibu, but the disappearance of the Edge puts another hole in Fords affordability calculation, and the Bronco is not a proper replacement.  On the truck side, the Maverick certainly helps the affordability, but it is a truck.  I honestly never would have expected Chevy to better positioned than Ford.  
 

I’ll continue to beat a dead horse that Ford needs to be finding young/new customers, and that isn’t going to happen without more affordable compelling products, and not just in the EV category.  

EVs are the key to winning over the hearts and minds of younger consumers. Reception of EVs and willingness to buy them if obtainable skyrockets with younger consumers. So if Ford sticks to their goal of making a wide range of affordable, yet aspirational EVs, that'll go a long way with younger buyers. 

 

Yeah, there are younger price sensitive customers out there that don't want a maverick, or bronco sport, or mustang Ecoboost, but who don't want an EV either. But that's a pretty limited market. Building a product to appeal purely to those kinds of buyers is gonna cause more issues than it's worth. Let Toyota go after those buyers. I only want to see a new Ford hatchback or sedan if it's highly differentiated and stands out in the marketplace. 

[tbone]

3 minutes ago, DeluxeStang said:

EVs are the key to winning over the hearts and minds of younger consumers. Reception of EVs and willingness to buy them if obtainable skyrockets with younger consumers. So if Ford sticks to their goal of making a wide range of affordable, yet aspirational EVs, that'll go a long way with younger buyers. 

 

I don’t disagree the younger generation is the proper target, but around here when they go to charge those bad boys, they’ll get a rude awakening and feel like they suck ass after period of time of dealing with it.  It’s a must for the infrastructure to improve to make this work, which is why I think Ford needs at least one cheaper ICE entry-level vehicle to bridge that gap.

[Biker16]

I want to add that all customers are price sensitive, not just younger buyers.

 

I don't think any buyer wants to pay more for money than they have to for a vehicle.

[akirby]

2 hours ago, Biker16 said:

I want to add that all customers are price sensitive, not just younger buyers.

 

I don't think any buyer wants to pay more for money than they have to for a vehicle.

There are people who shop within a budget whether out of necessity (this includes most younger buyers) or just personal preference.   There are people who are not on a budget but who want the best possible price.  Then there are people who buy what they like regardless of cost if they can afford it.  

Edited August 13, 2024 by akirby

[DeluxeStang]

11 hours ago, tbone said:

I don’t disagree the younger generation is the proper target, but around here when they go to charge those bad boys, they’ll get a rude awakening and feel like they suck ass after period of time of dealing with it.  It’s a must for the infrastructure to improve to make this work, which is why I think Ford needs at least one cheaper ICE entry-level vehicle to bridge that gap.

The infrastructure isn't amazing, but it's improving year after year, noticably so. There are EV charging stations all over the place now, shopping centers and movie theaters, restaurants, office buildings, gas stations, etc. 

 

I wouldn't be surprised if apartment complexes started adding more charging stations as well to solve the problem. 

[Rick73]

I’m influenced greatly by value, which to me means getting most out of my purchase investment.  Sometimes that’s a low-cost item, and sometimes it’s a high-cost item.  It often drives sales people nuts because they tend to think all buyers choose based on budgets.  Obviously I have upper limits I can’t exceed like everyone else does, but most items I buy rarely fall in that category.  Bang-for-the-buck speaks loud to me.  It’s not being cheap, it’s more about not being wasteful.  Also one reason I hate marketing guys pushing me into buying crap I don’t want.  Makes me want to avoid their brands altogether.

[Rick73]

11 hours ago, tbone said:

I don’t disagree the younger generation is the proper target, but around here when they go to charge those bad boys, they’ll get a rude awakening and feel like they suck ass after period of time of dealing with it.  It’s a must for the infrastructure to improve to make this work, which is why I think Ford needs at least one cheaper ICE entry-level vehicle to bridge that gap.

Agree Ford could benefit from cheaper ICE, and I will add that they could benefit from a cheaper hybrid car as well.  The new Honda Civic hybrid is a good example of what I consider good value.  Under $30K buys a pretty nice compact car that gets 50 MPG City EPA rating, and adds little cost over standard powertrain.  You get more power too.  Much like Maverick Hybrid, Civic HEV a low-cost upgrade option for those wanting to reduce their emissions footprint.  Maverick doesn’t add cost, but the alternate powertrain is EcoBoost which isn’t comparable to the Civic’s basic unit; so apples and oranges.

[morgan20]

6 hours ago, DeluxeStang said:

The infrastructure isn't amazing, but it's improving year after year, noticably so. There are EV charging stations all over the place now, shopping centers and movie theaters, restaurants, office buildings, gas stations, etc.

 

Yea, in Martinsville, IN the city and county governments and local businesses have been adding lots of EV public charging stations. All Ford dealers in Indianapolis metro have added new charging stations, and Ford has partnered with Tesla to provide Ford EV owners with a free NACS fast charging adapter for use with Tesla Supercharger. I got one for my F-150 Lightning.

 

The beer distribution center that replaced the Ford plant where I used to work also has a EV charging station. During a recent visit I charged my Lightning there and it worked great

 

 

 

[Biker16]

On 8/13/2024 at 12:08 PM, DeluxeStang said:

The infrastructure isn't amazing, but it's improving year after year, noticably so. There are EV charging stations all over the place now, shopping centers and movie theaters, restaurants, office buildings, gas stations, etc. 

 

I wouldn't be surprised if apartment complexes started adding more charging stations as well to solve the problem. 

Expanding Destination Level 2 charging at  Hotels, Apartments and Curbside is critical.

SAE with the J3400 Standard, (I.E. NACS, I.E. Tesla Plug) is making some foundational changes to level 2 charging to make it easier to expand EV charging to more places and reduce barriers to EV deployment. 
 
One Change is the BYOC.” Bring-your-own-cable Capability, which simplifies Deployment by replacing permanent curbside wires and boxes with an EV-specific outlet, which is common in the EU. They are also Expanding the maximum changing voltage from 240VAC to 277VAC to enable easier integration with 3-phase 480VAC common in Commercial, industrial buildings and Level 3 DC chargers.  




https://www.sae.org/blog/j3400-NACS-standard-rodney-mcgee