Ford's new path forward

[akirby]

Quote

The Tennessee site, which was set to come online in 2028 as the company’s largest, most efficient manufacturing site, will instead build “affordable, gas-powered” trucks in 2029, Ford said. A spokesperson said the rechristened Tennessee Truck Plant will produce “a model we don’t have today.” Ford said the assembly site in Tennessee will employ about 2,300 workers when it comes online in 2029.

Sounds to me like they're building a small truck based in part on CE1 making it smaller and cheaper than Maverick.  They could also be moving next gen Maverick there as well freeing up Hermosillo for utilities.

[Sherminator98]

15 minutes ago, akirby said:

Sounds to me like they're building a small truck based in part on CE1 making it smaller and cheaper than Maverick.  They could also be moving next gen Maverick there as well freeing up Hermosillo for utilities.

 

What would be the actual point with having the Super Duty, F-150, Ranger, Maverick and the CE1 pickup covering the market already? Why have a cheap ICE vehicle stealing sales from your cheap EV that is supposed to make people buy EVs? 

 

I think its just a place holder and its more likely that its going to be some sort of SUV/CUV built there instead....
 

The Expedition and Navigator come from a "truck" plant 😛

 

With all the changes, the one thing that also popped into my head with all this going on-what is going to happen with the Mach E and Cuautitlán Assembly? I can see the Mach E migrating to the CE1 platform by the end of the decade and why build it in Mexico (which was primarily for EU sales) when it is gonna be hit with Tariffs when they can make a variant of it at Louisville. EU production could be picked up in market, if there is a demand for it?

[akirby]

1 hour ago, Dequindre said:

This sounds like a more practical solution for trucks than BEV (at least until the technology can catch-up).

Except its still a BEV......

[akirby]

23 minutes ago, Sherminator98 said:

What would be the actual point with having the Super Duty, F-150, Ranger, Maverick and the CE1 pickup covering the market already? Why have a cheap ICE vehicle stealing sales from your cheap EV that is supposed to make people buy EVs? 

Because Maverick moved up in price and majority of buyers don't want EVs yet.  Think original Ranger.

[DeluxeStang]

2 hours ago, T-dubz said:

Oh I know, I wanted to see the T3 just to get an idea of the design direction and I wanted to see the 3 row EV just to see how bad it was lol.

I'd imagine the design for t3 at the very least will carry over. Apparently it looks like a futuristic take on those late 90s, early 2000s f-150s. That doesn't sound attractive when described, but people who've seen it have actually said it looks quite nice. 

[DeluxeStang]

2 hours ago, akirby said:

I still think T3 is an important product longer term, but I understand wanting to focus on more affordable EVs.

 

The new gas truck is a bit of a head scratcher.  I'll start a new topic on that one.

If they just said new affordable gas truck I would assume it was additional maverick production. But what I'm getting hung up on is them saying is a new model they don't offer today. So not an f-series, ranger, or maverick. 

 

Maybe a gas powered version of the CE1 truck or some sort of ranchero ute thing are the only things I can think of, but I'm curious to see what others think this could be. 

[morgan20]

4 hours ago, T-dubz said:

As a ford fan, I’m really getting tired of the cancellations. I know that they are necessary, but we’ve been waiting years to see some of these vehicles. T3 and the 3 row EV were some I was most looking forward to. Now we will never get to see them 😂

 

Yea, as a Ford fan and former employee myself I commiserate. But total lack of tact and long term planning combined with the big shots spoutin' more bullshit about their latest "better idea" being a customer-driven shift is sadly what to expect of so called "leadership" at FoMoCo these days.

 

Grab a life preserver and jump off the sinking ship while you can

[DeluxeStang]

Get ready for a way out of left field moment. BORG is claiming this is a bronco pickup that will replace the ranger. 

[mustang84isu]

This company changes their product plans as frequently as someone changes their underwear.  A $19.5 billion writedown is insane.  How are heads not rolling at Ford over that.

 

Half joking, but how long before we read about the CE1 program being dead?

 

I want to remain optimistic about the future, but this company seems lost.  Battery storage feels like a distraction, trying to cash in on the data center boom and throwing some red meat to Wall Street, but they're already way late to the game.  EREV sounds promising, and is probably the direction they should have gone initially, but the amount of time and resources wasted to get to this point is tough to swallow.

[fuzzymoomoo]

6 hours ago, DeluxeStang said:

Get ready for a way out of left field moment. BORG is claiming this is a bronco pickup that will replace the ranger.

That was a rumor when Bronco first launched. I don’t know if there was ever any real meat to it but it’s an interesting thought. Curious why now considering the Wrangler-styled Gladiator didn’t exactly set the world on fire sales-wise. 

[fuzzymoomoo]

5 hours ago, mustang84isu said:

Battery storage feels like a distraction, trying to cash in on the data center boom and throwing some red meat to Wall Street, but they're already way late to the game. 

Counterpoint: Tesla has been doing it for well over a decade at this point. If this new battery chemistry/structure Ford has is better then why not try to recoup the EV losses on something like that? 

[danglin]

10 hours ago, Texasota said:

This is the same path Stellantis followed. They cancelled the BEV Ram and focused resources on the Ramcharger which was then renamed to Ram 1500 REV. But it has been delayed multiple times.

 

Will see if Ford beats Ram to Market!

[Sherminator98]

2 minutes ago, fuzzymoomoo said:

Counterpoint: Tesla has been doing it for well over a decade at this point. If this new battery chemistry/structure Ford has is better then why not try to recoup the EV losses on something like that? 

 

My thoughts-I've been working in IT for almost 30 years now and AI, while it can be useful for certain things, is getting to the point that we are going to see a VERY ugly crash due to the overinvestment in it. 

 

DRAM prices are crazy due to shortages...just as an example, I built a new PC over the summer and put 64GB of RAM into it and it cost about $190 bucks-the same RAM goes for $900 now!

 

There so far companies haven't been able to find a useful/profitable use for AI-something like 95% of deployments fail. 

 

Consumers aren't interested in AI enabled things and are distrustful of the tech. Yeah 15-30 second meme videos are cute/funny, but can you actually make money off it? Is it worth the 20-40% increase in electrical bills? 

 

I see the AI bubble blowing up like dot com crash did back 25 years ago. 

[Sherminator98]

10 hours ago, Texasota said:

This is the same path Stellantis followed. They cancelled the BEV Ram and focused resources on the Ramcharger which was then renamed to Ram 1500 REV. But it has been delayed multiple times.

 

Huh?

 

https://www.hagerty.com/media/news/2026-ram-1500-ramcharger-aims-to-offer-best-of-both-worlds-when-it-debuts-later-this-year/

 

So far hasn't been renamed as far as i can tell. 

[twintornados]

So, the redesign of Lightning will get rid of the frunk and put a engine/generator combo in it's place? 

[Sherminator98]

8 hours ago, akirby said:

Because Maverick moved up in price and majority of buyers don't want EVs yet.  Think original Ranger.

 

The Maverick moved up in price partly due to inflation, which has affected every other car too. 

Just looking at the Nissan Versa-It cost $14800 back in 2020 and is 18-20K today-a nearly 4-6K increase that the Maverick has seen also. 

 

27 minutes ago, fuzzymoomoo said:

That was a rumor when Bronco first launched. I don’t know if there was ever any real meat to it but it’s an interesting thought. Curious why now considering the Wrangler-styled Gladiator didn’t exactly set the world on fire sales-wise. 

 

Also why build a product that is going to be lucky to sell 100K units or so a year at a brand new plant that can most likely do 3-4X that a year? The Ranger sold about 100K units in 2020 and 2021 and has seen a significant drop since the Bronco came out. 

 

Does Ford see that much of a demand for it that isn't been filled? 

[Biker16]

 

 

[fordmantpw]

46 minutes ago, Sherminator98 said:

 

My thoughts-I've been working in IT for almost 30 years now and AI, while it can be useful for certain things, is getting to the point that we are going to see a VERY ugly crash due to the overinvestment in it. 

 

DRAM prices are crazy due to shortages...just as an example, I built a new PC over the summer and put 64GB of RAM into it and it cost about $190 bucks-the same RAM goes for $900 now!

 

There so far companies haven't been able to find a useful/profitable use for AI-something like 95% of deployments fail. 

 

Consumers aren't interested in AI enabled things and are distrustful of the tech. Yeah 15-30 second meme videos are cute/funny, but can you actually make money off it? Is it worth the 20-40% increase in electrical bills? 

 

I see the AI bubble blowing up like dot com crash did back 25 years ago. 

 

I agree.  I've been trying to buy a new server to replace one I bought 5 years ago.  I like to buy from Dell outlet as you get like new for deeply discounted prices.  To get a machine comparable to what I bought 5 years ago and paid < $3000 for, I would have to spend $15-20k!

[Sherminator98]

7 minutes ago, fordmantpw said:

 

I agree.  I've been trying to buy a new server to replace one I bought 5 years ago.  I like to buy from Dell outlet as you get like new for deeply discounted prices.  To get a machine comparable to what I bought 5 years ago and paid < $3000 for, I would have to spend $15-20k!

 

LOL what the hell do you need a 15-20K Server for personal use for? 

[akirby]

6 hours ago, mustang84isu said:

This company changes their product plans as frequently as someone changes their underwear.  A $19.5 billion writedown is insane.  How are heads not rolling at Ford over that.

 

Half joking, but how long before we read about the CE1 program being dead?

 

I want to remain optimistic about the future, but this company seems lost.  Battery storage feels like a distraction, trying to cash in on the data center boom and throwing some red meat to Wall Street, but they're already way late to the game.  EREV sounds promising, and is probably the direction they should have gone initially, but the amount of time and resources wasted to get to this point is tough to swallow.

Well you have to consider the regulatory environment at the time they made those decisions - unrealistic CAFE targets and pending regulation that would have essentially banned new ICE vehicles.  Now I think they tried to pivot too fast and with some wrong products but you can't blame them for going that direction.  Also - CE1 wasn't viable yet.  A slower and more calculated approach would have been far better but thats not Farley's style.  He likes to swing for the fences.

 

I disagree about battery storage.  I think its a good business with far better returns than car batteries.  Tesla has been doing it for a long time.

[Sherminator98]

2 minutes ago, akirby said:

I disagree about battery storage.  I think its a good business with far better returns than car batteries.  Tesla has been doing it for a long time.

 

Some more info if people are interested

 

https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/teslas-energy-storage-business-quietly-growing-triple-digit-rates-companys-next-growth#:~:text=Tesla's energy business delivered stunning,GWh of capacity per year.

 

[fordmantpw]

8 minutes ago, Sherminator98 said:

 

LOL what the hell do you need a 15-20K Server for personal use for? 

 

It's far my business.  I host web sites and use it as my VM host for my development machines. I have about 10 VMs running on the one I have at the moment.  

Edited December 16, 2025 by fordmantpw

[akirby]

12 minutes ago, fordmantpw said:

 

I agree.  I've been trying to buy a new server to replace one I bought 5 years ago.  I like to buy from Dell outlet as you get like new for deeply discounted prices.  To get a machine comparable to what I bought 5 years ago and paid < $3000 for, I would have to spend $15-20k!

IIRC our Dell 730 servers back in 2017 had 2 cpus, 48 cores, 6 NICs,  256 gb ram and 12 TB hard disk cost us around $15k.  Big volume discount but still....

[Sherminator98]

4 minutes ago, fordmantpw said:

 

It's far my business.  I host web sites and use it as my VM host for my development machines. I have about 10 VMs running on the one I have at the moment.  

 

Ah that makes sense, I just have a NAS I use and its fine for personal use. 

[akirby]

57 minutes ago, Sherminator98 said:

 

The Maverick moved up in price partly due to inflation, which has affected every other car too. 

Just looking at the Nissan Versa-It cost $14800 back in 2020 and is 18-20K today-a nearly 4-6K increase that the Maverick has seen also. 

 

 

Also why build a product that is going to be lucky to sell 100K units or so a year at a brand new plant that can most likely do 3-4X that a year? The Ranger sold about 100K units in 2020 and 2021 and has seen a significant drop since the Bronco came out. 

 

Does Ford see that much of a demand for it that isn't been filled? 

Well if it's truly affordable as in significantly cheaper than Maverick I think they could sell 150k easily.  It wont be the only product there.  I'm just trying to spitball a totally new model thats affordable.