Ford to launch 5 new sub 40k affordable models by 2030.

[morgan20]

1 hour ago, Sherminator98 said:

 

Even though there are additional charging points, I think there is still an inherent push back against EVs with the largest buyers of new cars-older people who are 40+ and are used to doing something and don't want to change, even though if you can charge at home its not really an issue IMO. 

 

Its going to take another 5-10 years of build out and cheaper EV's to convince people to change or have older people age out of buying new vehicles.  

 

About two thirds of both new cars buyers in general and EV buyers specifically are 40+, according to the 2025 Year in Review from Experian:

 

 

While there isn't an inherent push back against EVs due to buyer age, EV pricing/affordability remains a concern.

 

Although battery-electric vehicles are getting closer to price parity with their internal combustion siblings, the affordability factor is the main reason consumers are holding back on adopting electrification, according to a recent survey by S&P Global Mobility.

 

Ford is in a good position to solve this issue with its CE1 products

[akirby]

I'm 63 and would easily take an EV truck since I only use it as a spare vehicle and to make lumber and HD runs.  But we're not ready to go EV on our main vehicle for road trips.  I know it can be done but I just don't want to worry about finding a charger especially in remote areas.

 

If I had extra garage space I would gladly have an EV daily driver and keep an ICE vehicle for road trips.

[DeluxeStang]

17 hours ago, rmc523 said:

 

I do understand what you’re saying.  I was hopeful when they were splitting Bronco Sport as boxy and Escape as more rounded.  But they made Escape look like a clown smile, and the refresh fixed it but was too little too late.

i just have a hard time believing they’ll get the “sexy” level right, so a “sleek box” look like Explorer would be more likely to succeed.

Agreed, it felt like BS had a lot of effort put into it's styling, and the escape was just put into a microwave. I feel like there's a way to do curvey styling that's more enticing. Heck, just look at Ford's European strategy now where they're gonna pull styling from rally cars. Even something like that could give escape styling a shot in the arm so to speak. 

[DeluxeStang]

3 hours ago, Sherminator98 said:

 

Even though there are additional charging points, I think there is still an inherent push back against EVs with the largest buyers of new cars-older people who are 40+ and are used to doing something and don't want to change, even though if you can charge at home its not really an issue IMO. 

 

Its going to take another 5-10 years of build out and cheaper EV's to convince people to change or have older people age out of buying new vehicles.  

I wonder if this very rapid push to hybrid vehicles will have a trickle down effect to greater EV acceptance down the road. Hybrids are genuinely very common now in a lot of areas, both mild and plug-in. People who never thought they'd own a hybrid now do, and are realizing they actually kinda love it. That electrified vehicles can be smooth, reliable, and improvement over pure ICE. 

 

I could see a lot of those hybrid owners who like the refinement making the jump to full EVs as they become more affordable and easier to live with. My parents were anti anything electrified, they thought it would be a hassle and unreliable. They love my maverick and are fully on the hybrid train now. Now my mom is strongly considering a full EV, a full 180 from where she was a few years ago. She loves the mach-e. She doesn't really view it as this boogieman tech anymore. 

 

We probably won't get the CE1 truck just because it sounds similar to my maverick and I don't see the point of having two similarly sized trucks, and I like my maverick too much to trade it in, unless it shits the bed in a major way. But we're following other CE1 develops very closely. A mach-e style utility or some sort of hatchback/sedan if it's well executed has a high likelihood of being purchased by us. 

[rmc523]

14 minutes ago, DeluxeStang said:

Agreed, it felt like BS had a lot of effort put into it's styling, and the escape was just put into a microwave. I feel like there's a way to do curvey styling that's more enticing. Heck, just look at Ford's European strategy now where they're gonna pull styling from rally cars. Even something like that could give escape styling a shot in the arm so to speak. 

 

Let’s see how those products look before we praise them.  If they just stick an extra fog light on and call it “rally inspired”, that’s not worth it either.  It’s good they’re at least thinking about it.

 

1 minute ago, DeluxeStang said:

I wonder if this very rapid push to hybrid vehicles will have a trickle down effect to greater EV acceptance down the road. Hybrids are genuinely very common now in a lot of areas, both mild and plug-in. People who never thought they'd own a hybrid now do, and are realizing they actually kinda love it. That electrified vehicles can be smooth, reliable, and improvement over pure ICE. 

 

I could see a lot of those hybrid owners who like the refinement making the jump to full EVs as they become more affordable and easier to live with. My parents were anti anything electrified, they thought it would be a hassle and unreliable. They love my maverick and are fully on the hybrid train now. Now my mom is strongly considering a full EV, a full 180 from where she was a few years ago. She loves the mach-e. She doesn't really view it as this boogieman tech anymore. 

 

We probably won't get the CE1 truck just because it sounds similar to my maverick and I don't see the point of having two similarly sized trucks, and I like my maverick too much to trade it in, unless it shits the bed in a major way. But we're following other CE1 develops very closely. A mach-e style utility or some sort of hatchback/sedan if it's well executed has a high likelihood of being purchased by us. 

I think many times it takes people actually experiencing something before they accept it.

[morgan20]

16 minutes ago, DeluxeStang said:

Now my mom is strongly considering a full EV, a full 180 from where she was a few years ago. She loves the mach-e. 

 

That's great to hear my friend. My wife has a '25 MME GT and says its the best car she's ever owned. 

 

Hopefully, the dreaded Ford rot on the vine disease doesn't negatively impact MME or for that matter the upcoming CE1 products in the years to come. I'm cautiously optimistic that the newfangled design, engineering, and manufacturing techniques from the skunkworks will enable Ford to keep its future product lineup lookin' fresh and appealing over time while also keepin' costs under control.

[DeluxeStang]

24 minutes ago, rmc523 said:

 

Let’s see how those products look before we praise them.  If they just stick an extra fog light on and call it “rally inspired”, that’s not worth it either.  It’s good they’re at least thinking about it.

Agreed, hopefully it's like a case of Ford meets alpine styling instead of just being a jelly bean with rally lights tacked on. But I like the direction, I think it's fun and interesting. 

[Zestyg]

29 minutes ago, DeluxeStang said:

I wonder if this very rapid push to hybrid vehicles will have a trickle down effect to greater EV acceptance down the road. 

This is essentially what got me to the point of my next car probably being EV. Driving my Escape hybrid, I just wish it could do electric all the time. That and that they finally built chargers down the road from my office building, so I can logistically make sense of how I’ll charge.

 

2 minutes ago, DeluxeStang said:

Agreed, hopefully it's like a case of Ford meets alpine styling instead of just being a jelly bean with rally lights tacked on. But I like the direction, I think it's fun and interesting. 

TBH rally cars look like jelly beans now although I’m not sure if there is a performance reason for that rather than a cost or “race Sunday sell Monday” mentality.

[Texasota]

2 hours ago, akirby said:

If I had extra garage space I would gladly have an EV daily driver and keep an ICE vehicle for road trips.

I feel like we have both of those needs covered reasonably well with our Escape PHEV. Sure, there are some minor shortcomings (like 37 mile EV range) but it is a great compromise for our lifestyle.

[akirby]

1 hour ago, DeluxeStang said:

Agreed, it felt like BS had a lot of effort put into it's styling, and the escape was just put into a microwave. I feel like there's a way to do curvey styling that's more enticing. Heck, just look at Ford's European strategy now where they're gonna pull styling from rally cars. Even something like that could give escape styling a shot in the arm so to speak. 

They were obviously trying to keep Focus buyers with that styling.  The problem is most Focus buyers didn't care about styling, just price.

 

[DeluxeStang]

1 hour ago, morgan20 said:

 

That's great to hear my friend. My wife has a '25 MME GT and says its the best car she's ever owned. 

 

Hopefully, the dreaded Ford rot on the vine disease doesn't negatively impact MME or for that matter the upcoming CE1 products in the years to come. I'm cautiously optimistic that the newfangled design, engineering, and manufacturing techniques from the skunkworks will enable Ford to keep its future product lineup lookin' fresh and appealing over time while also keepin' costs under control.

Agreed. Apparently Farley has spoken a lot about trying to use skunkworks to speed up the development process and reduce cycle times. So hopefully they're able to apply that across their lineup. Ford really does have an issue with just letting products waste away and then canceling them claiming no-one bought them when they were outdated relative to rivals. Hopefully that component of Ford culture dies out. 

 

What's the storage space like with the mach-e? I don't expect it to be on par with our explorer or maverick for obvious reasons, but if it's serviceable, roomy enough for what it is, that's good enough for me. 

[DeluxeStang]

52 minutes ago, akirby said:

They were obviously trying to keep Focus buyers with that styling.  The problem is most Focus buyers didn't care about styling, just price.

 

At some point, ya got to just let them go. I advocate for a blended strategy. I don't believe Ford should just drive their volume into the ground by focusing purely on profit margin. But I also don't believe they should be building lose leaders just to have a lot of volume. Somewhere in the middle is the sweet spot. 

 

I actually believe these brands that compete on price alone are kinda screwed. Brands like Nissan, and maybe to a lesser extent Kia and Hyundai. Because their built their entire brands around attributes that rivals can duplicate, low cost. Nissan buyers aren't loyal to Nissan, they're loyal to cheap cars. What happens to those buyers when Chinese brands inevitably make their way to the U.S? They're gonna ditch Nissan for BYD or whoever else can undercut Nissan on price. 

 

This is why I've been one of the loudest voices on here in favor in Farley's no boring products mantra, leaning into Ford's icons. That not only improves profit margins, it's leaning into a strategy where people are loyal to ford, and it's unique attributes. It's building demand around brand qualities that are harder for rivals to compete with. 

[Zestyg]

2 hours ago, akirby said:

They were obviously trying to keep Focus buyers with that styling.  The problem is most Focus buyers didn't care about styling, just price.

 

 

i feel like such an idiot for getting a 2022 rather than a 2023 or a 2019. 
 

edit: nah honestly I just scuffed my bumper and its thrown the whole front look off. I made an appointment to get it repainted.

Edited May 30 by Zestyg

[akirby]

5 hours ago, DeluxeStang said:

I wonder if this very rapid push to hybrid vehicles will have a trickle down effect to greater EV acceptance down the road.

No.  Hybrids are just ICE vehicles with better mpg.

[DeluxeStang]

3 hours ago, akirby said:

No.  Hybrids are just ICE vehicles with better mpg.

But it's a doorway to full EV driving. When you drive a hybrid, you experience that electric only driving at times, you see how reliable they are, you familiarize yourself with what an electric vehicle feels like even if it has a gas motor still attached. Owners experience that quiet, refined,smooth driving experience for the first time, and they like it.  That often lays the mental groundwork for them being more open to considering a pure EV because they enjoy that effortless, smooth driving experience. 

[Captainp4]

On 5/30/2026 at 12:06 PM, rmc523 said:

 

 

 

I think many times it takes people actually experiencing something before they accept it.

My parents were the typical boomer anti-EV sharing those stupid memes not based in reality on FB, one ride in our new Model Y changed their minds (the self driving and acceleration they've never experienced). I don't understand why it has to be political or your whole personality to have ICE, BEV are the answer in most use cases. I just bought a 7.3 gas superduty for my work truck because there isn't an answer for 3/4-1 ton trucks in battery yet, but if I didn't have to pull a trailer every day I'd be in a cybertruck most likely. We were worried about the charging stuff for her too, but it's a non issue. I haven't even installed the 240 house charger yet, she's been charging on 120 and been fine and if not just stop at a supercharger for a few minutes and watch youtube on the screen while you get the juice. 

[blazerdude20]

5 hours ago, Captainp4 said:

My parents were the typical boomer anti-EV sharing those stupid memes not based in reality on FB, one ride in our new Model Y changed their minds (the self driving and acceleration they've never experienced). I don't understand why it has to be political or your whole personality to have ICE, BEV are the answer in most use cases. I just bought a 7.3 gas superduty for my work truck because there isn't an answer for 3/4-1 ton trucks in battery yet, but if I didn't have to pull a trailer every day I'd be in a cybertruck most likely. We were worried about the charging stuff for her too, but it's a non issue. I haven't even installed the 240 house charger yet, she's been charging on 120 and been fine and if not just stop at a supercharger for a few minutes and watch youtube on the screen while you get the juice. 

If you haven’t run the electrical for the charger yet, consider running wiring for 100A capacity (80 A charger) for future. That’s what we did for ours. Put in a 60A breaker and 48A charger for now, but have the ability to easily upsize for future larger capacity EV truck. 

[jpd80]

On 5/31/2026 at 7:19 AM, akirby said:

No.  Hybrids are just ICE vehicles with better mpg.

For the most part, that is true and depending on local regulations like Australia has,

PHEVs are now becoming the go to for meeting gov regulations and people wanting

to escape high gas and diesel prices……in the US maybe not so much

 

in the last four months of Aussie car sales, BYD has gone from 5th to 2nd behind Toyota,

so we’re hanging out for May Sales results to see if the Chinese brands keep surging.

Should be out Friday but all the legacy brands are getting real worried…

[Texasota]

7 hours ago, jpd80 said:

 

in the last four months of Aussie car sales, BYD has gone from 5th to 2nd behind Toyota,

so we’re hanging out for May Sales results to see if the Chinese brands keep surging.

Should be out Friday but all the legacy brands are getting real worried…

i don’t understand why we tolerate the Chinese predatory trade practices (i.e. the Chinese state subsidies). It’s suicidal.

[Zestyg]

28 minutes ago, Texasota said:

i don’t understand why we tolerate the Chinese predatory trade practices (i.e. the Chinese state subsidies). It’s suicidal.

Honestly I would argue it is not primarily predatory trade practices. Most of the cost advantage isn’t subsidies, its vertical integration + lower overhead and R&D costs in China (which non-Chinese companies can take advantage of, and Ford does take advantage of). see this report: https://rhg.com/research/why-are-chinese-evs-so-cheap/

 

Australia doesn’t have local production so this advantage carries into that market.

 

The other big issue I see rather than predatory trade practices is that China is specifically and deliberately strong in segments where Western OEMs don’t offer competitive products. We’re getting there, especially I think BMW, Hyundai, and if UEV works Ford. But short of that when you have a half dozen Chinese OEMs with a $4,000 structural cost advantage, great EV/PHEV offerings, and a need to export due to a totally saturated market at home, you will make headway in places like Australia.

[akirby]

10 minutes ago, Zestyg said:

Honestly I would argue it is not primarily predatory trade practices. Most of the cost advantage isn’t subsidies, its vertical integration + lower overhead and R&D costs in China (which non-Chinese companies can take advantage of, and Ford does take advantage of). see this report: https://rhg.com/research/why-are-chinese-evs-so-cheap/

Oh but they've already gotten over $230B in subsidies from the chinese govt who has also encouraged massive overproduction. Combine that with China's subversive activities and it's easy to see where they might try to take over foreign markets by selling at or below cost.  And the govt would gladly apply more subsidies to help with that.

[Zestyg]

26 minutes ago, akirby said:

Oh but they've already gotten over $230B in subsidies from the chinese govt who has also encouraged massive overproduction. Combine that with China's subversive activities and it's easy to see where they might try to take over foreign markets by selling at or below cost.  And the govt would gladly apply more subsidies to help with that.

Did you read the report I linked? It breaks that down concretely.

[Texasota]

There is also the issue of Chinese forced labor. Construction of the BYD manufacturing plant in Brazil is one small example of that.

[akirby]

25 minutes ago, Zestyg said:

Did you read the report I linked? It breaks that down concretely.

That article is about oems selling in china.  And it doesn't account for all of the various subsidies including battery production and other suppliers and raw materials.  They also inflate sales with artificial demand which lowers unit costs.  When 35% of your income comes from the gov't that's huge.
 

Selling in China is one thing.  Selling in foreign countries is entirely different and nothing is stopping the chinese govt  from doing more subsidies on top of what they were already given.

 

That's not to say they don't have cost benefits from other things as mentioned, but that is clearly not the entire picture.

[jpd80]

2 hours ago, Texasota said:

i don’t understand why we tolerate the Chinese predatory trade practices (i.e. the Chinese state subsidies). It’s suicidal.

I don’t think it rises to predatory but definitely going after customers by delivering loads of stock ready to buy. It’s also about legacy brands not moving fast enough with the times and what customers want.

I should have more to share on Friday but I do agree with your sentiment, China is out to own the Aussie market