Did my new year chat with ford on my order (F350 Platinum Plus Tremor ordered 10/8) still in "In Order Processing". I did some 500 mile searches ( Fl, Mi,Ks,Tn) a few dealers had Platinum - Tremor, but no dealer has the Plus package.

You would be wrong....enjoy your Porsche or Volvo

Looking at the image in the OP, that styling with grey bumper and what looks like an amber coloured trim bead  was typical of Ford Australia staining on Falcons in the late 1980s, early 1990s.    As I said early Ford AUS has a habit of putting things in it clips that make people stop and rewind, I wouldn’t put too much stock in it…

Just to put American audience in the picture, a post factory converted F150 XLT crew cab starts at AUS$100,000 A Ranger XLT Cew cab starts at roughly AUS$60,000, so starting with XLT single cab Ranger for the Super Duty makes the price super affordable for commercial buyers.   The Landcruiser 70 single chassis cab is AUS $72,500 plus ORC, so Thers a big opportunity for Ford to undercut  Toyota’s price. I don’t think any Super Duty updates beyond commercial models are anticipated.   The biggest hope is that upgrades filter through to increased GVM and  GCM for regular Ranger and Everest  When considering towing loads up to 3,500 Kg (7,700 lbs), current vehicle quickly run up on the combined weight limits, adding a othe say, 300 lbs to vehicles would help keep owners on the right side of the law.

Of course they did...arrgh

Even the first gen SHO was a larger car...not exactly nimble either. 

Modern diesel with low Sulfur levels is hard on the high pressure pumps and makes them susceptible to contaminants in the fuel, meaning they can and do fail without warning. It’s now becoming standard practice to life parts like the HP an LP fuel pumps before they start sending metal debris through the  whole fuel system including injectors.

Yes, thank you for that explanation, should be required reading IMO. Jim Farley recently shared that one particular Ford vehicle has 150 modules controlled by software and to save $500/vehicle, Ford let out the contracts to various suppliers but not all of the modules talk to each other. He further shared that in order to make changes to seat control, Ford has to get permission from Bosch.   Not singling out Ford here but yes, this is how outsourcing to suppliers has now contorted vehicle design into a piecemeal mixture of what the cheapest supplier can deliver…….so there goes any control over a supposedly wholly integrated package.   One day, Ford, GM, Toyota and others will realise how much money they are bleeding away by ceding control of software control fo essential parts of their vehicles, software defined vehicles is a way of addressing that but the road to freedom is long and hard and means turning their back on what is now industry standard practice.

Manuals only really make sense for light, nibble, tossable enthusiasts cars. From what I've heard, the most recent SHO wasn't terrible handling, but it wasn't a canyon carver either. it was kinda like Ford's take on a Chrysler 300, both in terms of appearance, and the demographic it was trying to appeal to. A stick shift would have been out of place.    For a mustang, yes, or some small, agile hatchback should that sort of car ever return, but for a boat like a modern Tarus, it wouldn't really work. 

IMO Manual transmissions are one of the most overrated things that people bring up in a new car (at least in the North American market)-the sales numbers point this out-yeah the Bronco was at one point 15-25% of the orders when it first launched, but I think the number has dropped quite a bit since the 2021 Launch.    my 2013 SHO was my first car I DIDN"T have a manual in...and to be perfectly honest the 6F and now the 8/10F are perfectly fine automatic transmissions-your not talking about seriously/dangerously underpowered Escorts with an Automatic transmission from the early 1980s.