Honda buys out EV battery plant in the US for nearly $3B as it preps for an all-new lineup   .

Europe is way more competitive market in terms of EV so that goes without saying that Ford needs UEV to work in US which is a closed protected market with few competitors. If UEV fails in the US, there is no hope it can be successful in Europe or elsewhere.    Ford Europe's diminished size means itself cannot launch any new vehicle platform at all. Everything has to be borrowed from somewhere else. It's a shell of its former self. 

That truck probably weighs half of what you’re talking about. 

Or just a NA variant of the Nano V6s they already have. 

What hasn't changed is price sells.  The trick is to be able to sell inexpensive (relatively speaking) vehicles at a decent profit.

Here’s my chart in a while comparing the Ranger and Maverick sales Maverick sales definitely affected Ranger, but Ford hasn’t pushed Ranger after Bronco debuted.  

consumer demands are exactly the same as back then too!

1990 was almost 36 years ago too   And they want their pickup back 😛  

Notice how Ford is not desperate for Ranger to match total sales of  either Colorado/Canyon or Tacoma, it’s only a fraction of those sales. Theres a good reason for that, Bronco production is the main focus and Ranger costs are already heavily amortised thanks to ROW sales.   Maverick is something Ford saw fit to develop quickly and get to market exactly because it is one of those valuable niche products that works.

I'd love to have one to replace our Transit Connect, but it wasn't a good value due to price and range.   Also, because it was imported, it never qualified for the full EV tax credit.