I think replacing the ranger with whatever this affordable truck ends up being is a solid idea. I'm not trying to bicker, sorry if it's coming across that way. The hold up for me is with them calling it affordable, but then insiders saying it's a ranger sized bronco truck. That strategy would tie into Ford's desire to offer more icons, but I don't see it being a particularly affordable vehicle, maybe I'll be surprised.    I like what JP is proposing, a bronco sport type truck, but even if it was a bit bigger than a maverick, I worry about that having multiple mid-sized affordable unibody trucks might be a case of too much overlap. 

Of course they do.  Remember all the folks they hired from tesla, apple, google, etc?   This and gigacasting should easily be adapted to ICE.

I'm not saying a unibody Ranger replacement would do everything, just that it would do enough for 80% of buyers.  I could easily see a 5k lb tow rating compared to 7k for ranger.    And it only makes sense to kill ranger if they have new bronco variants that would at least replace Ranger volume.

That's exactly what I said.   

Im sure that at least some people buy Gladiator for the look but rarely if ever need the capacity or toughness of a BOF truck.  Those are the people a BS pickup could target. along with people who want a BS with a bit more load carrying  Hope tat makes sense

It was the clips for the felt sound deadening panel under driver's side. Some were missing.  Repaired by my Ford dealer. 

I remember reading that also. It will be offered as an optional feature so maybe they are thinking it can be a money maker but still keep pricing down on the lower featured trims.

Well, competitors HAD entrants in the segment. All of them have abandoned it also due to CAFE footprint rule.   Puma is quite small B-segment size. The comparable size B-segment CUV in the US market have all  died or had its nameplated grated on to a bigger model in a different segment: Mini Countryman, Hyundai Kona, Honda HR-V, Nissan Kicks, and Chevy Trax moved from B to C segment size Mazda CX-3 discontinued and replaced by CX-30 which is C segment Toyota CH-R discontinued and replaced by Corolla Cross which is C segment Mitsubishi Outlander Sport discontinued and replaced by Eclipse Cross which is C segment Buick Encore discontinued and replaced by Encore GX which is C segment Kia Soul discontinued Ford EcoSport discontinued 

I thought they weren't going to level 5 self driving with the CE1 because it would add to the price of the vehicle?  

Well, sure, I'd imagine there are a variety of models being considered for it.....but my point was with how Ford changes plans, we'll probably only wind up with the truck and crossover after it's all said and done.     Different styling - more off road look, while Maverick has a "regular truck" look.     Except you're then forcing the ROW to have a "Bronco" design Ranger, which may not be what buyers want.     Why base it on Super Duty?     I think it was the initial justification for bringing Bronco back.  And Ranger was selling a lot more in it's 1st gen back on the NA market.   Ford sold 146k Broncos alone last year, with another 71k Rangers = 217k total.  I'm not entirely sure what MAP's full capacity is, but I'd imagine it could potentially go to 300k, but the wild card is that Ford has an empty plant that they have to fill with something.     For the idea of dropping Ranger to make sense, Ford would likely want to at least equal current factory capacity at MAP, while also making sure TTP has a fair amount of volume.   Let's say the Bronco truck goes to TTP......that would mean that Ford would have to make up 70k sales at MAP via Bronco hybrid additional sales plus Lincoln Bronco.  Lincoln models sold in the 26,700 average range last year.  I'm going to give Lincoln Bronco a 12-15k total, which is around 1000 per month, which I think they'd be happy with.    So you're still looking at 55k of production still not there just to equal this past year.  I don't see Bronco hybrid adding that many units.   Coincidentally, Gladiator sold 56k units last year, but that's not much volume for an entire factory...