I think what really caused such a divide was that in the not to distant past, EV's were being forced onto society when this technology is not ready to be a viable replacement for ICE.
Best example is the difference between my 2019 Ranger and when I bought a 2022 Ranger. The 2019 had sensors on the back doors so if the vehicle was locked the rear doors opened by touch as long as I had the Key fob on me which was a nice feature. The 2022 Ranger did not have it and the first time I tried to open the rear door nearly yanked my arm off that's not a good customer experience. They also cheapen the trim on the 2022 and change the ac power port covers to something that looked like they came out of JC Whitney catalog, and this was on a Lariat trim. The North American side is run by bunch of bean counters, after being in the Australian version of the Ranger Raptor it could not be more obvious. They took the rear air a/c vents off; they removed the grab handles that make getting in and out of the vehicle easier: they took the neat cup holder that are in front of the vents so you can keep your drink cold or hot depending on the weather: they took the auto 4wd out too in the lower trims below the Raptor. I could go on and on how Ford is removing features that would make the customers happier that the competition provides. 2026 Ranger Lariat they took even more out replaced leather seats with vinyl and took the fancy headlights off and put XLT base lights on it and went up on the price. So now the Lariat trim is an XLT with push button start with a price increase. The 2026 Ranger gets a sunroof option finally but only on the XLT and Lariat and the Raptor does not get one, really Ford who came up with that ideal. If Ford employees read this, please bring back the Red on the Ranger Raptor, Rudy Red would have look so nice on it, we did not need another Gray that they added. Sorry for the rant my favorite truck is treated like a stepchild here in North America. The Ranger could have been so much more and no I do not want a F150 I like the smaller size it fits the trails better. I guess the days are gone when they added features when they went up on the price.
Same Euro report from early 2020s that keeps going round and round, problem is European housing not able to do home charging due high percentage of on street parking …. All of this discussed in previous threads
I am not so sure Ford needs to compete in every class of truck to be successful in commercial vehicle sales. Sales of the Transit (primarily a commercial vehicle) alone are enough to make Ford a commercial vehicle leader, not to mention whatever percentage of F Series sales go to fleets. No one would say DTNA (Freightliner) as anything but a successful commercial vehicle manufacturer, and they offer nothing below class 6. Same for Volvo and PACCAR.
The fleet I work for has not bought a new class 6/7 Ford for over 10 years. The reason we stopped buying them had nothing to do with our faith in Ford not supporting the product, it's just we found a better alternative in Freightliner for our specific needs. We have looked at the F-650 a few times since for certain applications, so the truck is still being considered. In those 10 years however, we have bought many F-250's, F-550's, and Transits.
From what I understand (and someone please enlighten me if they have more sccurate information) Ford was very close to dropping the 650 and 750 when the 'Blue Diamond' joint venture with International came to an end, but a few Ford commercial vehicle dealers convinced Ford to stay in the class 6/7 market. Supposedly there wasn't much of a business case for the trucks, but by bringing their manufacture back in house, offering only Ford proprietary engines and transmissions, limiting options, and using old parts (cab), they might break even or make a small profit. I don't know at what point these 'heavy trucks' as Ford calls them are profitable but with the sales of the vehicles falling to below 800 uints/month one has to wonder. Nonetheless I believe the trucks are safe until the next UAW contract. Another point to consider is the Avon Lake plant, there were plans to build EV's there but that's all on hold. No way would Ford consider building the 650/750 in Mexico now with the tariffs.
By selling more F150/250/350/450/550/600/750, Transit, E-transit and all the other transit vans and subscription services than anyone else. Surely that covers at least 90% of the market.
You're too hyper focused on the big trucks.
How do you claim to be the leader in commercial vehicles when it looks like your days of class 6 and 7 are numbered-something which you have been predicting.
And everyone else who was never certainly in class 6 and to a lesser extent in class 7 are suddenly in those classes. Mack is the latest. Two examples come to mind of new Mack customers in my area. One was a processor of cooking oils. 26,000 GVW Mack. Porta-John Operator that serves our Fairgrounds..new class 6 mack to deliver and pick up
Ford was if not a leader, a very strong presence in those classes in the Louisville days. And don't confuse the market with "Trucking", it is a market where the vehicle supports the primary reason the business exists. You are not going to satisfy that with F-550's and F-600's. And why haven't Ford's 650/750 numbers been good? I guess it is because the option list continues to shrink and probably a lot of potential buyers are afraid they will be abandoned.
They do NOTHING to show they are a player IMO.
It's hard to say. I don't believe most consumers unlike enthusiasts even know what a traditional belt and pulley style CVT is, or why it should be avoided aside from the minority who go on internet forums to research cars before buying them.
It really is unfortunate that a planetary gear style cvt from my research can't really be put into non-hybrid vehicles, because it resolves basically all the issues a normal CVT has.
I just wish we could get back to the days when people were better at having more nuanced, balanced opinions on things. As far as I'm concerned, EVs are a really solid choice for people who want a short distance commuter for owners who want something with significantly lower ownership costs. But they aren't great currently if you want to do a lot of road trips or heavy towing.
They're great for some use cases, and not so great for some others. It's pretty straight forward imo. Yet it seems the team that guy is part of is just anti-ev all the way, and then you had people, including people who used to comment on this site, who believed EVs were the answer to everything and Ford was gonna go out of business if they didn't adopt a fully electric line up in 5 years.
As with most things, the truth is somewhere in the middle.