Disagree. If Ford is going to be a leader in trucks they need to keep a capable truck for towing that will fit in a garage. The unibody low capability low price can be applied to the Maverick. Ranger's volume has been limited by deference to the Bronco. if this is the Bronco/Ranger truck that is fine but need to not lose the capability of the current ranger in a midsize truck. Not everyone can/wants to deal with the gargantuan full size pickup.
Unlikely. Issue is with the block and the way Ford designed it. They put a cooling slit in between the bores. That eventually cracks and causes the head to leak. So the issue isn't with the head/top end. It's with the block. Once that block is cracked, won't matter what you do with gaskets and heads.
It is the opposite. For medium duty (F-450 chassis cab to F-650) and heavy duty (F-750) the engines must be dyno certified. The regulations are much stricter, which is why dyno certified engines are rated at much lower power and torque numbers in order to meet the EPA regulations. The rules do account for GVW, in that the emissions are scaled in a g/tonne metric instead of an absolute number, which is why you can have really big displacement engines in class 8 trucks, but probably couldn't put that same engine in a class 5.
I think the writing is on the wall that Ranger is a dead man walking. 50k sales and no new models. Expansion of Bronco lineup. It's a very small niche now with Maverick on the lower end and most buyers in that space don't need the true 4wd or payload/towing capacity.
Kill current Ranger. Expand Bronco with hybrids and a pickup.
Replace Maverick with a cheaper to build midsized unibody pickup with more capability than Maverick. Offer cheap basic street versions like Maverick and lots of off road/upper trim levels for the Ranger crowd.
This plus importing Bronco Sport frees up Hermosillo to make crossovers. Maybe Corsair and Nautilus and an Escape and/or Edge replacement.
Corsair is being imported from China and lightning continues as an EREV.
But a ce1 pickup buyer is not a Maverick buyer. They want an EV but there are no lower cost EV trucks. So Ford has that market all to themselves. As opposed to a plethora of EV crossovers and cars.
Why do you think Maverick was able to raise prices from $20k to $30k? No competition below $30k.