IMO its more about keeping investors happy then anything else. Its like the 20-30 MPG thing with Ford SUVs about 10-15 years ago.
EVs have a perception problem and I think an active, but small minority of people bitching about them on social media, which may or may not be getting aided by bots/fake accounts from industries against them. There is just a lot of noise out there about this.
I can see this being useful in some cases (larger vehicles that tow like the super duty) but not so much in 80-90% of other products.
I would consider an EV, but a pure EV flat out won't work in my current situation (no charging at the apartment complex where I'm currently living nor at the office where I work). A true gas-electric hybrid would eliminate that concern. I don't know how many people like me are out there, but I know I'm not the only one, and Ford apparently agrees.
Now, if they'll just make it in a price range that doesn't exceed what my folks paid for the house in which I grew up...
It boils down to sourcing of models-outside of China where would they source it from? The Kuga is too expensive for other markets
I had a Venue for a rental car a few months back-it was spectacularly under impressive. it wasn't bad, but wasn't anything great either. Was just basic transportation.
I'll give them credit for being first to market in the modern era, for sure, I'm just saying that the concept they used was older than a lot of people think. The diesel-/gas-electric hybrid (with electrics doing all of the propulsion) has long seemed like a no-brainer to me, so I'm wondering why the concept hasn't flown yet.
We are car people so we are certainly more critical than Joe Public, so I hope you are correct. I certainly want the new model to be successful.
Careful with those opinions😉