They can use that capacity for EVs and if they need more products they can do c2 utilities that would be profitable. It’s just pointless to bring new products that don’t make money.
That’s because you misinterpret half of what I say. There is a huge difference in a $25k focus that needs $3k incentives plus dealer discounts and a $25K Maverick that sells at MSRP and over. It’s not about absolute ATPs but profit margins and ROI. Plenty of room for less expensive products if they’re desirable and profitable.
What the hell are you talking about?
Just looking at the Maverick as an example-starting price is just under $24K.
I did a search on Ford's website and there are roughly 100+ of them apparently in the area where I live with in 20 miles (dealer stock and enroute)
Out of that 100+, only 3 of them where less then 27K
The vast majority of the Mavericks are in the mid 30K range, which means they are already 10K over their start price and some models go as high as $41K, which is 17K over starting list price.
So being a product that was designed to be "cheap" there is a huge amount of profit that is being made off it, esp since it doesn't have discounts or subleaned financing on it either.
But here lies the issue-the development work might be "free" but you still need to make new tooling, subassembly production (power plants, interiors) and whatever else to put it into production and then make a profit off it.
If it was that simple and profitable to do it, I think Ford would be doing it already.
Plus I'd venture to say that nearly every non luxury sedan has some sort of sub leaned financing and discounts on top of a lower MSRP (vs a CUV) to make money off it.
A CE1 based car form factor would be perfect for flat rock, or a new mustang body style like a sedan or mid-engine model. Something that generates a healthy profit, but sells in lower volumes than a traditional crossover or truck would be very beneficial for flat rock. But it doesn't appear to be in the cards.
We can talk about profitability and consumer demand all day long. But the fact of the matter is, making a new sedan, or some other car at flat rock seems to make way more sense financially than leaving that plant underutilized for the foreseeable future. C2 was almost instant profitable I bet, whatever sedan program they do based on it could be done for almost nothing. Hell, they literally have a c2 fusion as we speak, a competitive product that they refuse to bring here because "Oh it won't sell 300k units a year at 100 thousand dollars" it's just maddening.
I see more new broncos, bronco sports, and mavericks where I live than I do new Camry or civics. But to each their own. Everyone in my neighborhood is buying mavericks right now, it's almost comical how many bronco sport and mavericks are parked in our neighborhood. We're at 5 and counting.
Who says you can’t do both? I understand production capacity needs to be taken into account, but we also know ford has at least 2 plants in North America that aren’t at full capacity (Flat Rock and Louisville). Hell, ship it over from China if you must, at this point I don’t care.