- Automaker is shifting its strategy for EVs as demand wanes
- Suppliers in South Korea, China grapple with unsold inventory
Just like the '70s, Detroit wants to build enormous energy-dense cars, while automakers from another Asian country come in and sell what the market demands.
Expect US automakers to blame unions when they face another round of bankruptcies and begin demanding government bailouts.
Expect US automakers to blame unions when they face another round of bankruptcies and begin demanding government bailouts.
Hmmm… I’ll keep this thought in mind. 🍻
Ford announced new EV truck starting at $39,000
Now the cheapest model starts at ~$63,000
Whatever they’re doing, it’s wrong.
I remember when the Federal tax break was renewed and Ford’s response was to jack up prices the same amount. Fuck Ford. I’ve had two Ford trucks over the decades, Rangers for that that’s worth. Never had a problem with them. Despite that, I will not be buying a Ford again in my life.
Ok but Fr those little rangers were solid as hell and great little trucks…
My dad has a '93 ranger, 4 cylinder engine, long (7ft) bed, single cab, RWD.
It is the yardstick I measure all trucks against, and damn near all of them come up short.
It gets pretty damn close to 20mpg, which isn’t half bad compared to a lot of trucks 30 years newer.
I’ve never felt like I needed more bed, there’s been the odd occasion where an 8ft bed would’ve been nice, but not totally necessary, but I’ve absolutely never felt any desire for a shorter bed. What good is a pickup truck you can’t use to move a couch?
It doesn’t get used for any towing, or serious hauling heavy shit, but it’s carried plenty of loads of camping gear for a few dozen boy scouts, the occasional small load of firewood, etc. I wouldn’t want to load it up with a bed full of gravel, but for the kind of thing the average homeowner/outdoorsman does, it’s plenty of truck.
An extended cab would be nice sometimes, but realistically 90% of the time it’s just me, and most of the rest of the time it’s me and 1 other person or a dog. When the situation really calls for it though, it’s got a bench seat, and you can squeeze a 3rd person in there (I don’t recommend 2 people and a dog though)
The only 2 things I can really knock it for are
That little engine does not go fast. It’s 0-60 time is probably best expressed as “eventually.” Although once with a long stretch of empty highway I did manage to nudge it up a bit past the 85mph that the speedometer goes up to, it was a little terrifying, everything shook and rattled, but it made it out in one piece.
It is terrible in any kind of bad weather or loose gravel/dirt. There is no weight over those rear wheels if you’re not carrying anything, 4wd would not be unwelcome sometimes.
If some company would come out with basically that exact truck with just a few modern upgrades, I’d buy one in a heartbeat. The new rangers and such are practically the same size as the f150s of this truck’s era, and most perplexingly to me, I don’t think anyone makes them with a 7ft bed. With modern engines, I’m sure they could cram an engine in there that gets better MPG and even a bit of a performance increase to do a little bit of light towing and so the truck can get out of its own way. Single cabs are kind of a rarity these days, and even the extended cabs seem like they’re being phased out for a full crew cab. For the like 3 times a year I have more than 1 other person in my car, they can suck it up and sit in the middle of a bench or in a jump seat in the back.
I got my fingers crossed that in a few years maybe we’ll see some more variations fson the maverick. That truck is about the right size for me if they would give me a little more bed space, and I’m really hoping for an AWD plug in hybrid version at some point.
Because they were made by Mazda. Lol.
Small trucks > big trucks anyday. Give me a 4 cylinder Frontier and I can do most of anything anyway.
Is it possible that they pay fair wages?
I have little knowledge on the subject but considering the unions and the strikes, I’ma say unlikely.
The UAW just won historic wage increases. The strike was successful.
I think the problem is that the strike was even necessary.
“What do you mean, nobody wants our fuckhuge, unrepairable, unreliable cars that would outsize most pickup trucks from 30 years ago?”
Seriously, Ford’s EV offerings are laughable. If you don’t want a massive crossover or $100,000 light duty pickup truck, you’re out of luck.
I think there’s something to do with the Section 179 tax incentives out there for “small businesses” to write-off cars and light trucks with a GVWR over 6,000 lbs. There are a lot of vehicles out there practically manufactured with fish weights sewn into the headliner just to get to that golden threshold. And then there’s a lot that just keep going… Heavy vehicles are really pushed onto Americans, the parallel between that and sugar and dairy is kind of funny.
Ford losing $100,000 per car while Tesla reportedly is at like a 30% margin per vehicle.
Something tells me Ford isn’t actually trying.
give them a break - it’s taking all their time, money and energy to lobby for cheap, high quality, long range, compact vehicles made in Asia to be banned from the US or tariffed into oblivion.
Had me in the first half
Large corps like this barely “work” as in function not labor. There’s like 25 people holding these companies together and not a single fucking one is upper management…
I mean, let’s be real, Ford isn’t losing 100k/ev, their EV division has lost $100k/EV sold so far. It takes a lot of initial capital to get factory lines off the ground. Plus all the R&D that goes into turning and electric Edge into a “Mustang” and making an EV truck that fits the F150 mold.
They are chasing the dragon of early adopters that were willing to drop $100k on a platinum trim truck. There aren’t anymore left. What the market needs is an electric maverick, and a return of the electric Focus. Both could be done for less than $30k and they would sell like crazy. But Ford is stuck thinking EV = premium, when there aren’t many people left with premium budgets, at least until the economy improves for the masses again.
If you charge 100k for damn car you oughta lose it
Demand doesn’t wane… The demand is just for an affordable entry level EV.
Link title is misleading, still not sure if I’m a robot.
That’s a really ugly looking vehicle.
