Totally anecdotal info on FoMoCo's future

[melvimbe]

Ford is a top seller up here in Canada as well, more Ford f150's than ever, my son just bought one( he only had one other choice though, no chevies allowed in my driveway), seeing a lot more of the new f350's for commercial use as well. Transit vans have taken over as the popular choice for hvac and service companies out here, used to be a split between chevy and Ford and the odd dodge. It will be interesting to see which type of passenger vehicles will be popular in 10 years, but by then I would think 25% will be electric for sure. There's a ton of Raptors sold on the west coast here, very popular, most are gen 2's. Lots of Toyota's : Rav4 s and their pickups. Subaru's suv seems to be a hit as well.

A lot of similarities over here, but Rav4s and subaru's are rare.

 

[smurfslayer]

One problem they face is the different market places. While North American countries are reasonably similar, European and Asian markets are vastly different. Sure, there are some similarities, but, Europeans are used to exceedingly high fuel taxes, and correspondingly shocking fuel prices. Think $8.50 per gallon or so. You see quite a lot of tiny, small displacement vehicles, and they may need to navigate streets in cities that are 3-4 TIMES as old as any American city. There are still some old town streets you can drive on over there and some of them are definitely not Raptor approved.

I can’t imagine trying to navigate Lucille around Tokyo streets either but more so for the crowding.

development and upkeep just to make the different market vehicles has to be expensive.

 

[GordoJay]

... I believe all other major companies are in the same situation, selling suv's and trucks and phasing out cars and undesirable vehicles...

Yes, but the other two big truck makers dumped their unfunded pension liability on the taxpayers ten plus years ago. Ford didn't declare bankruptcy and still carries that burden. Gonna be a tough row to hoe.

 

[CoronaRaptor]

Yes, but the other two big truck makers dumped their unfunded pension liability on the taxpayers ten plus years ago. Ford didn't declare bankruptcy and still carries that burden. Gonna be a tough row to hoe.

Well Maybe Trump can give Ford a few Billion for free like the other two got 10 years ago

 

[CoronaRaptor]

Yes, but the other two big truck makers dumped their unfunded pension liability on the taxpayers ten plus years ago. Ford didn't declare bankruptcy and still carries that burden. Gonna be a tough row to hoe.

Is it "tough row to hoe" or "Tough Hoe to row"?, sounds better the last way, idk, lol

 

[Frogger22]

As far as I’m concerned Ford could dump everything they do besides trucks and Ford Performance and I’d be fine with it. Their cars and SUVs are pretty Undistinguished from all the other brands really outside of Ford performance. But Ford lives and dies by their trucks no doubt about it.

 

[melvimbe]

One problem they face is the different market places. While North American countries are reasonably similar, European and Asian markets are vastly different. Sure, there are some similarities, but, Europeans are used to exceedingly high fuel taxes, and correspondingly shocking fuel prices. Think $8.50 per gallon or so. You see quite a lot of tiny, small displacement vehicles, and they may need to navigate streets in cities that are 3-4 TIMES as old as any American city. There are still some old town streets you can drive on over there and some of them are definitely not Raptor approved.

I can’t imagine trying to navigate Lucille around Tokyo streets either but more so for the crowding.

development and upkeep just to make the different market vehicles has to be expensive.

A long long time ago, I had to spend a week working in a Milan office. You are not kidding about navigating streets in cities that were built centuries before autos were even considered possible. The majority of roads were built for horse and carriage traffic at most, very narrow, and rarely over 100 meters long before the street ends. Unlike today where the roads were built and buildings developed around them, many of these were buildings first, then roads, so very little consideration for organized roads. Parking was never a consideration And since traffic lanes are more of a suggestion than law, having a wide vehicles is a big liability. It may have changed now, but smart cars were popular not just for fuel efficiency, but because it was as long as most vehicles are wide, so you could park perpendicular in a parallel parking space. Completely different world.