Ford has been too busy selling $80,000 trucks to worry about cars and EVs.
I’ve never understood why so many people in the US buy pickups. City dwellers? Why? People in most trades? Panel van > pickup. Farmers or ranchers? Makes sense.
Status symbol and to project a personality.
Status symbol: “I’m a fucking moron :D”
Now with Truck Nuts^Tm
It’s also ego and insecurity about their masculinity
My employer just swapped me from a pickup with a covered rollout bed to a van. I absolutely love it! Slightly less comfortable ride, but carries more parts and it’s all more accessible, especially if it’s raining or snowing. So this is why many companies have been using vans for so long…
Utility, can carry tall stuff, and can carry messy stuff without worrying about dirtying up the inside of a vehicle. Rain will wash a pickup bed out. At least that’s why I have one, hauling stuff, working around my property, hauling trash. But mine is a 1995.
I/my business have owned 4 panel vans. One was an IVECO that had a 5+m long by 2+m tall interior. I’d much rather haul a tall load enclosed. If I ever needed to haul something taller, I could always rent a pickup or a real truck, and not being saddled by the pickup’s shortcomings everyday.
Pickups have their uses, and I never denied that, I just say that most pickups don’t do pickup duty, and that a lot do panel van duty.
To absolute morons who make sure it comes with a bed cover they never take off.
An assessment of the global electric vehicle market and Ford merited one lukewarm, brief sentence. At the time, Farley was the Executive Vice President and President of Global Markets. If that sounds like a job that would require paying close attention to China’s reality and increasing competitiveness, it is. If that sounds like a job that should understand disruptive innovation’s death knell for firms like Ford, it is. If that sounds like a job that should have been creating strategy to deal with the reality of China’s emerging electric vehicle juggernaut, it is.
Auto industry mismanagement is redundant.
They still build the only real EV truck though
I get the criticism of the cyber truck, and the hummer EV is ridiculous, but why do the R1T and Silverado EV not count as trucks? R1T is an expensive but great midsize go anywhere truck. Silverado EV is a range king and a little flat looking, but still 100% “truck”. Lightning is just the all around best value of a truck. I say this as a lightning owner, there are options in this market.
Only one of the three is body on frame and it’s Ford’s
They almost made a truck with the Silverado EV but then they had to turn it into whatever the Avalanche is supposed to be with fins coming off the cab that get in the way of things. Anyways, not to sound bitter but some people like to be able to put camper shells, tool boxes, or other accoutrement on the back.
R1T is decent, just really expensive.
And unibody
Rivian?
Unibody
They were suggesting that Rivian was forgotten.
They were suggesting that Rivian also make a real EV truck which they don’t
What makes them not real? They’re shaped like a truck and they operare purely on batteries, what more could there be? I get the feeling that this is truck-snobbery like the ford vs chevy guys from 20-30 years ago
It is truck snobbery. It’s a truck, the definition of a truck is a large motor vehicle used to transport goods, materials, or troops. His response is straight up gate keeping, like the people who will tell you a mustang mach-e isn’t a real mustang since it’s not shitting a bunch of CO2 into the atmosphere.
Body on frame, only on the F150, that’s not snobbery, that’s just reality, work trucks need that.
So you are leaving out the adjective “work” on purpose when you say “not a truck” because…?
Why are you being deceptive? What do you gain from that?
And plus, look at the bed. Its so short because of the cab. What kind of lumber are you even hauling in that?
Oh my that damage control speech from Ford the article was forced to include does not work in the direction they hope it does.
There is actual fear to be perceived as Incompetent in there.
The reporters did very little to sugarcoat that they got told to edit it. Basically a copyPaste of fords demands of what needed to be talked about
It was a quote from them…
deleted by creator
What’s this thing where when you need to italicize something that is already italicized, you change it to a sans-serif font? Looks bad
Oh so that is why my eyes burn, i thought it was purely the content.
It was crazy visiting China last year. The EVs that everyday people are driving feel so polished and futuristic in many ways.
I did also and was astounded. More EV brands and retail stores for them than for mobile phones and gadgets in the malls. I counted 14 brands in one mall. Like EVs are a fashion accessory. And I saw car designs for sale and on the steet that looked like what we usually see only as early concept art. not high tier of market either. It is an ultra-competitive race to the bottom , There must be several new factories and brands opening every week, and maybe the same or more shutting down. some of the bells and whistles being thrown in are pretty funny. Little robotic characters ala alexa for your car that sits on the dash with led face responding and moving to commands. half side doors being an LED screen for some reason (mainly to atrract potential buyers in the malls I thought) . The european, tesla and other US evs alongside were very very plain. Whether all of this is a good thing is another matter.
Honestly our sad EV offerings deserve to be disrupted
- The arrogance of seeing only established manufacturers.
- The self-centeredness of assuming US and European are the only markets that matter, and product mix in US is more profitable.
- The instant gratification of not thinking beyond quarterly financials.
- The lack of knowledge of his own business and how to fit engineering timelines into marketing timelines
Lol, the corrections… “We didn’t sleep, we sold 5 cars!”
They are still sleeping. The petrol corruption runs so deep, it will the downfall of the western industry.
He was not alone in his sleep. Volkswagen and Mercedes have been sleeping about as deep and long.
Mercedes has just increased the speed limit for their level 3 self driving system to 95km/h, which means you can legally read a book or watch a movie while the car drives on the Autobahn.
Any car going 95m/h on a German Autobahn is going to cause a lot of problems. It would be a moving accident waiting to happen.
Nope. Semi trucks drive 90 km/h, you can just stay behind one in the right lane.
No, they do 100km/h. That’s the problem.
Then they’re speeding.
Also no Mercedes driver stays in the right lane. Ever.
On the Autobahn?
Trucks are limited to 80km/h.
In Sweden they may drive 90 on highway-equvialent roads
I see, that’s probably a good idea.
Yes, they are. And cruising in the right lane sucks a lot less if you can do something else while driving.
They’re the world’s factory, of course they’ll build better and cheaper.
Wish we still had Chris Farley around instead of his dumbass brother…seriously this is Chris Farley’s brother.
Looked it up, wiki says cousin.
Oh shit, good call. It’s been awhile since I heard about Jim here and I guess since they have a bit of a shared resemblance my brain just decided they were bros.
It says they went to China in 2023 though?
Yes, it does. Your point?
