CEO Jim Farley says Americans need to fall ‘back in love’ with smaller cars

[Tom 71 Maverick 24]

Based on what I'm seeing on the road around here, full sized trucks are still selling well, as are Explorers. Not just F-150s but a lot of Chevy/GMC and quite a few RAMs too. But there are also a good number of smaller vehicles including several foreign brands.

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[1929]

Ford poisoned the market for small Ford cars with Powershift transmission.

 

[inline_five]

And, while many EVs are small they are HEAVY. This creates a new set of challenges.

https://www.usnews.com/news/us/arti...il-system-cant-handle-heavy-electric-vehicles

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/stud...jkYEhwmm--AWe9mVK_yDyZvBGjvLX0m4f0wyw5y1Z7DD2

https://www.capitalone.com/cars/lea...ar/will-heavy-evs-destroy-americas-roads/1463

Tesla 3/Y, the most popular electric vehicles by far, weigh 4000 lbs, just a couple hundred more than the Maverick.

 

[OrCoaster]

Hard to do when the smallest vehicle they make is not “small”.

Exactly, In order for the consumer to fall in love with a small vehicle they have to build them. The beasts they call compacts would have been considered luxury cars 20 years ago.

 

[Blinky]

If Ford hadn't been so brash as to cancel their small cars I'd likely be happily driving a new Fiesta ST instead of the Maverick.

I don't "need" a truck, a large number of truck owners don't, but when all that's offered is boring SUVs or pickups, well, one does as one must.

 

[AzureBlueBill]

There are a lot of very nice, affordable, small, non-EV cars on the market. They sell very well. Honda Civic, Subaru Impeza, Hyundai Elantra, Nissan Versa/Sentra, Toyota Corrola, etc... Note that none of these are sold/produced by U.S. companies! Ford/GM are the ones that do not like small cars!

 

[Deleted member 5352]

There are a lot of very nice, affordable, small, non-EV cars on the market. They sell very well. Honda Civic, Subaru Impeza, Hyundai Elantra, Nissan Versa/Sentra, Toyota Corrola, etc... Note that none of these are sold/produced by U.S. companies! Ford/GM are the ones that do not like small cars!

I respect them for that. Foreign automakers are the only ones that keep the small car segment alive and understand the appeal of them. Not everyone wants or needs a full-size SUV or truck or even a crossover. Sedans are what most people can afford. They're perfectly adequate for most households. They were the go-to for many decades. The domestics are totally out of touch in this category. Once Chevrolet discontinues the Malibu at the end of this year, that'll be the second to last domestic sedan made. Dodge is still gonna continue making the Charger in both EV and ICE form with a two-door or four-door option but that's it. Everything else will be left for the Japanese, Koreans and Europeans.

 

[mdsalemi]

So build them!

We can't buy what isn't being built and offered. We didn't start the arms race on size...

Boy, do you ever have that correct!

Ford is so stupid in that they forgot that the first year they came out with the first generation Ranger, which was a small truck at the time, they made 250,000 units. They continued to make that AND MORE every year for close to 30 years.

They either totally missed their marketing or their production by making people wait 12 to 24 months to get their hands on a Maverick. They also need to stop thinking that this is some kind of entry point to eventually an F150. An F150 is way too big and I will never drive one. I’m guessing there are a lot of Maverick owners in a similar position.

They don’t understand their own market.

 

[mikedt]

Yes, but not for the US.

That looks awesome. Can I have that in a 5 speed manual?

 

[mikedt]

They also need to stop thinking that this is some kind of entry point to eventually an F150. An F150 is way too big and I will never drive one. I’m guessing there are a lot of Maverick owners in a similar position.

If they made an F150 that got 40mpg I'd probably buy one. I wouldn't pay 70 grand to do so though.

 

[mdsalemi]

Another exactly! What makes anyone think we want 70 and $80,000 trucks?

 

[Oscarcat]

QUALITY and SMALL. Did he ever mention quality? As in "Quality is job 1 "?

 

[Automate]

Tesla 3/Y, the most popular electric vehicles by far, weigh 4000 lbs, just a couple hundred more than the Maverick.

You have a lot of rounding error in there.
Lighest Y is 1911 kg => 4213 lbs
Lighest Mav is 3563 lbs
so 650 lbs difference

 

[Scott Asheville]

We all need to examine Farley's comments for intent and context. He was talking about the survival of the American auto industry, and he was correct. Yes, today and tomorrow you can continue to churn out huge and hugely expensive vehicles. There is a valid market for those - in the USA (the land of the porkers). But not worldwide.

Farley was making the point that if Ford doesn't have vehicles competitive on the world market, it will shrink to a boutique US automaker selling big trucks and SUVs. It won't have scale. Overseas competitors will bury it - except in areas protected by anti-competitive tariffs (aka the "chicken tax", a 25% tariff on non-US trucks).

The US market (SAAR) is 15 to 17 million vehicles a year, and only part of that is owned by the Big Three. Worldwide it is 90+ million. We're a solid but relatively small market.

Mass market automaking is all about scale. Everything is cheaper at scale (except UAW labor). Lose scale and slowly die or become a bit player.

 

[Falcon Bill]

Yes, but not for the US.

I'd definitely consider buying this.

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