Featured Ford to stop selling most cars in North America

until gas prices go up. that would be extremely short sighted.

it's amazing how poorly they have done with hybrids and plug ins. and now they are going to hybridize large vehicles?

 

Please elaborate.

 

apparently, they are not happy with small medium and large car sales, so they are canning everything except mustang, suv and trucks?do you think the current market will never change?

 

How does Ford pull this off and achieve CAFE standards? Hybridizing those giant single utilizer vehicles (SUVs) and solo commuter trucks gonna get them there? Not venting here, no not at all.

 

But doesn't the fleet still have to average "54.5 mpg" by 2025 if current rules continue? Of course there are credits for certain vehicles and trades and handwaving involved (maybe I am mixing some CARB stuff up in there, although that would still be a problem for Ford)...maybe @Trollbait can shed light on this.

 

I hope they are successful.

 

SWAG:

1. Ford is about to have some major management change(s).
2. Ford is playing an 'electro-political' game to blackmail/tease some concessions from 'the powers that be.'
3. Ford's sedans will get a suspension 'lift kit' and relabeled with SUV.

Bob Wilson

 

I checked some of the Ford forums after this news broke and lets just say there are some not-so-happy people there. Seems very risky to alienate part of your customer base like this.

If true...this "throw out everything that isn't extremely profitable" management approach seems extremely short sighted. However, it has been done in other industries...with extremely mixed results.

As Bob mentioned above...I'm also thinking they are just 'playing games' and this will not be as bad as the article says.

 

Ford's statement is to get out of sedans. They aren't ditching the tall wagon crossovers, nor are they going to stop selling the smaller versions of those. Just caught an ad for the new Ecosport, which is a size smaller than the Escape.

Ford's hybridization plans, which includes PHEVs and BEVs, extends to those smaller vehicles.

The 54.5mpg number is a set target. It was based on a projected mix of car to truck sales. The actual mix is more trucks than in the projection, but I think the 54.5mpg still stands. Calls to relax that target are really calls to just adjust the target for the mix people are actually buying.

Yeah, the 'white space' designs sound like Ford is pulling a Subaru.

 

Just my opinion, but Ford is making a big mistake along with the other US manufacturers. Changing production lines over that produce fuel effecient cars to produce gas guzzlers that have higher profit margins. All under the guise of consumers want more SUVs. Automakers want higher profits! Gas prices are rising almost daily. Wait until gas goes above $3/gal and see how fast those SUVs are moving.

If Ford can shift them to hybrid, that’s great. But I have a feeling most of the sales will come from regular internal combustion engines.

 

So apparently Ford will still have a lot of work to meet CAFE targets:

...That leaves the automaker heavily reliant on trucks and SUVs, with crossovers to pick up most of the small-car detail for most shoppers. While future fuel-economy regulation policies are very unclear, Ford’s big bet on trucks and crossovers comes with a similarly big bet on electrification and widespread cost-cutting measures to make those cars affordable and popular.

In other words, small-car fuel consumption will largely be left to small crossovers—with or without electrification—and those crossovers have a way to go today....

...If left in place, the current corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards would require Ford’s SUVs, crossovers, trucks, and Mustang to average roughly 35 to 37 mpg, after exceptions.​

Cars out at Ford, small crossovers and SUVs left to take up efficiency banner

 

Yep, every company seems to have and push its own special interests.

 

Hmmm where have we heard this before.

Oh yeah.
Auto Industry Bailout (GM, Chrysler, Ford)
Right.

Well, fellow taxpayers... prepare yourselves for the inevitable bailout in another 10-15 years.

 

The Escape, like the Rav4, is rated 30mpg highway before you start hybridizing it. Basic start/stop systems, which are standard on all the F150 engines, get a bonus on CAFE. Then plug ins get a bigger credit there

The Model X has a window sticker MPGe of over 90; the value for CAFE is higher without the binus credit in effect. Whatever their exact plug in offerings will be, Ford won't need a mandate to sell enough of them to pull up the pick up truck numbers. The current incentives are working well enough, and Ford isn't approaching the tax credit cut off amount yet.

ICE numbers will continue to improve. We are coming to the point where the majority of such vehicles sold will be a hybrid to some degree.

 

we've seen this play before. the reason toyota, honda, et al, are doing so well in this country is because u.s. manufactures have always ignored smaller, more fuel efficient cars.