RoadwayR

That's true, but Ford doesn't really offer a powertrain for that high a GVW. North of 30k# GVW you should have a Cummins L9/Allison 3000, and the whole point of the Ford 650/750 is to offer a low cost class 6/7 with a proprietary drivetrain. While the 6.7L Powerstroke certainly has the beans for that GVW, I would be concerned about long-term durability. The Ford Torq-Shift 10 speed is a very good pickup truck to class 5 transmission, but beyond that I don't know. An Allison 3000 I do know! The vast majority of these Fords sold are 'under CDL' spec. jobs anyway, so it really doesn't matter.

Yes, I see a lot of the gas jobs in municipal fleets. Even if International, Freightliner, or Isuzu for that matter offer the Cummins Octane I doubt they will be able to beat Ford on price. Everything else yeah.... Of course here in a CARB state the only big Fords we see are gas 650's, the Powerstroke has not been available in a couple of years.

To be clear I have not heard and specific rumors the 650 and 750 are to be dropped, but sales of these trucks have been falling.

Don't forget Autocar. Their conventional is interesting.

What Ford really needs to do is figure out how to get diesel 650's and 750's CARB certified. Sorry to say it looks like the 650 and 750 might be on the way out. At this point I don't think the Ford Commercial dealers would mind much, they are moving lots of Transits and 450-600 Super Duty trucks. Ford says they are committed to building medium duty trucks at the Avon Lake plant through the end of the UAW contract, but Avon Lake is building a lot of 450-600 Duty cab and chassis models which are medium duty trucks.

Not a surprise, I think Toyota has wanted to dump Hino since even before their diesel emissions scandal. Eventually I could see Freightliner pull Hino from the U.S. market. No need for it here other than the LCF's, which could be rebadged as Freightliners. Or Sterling, LOL!

I remember when Chrysler dealers used to get their parts and new vehicles delivered in rigs pulled by Dodge CNT-900's and LNT-1000's.

And so it begins: https://www.ivecogroup.com/media/corporate_press_releases/2024/march/ford_trucks_and_iveco_sign_memorandum_of_understanding_to_examine_potential_synergies

https://www.truckinginfo.com/10236955/kenworth-announces-new-cummins-engine-for-medium-duty-truck-line

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ford-trucks-iveco-sign-memorandum-123000707.html

Met a GMC engineer years ago, and he told me that a Cummins powered Brigadier city tractor had the lowest cost-per-mile of any class 8 truck at the time according to their statistics. Yellow seemed to agree.......

Look like Shyft will support the new Isuzu plant in South Carolina as an upfitter: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-shyft-group-and-isuzu-expand-collaboration-to-drive-long-term-growth-in-north-america-302384537.html

I can't help but wonder if Otosan would be better off if they could get out from under Ford at this point and align with Traton or Daimler, at least on the commercial truck side. Otosan's impressive commercial trucks are a home-grown effort, I see very little support or involvement from Ford other than the 'Ford' emblems on the trucks and a periodic mention of the operation around shareholder meeting time. Otosan is a small regional truck manufacturer with impressive product and good market share where they are active, but no way will Ford ever bring them to North America. I believe Otosan is still the lead manufacturing center for the Transit in Europe, but with Ford's European market share plummeting to 3.3% the business case for staying in Europe is becoming difficult. Should Ford pull out perhaps Otosan could maintain the Transit franchise in Europe themselves or with another partner. With Ford under Farley in the U.S. being such a hot mess these days perhaps the right move for Ford would be to sell off all European operations and spend the money where it's really needed, paying for warranty work in North America. I'll bet Stellantis would buy it!

Interesting statement that the plant will initially produce N Series gas and EV along with F series diesels. I wonder what may be coming. I also wonder if the contract with the Shyft Group will end. https://www.truckinginfo.com/10235847/isuzu-announces-south-carolina-truck-assembly-plant

Any news on this? I did hear Freightliner was interested, but now word is don't expect the Octane in the M2 until maybe 2006 or later. Other than Freightliner's 'maybe' there seems to be a total lack of interest among OEM's. Or maybe it's a 'wait-and-see' if there is any buyer interest.