Ford Market News

[kscarbel2]

All-Electric Ford F-150 Confirmed

Joey Capparella, Car & Driver  /  January 17, 2019

Ford president Jim Farley told investors on January 16 that a battery-electric version of the F-150 is coming.

A hybrid version of the truck has been promised for 2020.

There are no mechanical details about the Ford F-150 EV at this point, as little information exists about Ford's impending plans to offer several new electrified models across its lineup. The electric F-150 is likely to share some components with the upcoming Mustang-inspired electric crossover, but the truck will need a larger battery pack and a more powerful electric motor to support its size and meet expectations for towing and hauling duties.

[kscarbel2]

Ford posts first quarterly loss in 2 years

Nick Bunkley, Automotive News  /  January 23, 2018

DETROIT — Ford Motor Co. lost $116 million in the fourth quarter, its first loss in two years, and its profit for all of 2018 fell by more than half as lower margins in North America combined with losses everywhere else in the world.

The automaker said tariffs and higher commodity costs added up to a $1.8 billion hit during the year, and it took an $877 million hit to pensions and other benefit funds when financial markets tumbled late in the year.

"It's not a year that we were happy with," Ford CFO Bob Shanks said.

But he argued that the company "made a lot of progress underneath the surface in North America" and has begun working to fix problems in Asia and Europe.

Ford CEO Jim Hackett, on a conference call with analysts and reporters, said Ford is taking “decisive action in all underperforming parts of the business” and will begin to show clear results from those moves in 2019.

“We have a clear vision, we have a solid plan and we are in execution mode,” Hackett said.

Most of Ford's financial metrics for the quarter were negative, save for revenue that rose 1.2 percent to $41.8 billion behind improved product mix and higher net prices.

On the year, revenue rose 2.2 percent to $160.3 billion but net income fell 52 percent to $3.7 billion.

Ford earned $7.6 billion in North America in 2018, 6 percent less than the prior year. That will result in an average profit-sharing payout to most UAW members in March of $7,600, which is $100 more than last year because of accounting adjustments made to last year's results.

The company lost $2.2 billion in the rest of the world, with the Asia Pacific region accounting for half of the red ink. Ford lost $678 million in South America and $388 million in Europe.

Ford Credit had its best result in eight years, with a profit of $2.6 billion, a 14 percent increase.

Mobility expenses

Shanks said spending on mobility services throughout the year amounted to a loss of $674 million, split evenly between development work on autonomous vehicles and on investments such as Ford’s purchase of an electric scooter company called Spin.

In addition to tariffs and higher commodity costs, Ford said it took charges totaling nearly $800 million tied to recalls of vehicles with defective Takata airbags and lost about $800 million related to foreign currency exchange. Combined, that’s about $3.4 billion lost to factors that were entirely outside Ford’s control, including $1.9 billion in North America, Shanks said. Yet North American profits only declined by $450 million, he noted.

“If you put those aside, North America actually advanced in the year,” he told reporters at Ford’s headquarters. “That’s extremely encouraging, because it is the foundation of the business.”

Shanks said Ford expects results to improve in 2019, though he again declined to provide more specific guidance than the vague projections that frustrated analysts and contributed to a decline in the company’s stock last week. In the U.S., it has several high-profile vehicles coming to market, including the Explorer and Escape crossovers, after a recent product lull during which its U.S. market share declined.

“We’re going to have a lot of ammunition in terms of new product,” Shanks said.

Potential labor disruption

He cited the potential for labor disruptions in the year ahead as one potential negative. Ford has to negotiate with workers in Europe as part of its restructuring in that region, he said, and the UAW’s contracts with all of the Detroit 3 automakers expire this fall.

Ford knows what it needs to do to fix its business and is confident in its plan, Shanks said, though he declined to elaborate on any details that the company has not yet released.

“The choices that we’ve made in terms of what we are going to do to improve the business are largely made,” he said, “and now it’s just down to execution.”

[kscarbel2]

Ford Exec Confirms a Small Pickup Is Coming That Will Slot beneath the Ranger

Andrew Wendler, Car & Driver  /  January 23, 2019

Return of the Ford Courier small pickup?

Jim Farley, Ford president of global markets, has confirmed that the company is working on a new compact pickup that will slot in Ford's lineup below the Ranger. According to a report in Automotive News, Farley made the remarks while speaking at the Deutsche Bank Global Auto Industry Conference in Detroit. Farley said that Ford is "investing in more affordable versions of our truck business" and added, "You can expect new nameplates below where we compete today."

This news dovetails nicely with our earlier report that Ford was planning a subcompact pickup to fill the physical and spiritual void left by not only the car-based Ford Courier small pickup, which was sold in countries such as Brazil and Mexico, but also the Mazda-based compact pickup truck that Ford sold in the United States throughout the 1970s and early 1980s.

While we still don't have confirmation on markets in which the new compact pickup will be sold, C/D recently acquired this set of spy photos of a heavily camouflaged small vehicle testing in Michigan. The photographers insist that the vehicle, although clad to resemble a small van, is a small, car-based pickup truck. Additionally, Ford recently applied to trademark the Courier name with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

As we reported earlier, the new model will share its underpinnings with the latest global Ford Focus compact car. A hybrid model is a possibility. The market for pickups of any size has never been hotter, and if Ford wants to capitalize on the current demand, it'll want to start dropping official teasers as soon as possible.

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[TS7]

I saw something like this on the road here, wondered what it was. SE MI Ford dealer's are selling 2019 Ranger's now. I looked at one, I like what I saw.

[kscarbel2]

24 minutes ago, TS7 said:

I saw something like this on the road here, wondered what it was. SE MI Ford dealer's are selling 2019 Ranger's now. I looked at one, I like what I saw.

If I could get the four-cylinder 2.0L EcoBlue or 2.2L Duratorq diesels available in the global market, or the five-cylinder 3.2L Duratorq diesel available in the US market Transit as well as the global market, Ford would have a customer.

[kscarbel2]

Ford, Hackett feel Wall Street's pain over slow-motion turnaround

Keith Naughton, Bloomberg  /  January 24, 2019

DETROIT -- Ford Motor Co. needed to stop the bleeding before it could start showing gains from herculean efforts to turn the company around.

That’s the key takeaway from CEO Jim Hackett’s second try in as many weeks to explain to analysts why Ford has been struggling more than some of its peers to weather a host of headwinds hitting the auto industry. He said he understands their disappointment after the company posted only its second quarterly loss since 2009.

“I respect that,” Hackett said of frustrations with how long Ford’s restructuring is taking. “But it is what it takes to build an industrial model that we’re talking about -- to do it the right way and not have it fall apart.”

Hackett, 63, was more blunt than he’s ever been in the 20 months since he became CEO about what has ailed Ford. He described how its product development had been “constipated” days after taking the wraps off a new Explorer SUV that hadn’t been redesigned in almost a decade. And he painted a picture of a company that allowed costs to creep up under his two predecessors.

From 2013 to 2017 -- a period coinciding with the last years of Alan Mulally’s tenure and the abbreviated reign of Mark Fields -- Ford’s structural costs grew by an average of about $1.7 billion annually, Hackett said.

Ford “arrested” this trend last year and will keep structural expenses flat in 2019, the CEO said on a conference call with analysts. It can move more quickly now to bring fresh SUVs, crossovers, pickup trucks and other new models to market.

The call was a change in tack from Hackett’s messaging a week earlier, when the CEO’s plea for patience and the lack of specific guidance on Ford’s earnings outlook for 2019 sent shares down 6.2 percent, the biggest drop in a year. The stock was little changed in pre-market trading Thursday.

Overhauling Ford

Hackett has been trying to overhaul the automaker by killing off slow-selling sedans, boosting spending on SUVs, crossovers and trucks, and plotting salaried staff cuts worldwide. Last week, he announced an alliance with Volkswagen Group to jointly develop commercial vans and trucks and said the two companies will explore working together on electric and self-driving cars.

But analysts have criticized the company for not providing more details on its turnaround plans and for giving vague earnings guidance. Ford executives didn’t elaborate much beyond an outlook issued last week: that there’s potential for improvement this year in revenue growth, profit margin and other measures.

Ford CFO Bob Shanks also addressed fears that have been percolating in the debt market about the risk of the company’s credit ratings falling back into junk status. This prospect for one of the largest corporate-bond issuers outside the financial sector gained urgency after Moody’s Investors Service downgraded Ford to the last rung of investment grade in August.

“My interpretation of their concerns is that it’s the operating performance. The balance sheet is very strong,” Shanks said of ratings companies’ views on Ford. “We’ve got to deliver stronger operating performance.”

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[kscarbel2]

The office furniture man from Steelcase is sucking wind.

[kscarbel2]

Ford CEO tells employees: 'Time to bury' 2018, focus on doubling profit

David Shepardson & Ben Klayman, Reuters  /  January 24, 2019

Ford CEO Jim Hackett told employees late on Thursday the No. 2 U.S. automaker would not accept last year’s “mediocre” results and said the company was aiming to nearly double its annual operating profit.

Hackett made his comments in an email to employees.

Ford is restructuring its global operations, including recent plans to make cuts in Europe. It also has announced an alliance in commercial vehicles with Germany’s Volkswagen, with plans to jointly develop electric and self-driving vehicles, in moves meant to save billions of dollars.

Ford announced its fourth-quarter results on Wednesday, reporting a 2018 operating profit of $7 billion with a profit margin of 4.4 percent, down from 6.1 percent in 2017. Ford said last week that its target for operating margin was more than 8 percent.

“2018 was mediocre by any standard,” Hackett said in the email. “Yes, we made $7 billion last year. But think of it this way: this represents a 4.4 percent operating margin, about half what we believe is an appropriate margin. So we are aiming for much closer to $14 billion.”

Hackett did not give a timetable for hitting the $14 billion target. A Ford spokesman said Hackett was simply doing the math to show employees how the margin target translated to overall profit.

Hackett, who has been on the job for 20 months, also said that it was “time to bury the year (2018) in a deep grave, grieve over what might have been and become super focused on meeting, and, in fact, exceeding this year’s plan.”

Ford did not provide Wall Street with a specific financial forecast for 2019. It simply said it had the potential to improve earnings and revenue.

That was in contrast to Ford’s larger U.S. rival, General Motors Co, which on Jan. 11 forecast higher 2019 earnings that far surpassed analysts’ estimates.

Hackett also said in looking at Ford’s 2018 results: “I become mad for a short time. Likely mad at myself, but also because I know we are better than that. ... I know that our competition hasn’t been better than us by magic.”  

He said Ford had been considering moving up its time frame to electrify its product portfolio since he took over and asked how the company could learn from the trends it missed in China, the world’s largest auto market, where it is losing money.

[kscarbel2]

Proof that CEOs who require on-the-job training aren't a wise choice.

[kscarbel2]

Ford details customer rewards program

Michael Martinez, Automotive News  /  January 26, 2019

All but four of Ford Motor Co.'s roughly 3,100 U.S. dealers have signed up for a points-based customer rewards program through the FordPass app that will roll out this year.

The automaker last year announced vague plans for a future rewards program that's part of a larger focus on customer retention. Executives used their make meeting to reveal details about the program, which is expected to start as early as April.

The rewards system will include complimentary maintenance, and customers who sign up will receive $210 in service credits at their dealership. Customers can accumulate points for certain actions, which can be transferred to other dealerships. Dealers were told Ford would cover the cost.

"Dealers really get the importance of customer experience," Mark LaNeve, Ford's vice president of marketing, sales and service, told Automotive News. "This program will marry customers to the dealership."

Todd Dyer, chairman of the Ford National Dealer Council, said he's happy with how the program helps build a relationship between the customer and dealer.

"Consumers are going to come back to us for this," said Dyer, who owns Marshal Mize Ford in Hixson, Tenn.

In addition to customer experience, the 90-minute meeting focused on improving dealer profits, which dropped in 2018 compared with 2017. To help increase those figures in 2019, Ford is tweaking its floorplan assistance as a way to offset rising interest rates.

LaNeve noted that his presentation was virtually the same as that of Ford's dealer council chairman, a sign the factory and its retailers are on the same page.

"I've done 30 of these," LaNeve said after the meeting. "I've never seen that kind of alignment."

Dealers heard directly from Ford CEO Jim Hackett, who was attending his first NADA Show as CEO and vowed to sit down with more dealers and attend more meetings with them this year, a task he has typically delegated to other executives through his first 20 months on the job.

Ford did not show dealers any photos of future product, although most saw the brand's upcoming models at some point last year after they had asked for more transparency.

"I think our relationship is really, really strong," said Kumar Galhotra, Ford's president of North America. "That's not an accident. It's a lot of work."

[kscarbel2]

Ford ready to do (and undo) what's needed to fix business

Nick Bunkley, Automotive News  /  January 28, 2019

Structural cost increases ‘arrested' after 5-year surge

DETROIT — Ford Motor Co. has moved from "thinking" to "doing," CEO Jim Hackett says. It's also undoing some of what happened under his predecessors, including product deferrals and more than $6 billion in structural cost increases since 2013.

Hackett, whom Wall Street has criticized for moving too slowly as Ford's profits fell in 2018, said much of his first 20 months in the job was spent evaluating the business and forming the right plan. Now, he said, it's time to execute that plan.

"For Ford, 2018 will be known as the year between the business that wasn't designed right and the business that we know will win," Hackett told analysts on a conference call to discuss the automaker's first quarterly loss in two years. "We have a clear vision, we have a solid plan and we are in execution mode."

One of his most immediate priorities was to control fast-rising structural costs, including product development, engineering and vehicle launches. Hackett said those costs were increasing an average of $1.7 billion annually since 2013, a period covering the end of Alan Mulally's tenure as CEO and three years under Mark Fields before Hackett took over. Structural costs were flat in 2018, and Ford projects they'll stay that way in 2019.

"We arrested that, and that didn't take us long," Hackett said.

Even though Ford was spending more, its product-development process had become "constipated," he said, leaving the company without fresh offerings in the right segments. Hackett has directed Ford to spend more on the utility vehicles and pickups that generate virtually all of its profits today, while discontinuing low-margin or money-losing sedans in the U.S., among other changes.

"When I look in hindsight, I wouldn't have traded some of the product deferrals that happened that caused some of the delays that we now are righting," Hackett said. "So as I go forward, I have to look in the mirror and say I'm going to be faced with moments of truth. I'm not going to starve product."

Ford also will be able to demonstrate more progress by April, when Hackett said it will complete a reorganization of its salaried work force. Hackett said the effort is aimed at reducing the "levels and layers" of corporate bureaucracy. It will include an unspecified number of job cuts.

New products, including the Ranger and redesigned Explorer, also should help after a lull during which Ford's U.S. market share declined, Morningstar analyst David Whiston said.

"It's not only new product, it's really profitable, popular product," Whiston said. "

But Wall Street's definitely become impatient with management continuing to say, 'Trust us.' The stock is lower than it was when Mark Fields was asked to leave."

Ford is projecting improved financial results in 2019. Last week it said net income fell 52 percent in 2018, though revenue rose 2.2 percent. It lost $116 million in the fourth quarter.

"It's not a year that we were happy with," CFO Bob Shanks said.

Ford said tariffs and higher commodity costs added up to a $1.8 billion hit during the year, and it took an $877 million hit to pensions and other benefit funds when financial markets tumbled late in the year. Amid that volatility, Ford shares fell to a nine-year low.

The bright spots were Ford Credit — its $2.6 billion profit was the best in eight years — and North America, the only geographic region that was profitable.

Ford earned $7.6 billion in North America in 2018, 6 percent less than the prior year. It lost $2.2 billion in the rest of the world, with Asia Pacific accounting for half of the red ink.

Most UAW members will get a profit-sharing payout in March of $7,600, which is $100 more than last year because of an accounting adjustment to 2017 results.

In addition to the tariffs and higher commodity costs, Ford said it took charges totaling nearly $800 million tied to recalls of vehicles with defective Takata airbags and lost about $800 million related to foreign currency exchange. Combined, that's about $3.4 billion lost to factors that were entirely outside Ford's control, including $1.9 billion in North America, Shanks said. Yet North American profits declined by only $450 million — evidence of the progress Ford is making in that region, he said.

"If you put those aside, North America actually advanced in the year," Shanks said.

"That's extremely encouraging, because it is the foundation of the business."

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[kscarbel2]

Ford adding overtime Ranger production as first-month sales hit 1,200

Michael Martinez, Automotive News  /  January 30, 2019

DETROIT — Ford Motor Co. expects a total of 1,200 U.S. Ranger sales in January — the revived midsize pickup's first month on sale — and plans to start running overtime shifts at its Michigan Assembly Plant next week to keep up with demand.

Kumar Galhotra, Ford's president of North America, on Wednesday said the Ranger is exceeding expectations, and that about 300,000 consumers already have indicated plans to purchase the vehicle.

"Based on the orders coming in, and based on the hand-raisers, we think the demand's going to be so strong, that starting in February our assembly plant will be going into massive overtime," Galhotra said at a media briefing.

A Ford spokesman declined to offer any additional details about the overtime schedule. Ford currently builds the Ranger on one shift at the plant, which recently was converted from small-car assembly to body-on-frame truck production.

Ford hasn't sold the Ranger in the U.S. since 2011, when it ceded the segment to Toyota, General Motors and other rivals. Executives said the business case for the vehicle's return became clear as the F-150 full-size pickup got larger and more expensive.

The previous Ranger regularly was among the segment's top sellers and No. 1 as recently as 2004. Ranger sales routinely totaled more than 300,000 a year in the 1990s before fading in the early 2000s.

The new model starts at $25,395, including shipping, and tops out at more than $40,000. It enters an increasingly competitive segment as new entries including the Jeep Gladiator challenge the Toyota Tacoma, Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon.

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[Maxidyne]

As a Ranger owner and Ford shareholder I want the new Ranger to succeed, but I think it's about to bomb in the market. It's late getting into production and dealers tell me the Rangers that Ford's website says they have in stock haven't even arrived yet. Ford social media is abuzz about the oil change procedure, which includes removing a front wheel to get at the filter. Motor Trend panned the Ranger they tested for poor ride. The EPA doesn't even have MPG ratings posted for the Ranger yet, holding up sales even if the aforementioned problems get fixed. And if those Rangers Ford says are at the dealers ever actually show up and get released for sale, every one within a hundred miles of me is a crew cab with the tiny joke of a bed and lists for over $40K!

Even loyal Ford fans won't pay that for a not yet ready for prime time Ranger when the friendly local GM, Nissan, and Toyota dealers are stocked with a broad selection of compact pickups for thousands less!

[RoadwayR]

Some of the first reviews and road tests have not been too complimentary, but I hear this Ranger is something of an interim vehicle.  An all-new Ranger is supposedly in the works. 

[TS7]

I have driven two new Ranger's. Very, very solid truck. They have been being sold for 4 weeks. They are hard to find here in SE Mich. Dealer's are ordering crew cabs, that is what they think will sell the best now. They are going to sell a lot of Ranger's this year and not having a plain two door cab 7" box is going to lose Ford any sale's. Buy a F-150 if you need a plain truck.  

[kscarbel2]

 

[Red Horse]

5 hours ago, RoadwayR said:

Some of the first reviews and road tests have not been too complimentary, but I hear this Ranger is something of an interim vehicle.  An all-new Ranger is supposedly in the works. 

Huh?  You must be reading Motor Trend.  You Tube is full of Ranger reviews and I don't think I have read one that you could call critical. One that comes to mind felt the dash on the XLT package  had too much "hard plastic.  That is about it.  By and large I would say the consensus is THIS is the pick of the liter when it comes to small pick ups. 

You are correct that it is an "interim" vehicle with a new one coming in?? 2022??

[Maxidyne]

Given that Ford is going to have only one body on frame platform in the future and the F series clearly has dibs on it, what is Ford going to slap a Ranger label on in 2022 or so and hopefully sell us? A scrunched F150? A hacked off Explorer? A Rancheroized C-Max/Kuga/Escape?

[RoadwayR]

7 hours ago, Red Horse said:

Huh?  You must be reading Motor Trend.  You Tube is full of Ranger reviews and I don't think I have read one that you could call critical. One that comes to mind felt the dash on the XLT package  had too much "hard plastic.  That is about it.  By and large I would say the consensus is THIS is the pick of the liter when it comes to small pick ups. 

You are correct that it is an "interim" vehicle with a new one coming in?? 2022??

I think it was 'Motor Trend', now that you mentioned it.  Maybe some pro-Tacoma websites too.  Saw the Ranger at the L.A. Auto Show, it looked nice but not really outstanding.  I hear it's 4 cylinder gas only (though turbocharged), and rumor is it's a real SOB to work on.  No diesel, no V-6 might hurt it, but I don't think those options are really necessary.  

[RoadwayR]

9 hours ago, kscarbel2 said:

 

This is the scariest thing I have seen in a long time.  This guy's head is really in the clouds.  He is probably right about some of it, but what does he think Ford's role in future transportation really is?  Ford is a heavy manufacturing company, not a tech firm.  Seems like he wants Ford to be something it isn't, and no number of train stations and ancient factory-turned-creative-lofts are going to turn it into a tech firm.  Vehicles will still be needed, many will be BEV's and AV's, and someone will still need to build them.  The rest of it belongs to the Silicon Valley, and it's not like this guy came from there!  I really hope he surprises me and proves me wrong, but............         

[kscarbel2]

3 hours ago, RoadwayR said:

This is the scariest thing I have seen in a long time.  This guy's head is really in the clouds.  He is probably right about some of it, but what does he think Ford's role in future transportation really is?  Ford is a heavy manufacturing company, not a tech firm.  Seems like he wants Ford to be something it isn't, and no number of train stations and ancient factory-turned-creative-lofts are going to turn it into a tech firm.  Vehicles will still be needed, many will be BEV's and AV's, and someone will still need to build them.  The rest of it belongs to the Silicon Valley, and it's not like this guy came from there!  I really hope he surprises me and proves me wrong, but............         

The other day, Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess wrote an article entitled "The car will become a software product".

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/car-become-software-product-herbert-diess/

[Red Horse]

17 hours ago, Maxidyne said:

As a Ranger owner and Ford shareholder I want the new Ranger to succeed, but I think it's about to bomb in the market. It's late getting into production and dealers tell me the Rangers that Ford's website says they have in stock haven't even arrived yet. Ford social media is abuzz about the oil change procedure, which includes removing a front wheel to get at the filter. Motor Trend panned the Ranger they tested for poor ride. The EPA doesn't even have MPG ratings posted for the Ranger yet, holding up sales even if the aforementioned problems get fixed. And if those Rangers Ford says are at the dealers ever actually show up and get released for sale, every one within a hundred miles of me is a crew cab with the tiny joke of a bed and lists for over $40K!

Even loyal Ford fans won't pay that for a not yet ready for prime time Ranger when the friendly local GM, Nissan, and Toyota dealers are stocked with a broad selection of compact pickups for thousands less!

I'm with you- stockholder and  Ranger owner-04  super   cab FX4 Off Road that my youngest son bought new  and when they had there first kid decided it was not the best 2nd vehicle-so I bought it from him-at an inflated price of course-. It has been inside and well taken care of. Sticker was over 27g and doing Kelly Blue Book I come up with 8-9 g.  Not bad for a 14 yr old truck

I think the new Ranger will be a hit.   Stopped at a dealer last week that had two-an  XLT that looked like it just came off truck and a Lariat in showroom-that was sold and they were about to move it out   Forget about the oil filter rumor-bullshit that was later officially dismissed.  There is a separate flap on inner fender flap-remove three Phillips heads and flap is off.  I checked out the truck that was in showroom-front wheel was slightly turned and it looked like it would be a piece of cake-easier than snaking the filter out of my 4.0 L.

Michigan assembly plant going on an OT schedule.  From what I've read, partially due to demand plus sounds like they are running at a slow build rate to insure there are no issues with the first trucks-which is good news-get it right!

[Red Horse]

5 hours ago, RoadwayR said:

This is the scariest thing I have seen in a long time.  This guy's head is really in the clouds.  He is probably right about some of it, but what does he think Ford's role in future transportation really is?  Ford is a heavy manufacturing company, not a tech firm.  Seems like he wants Ford to be something it isn't, and no number of train stations and ancient factory-turned-creative-lofts are going to turn it into a tech firm.  Vehicles will still be needed, many will be BEV's and AV's, and someone will still need to build them.  The rest of it belongs to the Silicon Valley, and it's not like this guy came from there!  I really hope he surprises me and proves me wrong, but............         

I disagree about his head in the clouds.  I think it is in a much darker place.  The guy's rep is he is a "cerebral thinker".  I'm sure there is some truth to what he says but I think he is playing strictly within his comfort zone.  Remember that is what Bill Ford hired him for-he was heading up Ford's autonomous vehicle group or whatever they called it.  Then apparently he convinced Bill  he could do it all.

For the sake of the Company and my stock I hope he can-but I think he is a bullshitter who is out of his element and he just goes along with whatever the Sillicon Valley crowd is spewing.

 Then again if you read what KSC posted about  VW's position, sounds like Hackett is not alone.  Or the VW guy is drinking the same Sillicon Valley Kool Aid.

[kscarbel2]

16 minutes ago, Red Horse said:

I'm with you- stockholder and  Ranger owner-04  super   cab FX4 Off Road that my youngest son bought new  and when they had there first kid decided it was not the best 2nd vehicle-so I bought it from him-at an inflated price of course-. It has been inside and well taken care of. Sticker was over 27g and doing Kelly Blue Book I come up with 8-9 g.  Not bad for a 14 yr old truck

I think the new Ranger will be a hit.   Stopped at a dealer last week that had two-an  XLT that looked like it just came off truck and a Lariat in showroom-that was sold and they were about to move it out   Forget about the oil filter rumor-bullshit that was later officially dismissed.  There is a separate flap on inner fender flap-remove three Phillips heads and flap is off.  I checked out the truck that was in showroom-front wheel was slightly turned and it looked like it would be a piece of cake-easier than snaking the filter out of my 4.0 L.

Michigan assembly plant going on an OT schedule.  From what I've read, partially due to demand plus sounds like they are running at a slow build rate to insure there are no issues with the first trucks-which is good news-get it right!

Bob, remember when the oil filter on the V6 Explorers was vertically mounted and so easily accessible from underneath?

[kscarbel2]

You Don’t Need to Wait Until 2020 to Buy a New Ford Bronco

Hannah Elliot, Bloomberg  /  January 31, 2019

Ford disappointed legions of fans and pundits this month at the Detroit auto show when it failed to unveil or announce progress on the new Bronco. Rumors had swirled for months that the update to the 1970s icon was coming; the rig has been promised in time for 2020 sales.

Queries about it to a Ford spokesperson that week and since have returned only vague answers about updates happening in the fall. And the stakes are high.

Kevin Tynan, senior automotive analyst for Bloomberg Intelligence, says that in order to really thrill the Bronco market, Ford must do the opposite of what Chevrolet did with the Blazer. That one was “just another crossover” slapped with a well-known name from the past, he says. It got lost in a sea of generic modern crossovers.

“If executed with aplomb, Bronco can fit into that ‘truck but not like other trucks’ niche that can serve as a halo product,” says Tynan. “It probably won’t be a volume nameplate, but put Ford in that SRT Jeep or Durango discussion of badass performance trucks. Bronco Raptor?”

Maybe. In the meantime, there are plenty of other ways to get your hands on a modernized Bronco. While they won’t have the fresh OEM seals on them like the 2020 Bronco, they retain the rugged spirit of the original.  

The Original American Work Horse

The market at the moment is red hot. While used Broncos can still be had for less than $30,000 on the auction website Bring a Trailer, the  average value for a running, driving 1966 Ford Bronco two-door wagon 4x4 in good condition is $32,700, according to collectible car experts Hagerty, up from an average value of $15,000 three years ago. Broncos in excellent condition average almost $81,000 in value, up from $42,000 in 2016.

Ford built the first Broncos in 1966. Intended to compete with International Scouts and Jeeps CJ-5s, they attracted buyers in the American west and central plains who needed four-wheel-drive, durable, practical, and affordable vehicles for hunting, ranching, and farming. Soon, buyers in northern states embraced them for their capability to handle snow and ice; some even attached snow plows to their tall metal fronts.

They were offered in three options: wagon, pickup, and open, with cut-outs in the sides instead of doors. Engines included an inline six-cylinder or a V8 during the model’s first year of production; there were a handful of original colors to choose among, from orange to blue and, of course, white.

That they cost less than $2,500 at the time (comparable to Jeeps) and were mechanically simple enough to repair at home fed their popularity. During its first year of production, Ford sold 24,000 of them. The initial generation lasted 12 years.

Most of the members of that first generation were used hard. They were beat up, crunched, crashed, and battered through years of tough work; actual labor was their calling, after all. Many of the examples that have survived into modern life need major repair.

The Modern Restorations

That’s where builders such as Velocity Restorations come in. The Pensacola, Fla., shop makes 30 of the old Broncos “new” each year. Co-owner Brandon Segers says this number is up “substantially” since even a few years ago, and he doesn’t see it slowing anytime soon.

“We are very excited about the launch of the 2020 Bronco. It will only grow the popularity” of the model at large, whether old or new, he says.

Segers’s Broncos, models taken straight from the 1970s, are restored with new components so they’ll run as reliably as any modern truck. A $169,000 Mountain Edition inserts a 302 Ford engine into a donor Bronco body, adds power disc brakes, power steering, a suspension lift, high-back reclining seats, Bluetooth, and a choice of automatic or three-speed manual rebuilt transmission. A $209,000 Lake Edition includes those things with a Ford Coyote 5.0 fuel-injected engine and 4R70 electronic shift overdrive transmission. The $239,000 Beach Edition comes with the same, plus 35-inch tires and 17-inch wheels and a power-retracting step.

Those three are set-priced vehicles that come basically as they’re offered. Segers estimates that each model takes 1,200 to 1,700 hours to produce. Donor bodies come from auctions, barns, fields, and back alleys, where they’ve been stored for years.

Elsewhere, Classic Ford Broncos works out of Ohio; Gateway Bronco specializes in “sympathetic” restorations in Illinois; and a bearded man named Amos Zook builds them in his barn in Pennsylvania Amish country—if you can find him. All specialize in complete restorations.

Jonathan Ward’s Icon Broncos are rather more bespoke. His trucks are hand-built in southern California from original Bronco body shells and then upgraded to some very high-end buyer specifications.

Common options include Marine-grade textiles on the seats; high-end surround sound systems; and a paint finish in gloss or matte of whatever color you bring into the shop. There are multiple design packages that allow you to pick whether or not you want doors, or even a roof, as well as such add-ons as sport suspension with Nitro-charged shocks, Brembo brakes, heavy-duty winches, locking differentials (better for true off-road situations), custom leather hides for the seats, and stainless steel metalware. Many of the nearly 60 Broncos Ward has sold worldwide include technologies that make them usable on a familiar basis: satellite radio and navigation, Bluetooth, Apple CarPlay, and reverse parking cameras.

Icon Broncos cost a lot—$400,000 on average, depending on the build—and require patience, as the waiting time can reach three years. Not that any of those things has hampered business one iota.

Neither has the impending new one.

“Reinvigorate isn’t even the word for what the new Bronco is doing for the market. It’s out of control right now,” Ward says. “The 2020 Bronco has significantly brought the model back into the modern culture’s mind. This is a huge push.”

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