Ford Reveals F-150: The Truth About Trucks?
OK, I was a little pissed that I missed buying www.thetruthabouttrucks.com when I set up shop as TTAC. Ford scarfed the url, and they’ve done not much with it. But today I read that Ford analyst George “No Pictures Please” Pipas is using the TTAT tagline for his presentation on the new F-150. As I have a subconscious stimulus – response pattern for Powerpoint-style pdf docs that induces something roughly akin to total body catalepsy, I’ll leave it to our Best and Brightest to play “spot the spin.” My takeway: Ford research reveals that 38 percent of pickup truck buyers either are or are considering leaving the genre. Oh dear. Anyway, with F-150 models ranging from $21,320 (good luck finding a stripper) to $44,860 (what are you nuts?) and a lot of standard kit vs, the competition, Ford can legitimately claim to offer “the most pickup for the money.” You know; if you discount used. Or discounts. And Ford’s going to hype the Hell out of its SFE (Superior Fuel Economy) F-150, which gets 15/21. Is that enough to swim upstream? Doubtful. To paraphrase ELO, the best FoMoCo can do is to hold on tight to their share.
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davey49 If I were Ford and the other Big 1.5, I most likely would have built as many as anybody would buy. That's really good business. But keep the R&D hot in car development. The public has a short concentration period. Shorter than my window of opportunity when my wife drinks...about ten minutes. But in the beginning...trucks built their base loyalties by being trucks...not decorative 50K for drive to the country club. I knew we had trouble when Ford started bragging about its LEXUS interiors. Oh, My God! NO! Please don't try to be a Lexus! It got my high income pilot friends buyin' em. They got the gas fear and now have a Lexus and Acuras or Audi in their driveway. So much for the macho suburban male loyalty. Keep building trucks! Keep building cars. And don't let them get them confused with each other.
Ford was really smart to bring the Transit Connect over; with high gas prices and erased home equity the days of suburbanites playing dress up in pick-ups are over.
Don't worry, playing dress up in fancy pickups will come back. At least for me it will. I'm too poor to even buy a toy truck these days but if I can manage to raise my income the next thing I'll get is a fancy pickup or SUV. A big truck and a nice RV is my aspirational purchase. (much like sports cars or big luxury sedans for some people here) And if you don't think there are people who both want a truck with high style and high capability you need to meet horse people.
Horse people. Dog people. Cat people. Tree people...whatever. There is just something really out of wack when you can't get into your truck without removing your muddy shoes. What next, plastic on the seat cushions like my Italian relative's couch? Look...I can say that. I resemble the remark!