Featured 2025 Ford Ranger Plug-In Hybrid Is Coming, Just Not to the U.S

so ..... another punch in the face for USA customers - where buyers love pickups the most. how do YOU spell blowback ....
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maybe they don't want to sell too many so they won't lose so much money

 

Eh, this is likely a case of selecting regional products in face of limited resources.

It was years before the US got this Ranger. It was designed for the global market where the F150 is too big. They are still a fraction of sales compared to the F150 in the US. Then there is the way CAFE targets based on vehicle foot print making plug in F150s more valuable there. With a limited supply of plug in batteries in the near term, why divert supply for US Rangers from F150s?

 

Maybe the UAW is "deciding" what cars to build in the US

Mike

 

Maverick PHEV was testing 6 months after the hybrid, let’s see how many decades it takes for that to launch.

Ford has canceled 100’s of thousands of Maverick hybrid orders because they do not want to produce 80% hybrids.

 

I don't think they are adverse to selling hybrids. It is that they underestimated demand and priced it too low to ramp up production to the right levels. I am not sure it makes sense to fix that now as it will likely take 3 years, and in 5 years they could have a maverick plug-in hybrid that would likely sell better. They are struggling to fix some manufacturing problems that require minor redesigns of the much more profitable f150 lightning bev. with the strike it makes sense to improve design and get supply chain in place, but ford and gm are mismanaged so who knows what will happen.

 

In the late 70s there were 1.5 million UAW workers, now there are 146,000. The unions made work rules and benefits that made them uncompetitive when oil prices rose and foreign competition took hold. These foreign companies now have opened north American plants that are mostly non union. These foreign companies often have union plants in their own countries so the problem is union management relations not having a union.

The Freemont manufacturing plant is instructive. When GM ran it as a UAW shop on its own, it was one of the lowest quality plants in north America. It closed the plant and when it reopened it as a joint venture with Toyota they negotiated a much more favorable UAW contract with more flexible work rules. Toyota made high quality corollas and trucks there, but costs were high. In the financial crisis GM and Toyota pulled out, and sold the plant to Tesla to get rid of the headache. This was toyota's only union shop in north America. They moved production of the corolla to a new plant in mississippi that they originally built for Prius production, and moved truck production to a new plant in texas. Both non union. Tesla when they took over freemont did it as a non union shop.

The unions were partially to blame for bad decissions in the 1970s and 1980s. In the bankrupcies 15 years ago the unions lost all power. The unions want to keep making the same old shit and lose money, but they don't have the power. They are even fighting moving to plug-ins because they require fewer workers. It is management to blame now.

 

The End Of The Line For GM-Toyota Joint Venture : NPR

"In the mid-1980s, Toyota took over the Fremont plant, one of GM's worst, a factory known for sex, drugs and defective vehicles. And as part of an historic joint venture, Toyota turned the plant into one of GM's best, practically overnight.

Along the way — remarkably — Toyota even shared its production secrets."

"Back then, GM and Toyota needed each other. GM had to build small cars, but they were lousy and lost money.

Toyota had its own problems. The company was facing import restrictions from the U.S. Congress. So, it had to start building cars in United States."

When GM pulled out Toyota was put in a bad position. Toyota kept the factory open and helped the UAW workers find jobs and make plans when they were abandoned by the UAW and GM.

Toyota made the best of a undesirable situation helping their workers.
Toyota knew it wanted no part of a UAW workforce but strived to help these workers find jobs and keep their dignity - we had close to 100 come to work transferring to Toyota Motor Manufacturing of Kentucky. Toyota helped them make the move and secure the jobs by providing help and compensation to them.

I actually made two trips to the NUMMI factory while working for Toyota to help them with Energy Saving Initiatives and to assist their Skilled Maintenance Department.