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What is it with you folks who think the only alternative to a mid-size sedan is "huge SUVs?" Are you honestly that oblivious to all the car-based unibody CUVs on the market these days? Those are what people are buying instead of sedans, not Suburbans and Land Cruisers.
What is it with you folks who think the only alternative to a mid-size sedan is "huge SUVs?" Are you honestly that oblivious to all the car-based unibody CUVs on the market these days? Those are what people are buying instead of sedans, not Suburbans and Land Cruisers.
For myself and a lot of other people, it's not the size, it's the configuration. I just don't want an SUV, even one as small as my Focus. I don't want to sit high up in a vehicle, not even just a little high up. A small sedan is perfect - low to the ground, highly maneuverable, you get good feedback from the road, etc. Add a manual transmission and you've got Driver's Heaven. It's like having a little sports car.
For myself and a lot of other people, it's not the size, it's the configuration. I just don't want an SUV, even one as small as my Focus. I don't want to sit high up in a vehicle, not even just a little high up. A small sedan is perfect - low to the ground, highly maneuverable, you get good feedback from the road, etc. Add a manual transmission and you've got Driver's Heaven. It's like having a little sports car.
What year is yours? I'm picking up a 2011 tomorrow, swapped out my 2005 Cruiser for it.
Didn't high gas prices drive Detroit into bankruptcy a few years ago because they didn't have the cars they needed to sell? Looks like Ford wants a second chance to get bailed out since they didn't take advantage in the first round.
Didn't high gas prices drive Detroit into bankruptcy a few years ago because they didn't have the cars they needed to sell? Looks like Ford wants a second chance to get bailed out since they didn't take advantage in the first round.
They did not have fuel-efficient crossovers then. Most SUVs had V6 engines. Now they sip gas. Big difference.
Ford says there's big demand for trucks -- yet no one makes a small pickup. Even the new Ranger got upsized from a small truck to midsize. Everything is midsize or larger. Those are driveway boats and won't fit in the average suburban garage.
There have been conceptual compact trucks that GM and Hyundai have floated but are king cabs with tiny short beds. What good is it if you can't haul stuff?
A small, no frills basic compact truck with a 6-foot bed is an unmet niche market. I think they would be fairly popular as light work trucks, 2nd vehicles for handy homeowners, and as fleet vehicles for landscapers, small business gophers, parts runners, deliveries, etc.
If I can find a square body 4.3 S-10 ext cab in really nice shape..............There most certainly is a market for small trucks (todays small trucks are not small trucks) but for some reason, no one wants to fill it.
100% agreed. I picked up a Subaru Baja recently because it's the closest thing available to what your describe that meets all of my needs. While plenty of older Rangers still exist in good condition, they aren't 4 doors with a full backseat.
Ford Motor Company has been in business for over a 100 years they know the automotive business do you think they make these decisions off the top of their head. They know the automotive business they started it in this country. The Chicago assembly plant builds the Taurus and the Explorer now they will build the Explorer only until they put something else in there. The Flat Rock assembly plant builds the fusion it’s a newer plant I’m sure it’s going to start making possible the new Focus crossover. Gm is getting ready to stop making sedans also their is more profit in a SUV, and Pickups. We are not automotive experts here Ford pays the big bucks to people to study the automotive trends and sedans are not what they use to be so they will stop building low profit sedans. Chrysler dropped the 200, and Dart.
Are you kidding?
The CEO / President / Board Member running the company spent his entire career running an OFFICE FURNITURE company. He knows NOTHING about what makes Ford great or even important. All that counts is increasing gross margin percentage, and he is doing it by reducing sales of slightly less profitable vehicles and eliminating billions in product development. The company can go bankrupt in five years for all he cares, he is in line to get a huge bonus for raising stock prices NOW!
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