Article criticizing Ford's approach to EVs

This article is spot on with what many of us have said over the last couple years.
http://cleantechnica.com/2016/06/29/theres-electric-car-leadership-theres-ford/

Absolutely correct. That is why when the FFE lease expires, I'm done with Ford.

I was hoping and hoping they would offer, for example, a Lincoln EV to compete with Tesla. Nope. I would have settled for a Focus without back seats and 50 (or even 40) kWh of battery. Nope.

Between the Volt and Bolt, Chevy is doing a much better job. Almost the only thing I can say to defend Ford is that Toyota is even worse.

The dealer called me, trying to create a sale when the FFE goes back. I told him, "Sorry, I've always been a Ford fan, but they don't currently offer anything that appeals to me"

michael said:

Absolutely correct. That is why when the FFE lease expires, I'm done with Ford.
...
The dealer called me, trying to create a sale when the FFE goes back. I told him, "Sorry, I've always been a Ford fan, but they don't currently offer anything that appeals to me"

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Me too. When my lease ends in under 6 weeks I am done with Ford. When I was at the Auto Show back in March & I was signing up for the test drive gift card program the Ford employee at the Auto Show asked me which Ford vehicle I would be interested in test driving to get my gift card. I told her, "None of them. I have a Focus Electric & Fusion Energi, and since Ford hasn't improved either of those cars for years I have no interest in any new Fords." When I went to the dealer to redeem my test drive gift card offer I told the dealer the only car I might be interested in is the new Focus Electric. Since they didn't have one, no surprise, they just gave me the redemption code for the gift card. It was a similar story with Chevy & their auto show gift card promotion. The local Chevy dealers don't have any new Volts, so I didn't drive anything, just got my gift card.

Hey bear...

If you ever come to LA, give me a call. You can test drive my Volt! I think you will be impressed.

Is the article really just picking at poor advertising? He still suggests the Fusion would be the car he would recommend. I'll be honest I've never really liked Ford vehicles myself over the years. My first car as a teenager was an F150 and then a Bronco II... after those cars I left Ford and didn't come back until the FFE. So unfortunately I don't have the same investment as some of you in the recent era of Ford vehicles. Realistically to me if the car fits your usage/life style does it matter? I don't believe a higher priced 200mile EV would benefit me any better than my FFE. For my daily work commute and evening errands its been perfect. Right now I guess im the opposite as I only just came back to Ford and the 2016 FFE has so far well exceeded my expectations in an EV for my usage and to me looks are important so the Leaf, Soul and Bolt don't even make the cut... We will see where things go by 2020 but for now, for my needs, I wouldn't hesitate to buy another Ford FFE. But maybe time will change that based on previous ford FFE history... I will agree though when I was looking for a PHEV the Volt was what I was considering.

Ford is making it hard to stay with the brand. I am 6 months from the end of my lease on the FFE and looking at what to do next. I am just a little too soon for the 200-mile cars. The Bolt may be out but likely only in select markets and long wait lists. I was looking at Ford's plug ins. The Fusion is getting a refresh for 2017, but no increase in battery range. They could easily squeeze a couple more KwH (around 10 or so) in the same form similar to what they did with the Leaf. But Ford seems to think holding pat on a fast moving BEV market, full electric or plug-in is good enough. They are really missing the boat. They are now falling behind in the plug-in market as well as pure electric. Plug-ins used to be their real Halo on the electrified market and now they are failing that as well. I heard they are pulling the plug on the C-Max as well.

Very disappointed with the direction of the Blue Oval.

MNEV said:

Ford is making it hard to stay with the brand. I am 6 months from the end of my lease on the FFE and looking at what to do next. I am just a little too soon for the 200-mile cars. The Bolt may be out but likely only in select markets and long wait lists. I was looking at Ford's plug ins. The Fusion is getting a refresh for 2017, but no increase in battery range. They could easily squeeze a couple more KwH (around 10 or so) in the same form similar to what they did with the Leaf. But Ford seems to think holding pat on a fast moving BEV market, full electric or plug-in is good enough. They are really missing the boat. They are now falling behind in the plug-in market as well as pure electric. Plug-ins used to be their real Halo on the electrified market and now they are failing that as well. I heard they are pulling the plug on the C-Max as well.

Very disappointed with the direction of the Blue Oval.

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What do you think about the new Volt? This is one of the options that I'm considering, but I think that I'll ultimately get a Model S. I think that I'll wait to hear the big autopilot announcement that Elon has promised before the end of this year before ordering, though, because I don't want to buy a Model S now & just barely miss out on the AP 2.0 hardware.

hybridbear said:

What do you think about the new Volt? This is one of the options that I'm considering, but I think that I'll ultimately get a Model S. I think that I'll wait to hear the big autopilot announcement that Elon has promised before the end of this year before ordering, though, because I don't want to buy a Model S now & just barely miss out on the AP 2.0 hardware.

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I may check out the Volt when the time comes. I test drove the first gen Volt and was not impressed. The second gen may be a better offering.

I have been watch the used Model S prices. They are getting a few more on the market after introducing the all wheel drive, autopilot and Model S.

I may drive the truck for 6 months (ack!) and hope the longer range cars (Bolt or next gen Leaf) come to the Minnesota market is sufficient numbers.