An open letter to Ford...Fish or Cut Bait

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michael

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 22, 2013
Messages
1,113
Location
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I doubt that anyone who has influence at Ford reads this forum, but....

Dear Ford....

This forum includes some of your most dedicated enthusiasts. We really want you to succeed in the EV business and believe you have the potential to do a really good job.

A year ago, when anyone asked this forum, "Should I get an FFE?" the general response was: Yes. It's a really good car. It has some minor deficiencies that Ford really ought to address, and if they did, it would be near perfect. Short of a Tesla, it's the best EV on the market. If only Ford would get serious about selling it, it would be a great success....

Now, when people as the same question, the general response is more like: only if you can get one at a really, really low price, and you should lease not buy. There are better alternatives already and many more right on the horizon.

It's time to fish or cut bait. Your promised 100 mile FFE will be obsolete on the day it hits the dealers. Your Energi models offer half the electric range of a Volt, and soon Hyundai will offer serious competition. You have banked on the Energi as your course for electric cars, but their time has passed...those wanting serious electric range will choose the Volt, those looking merely to save gas money don't care much anymore, and there are no more green stickers in California.

Come up with a Tesla fighter or at least a Bolt fighter. Or just give up and buy credits from Tesla.
 
Dear Michael;

Thanks for the thoughts, but we're busy selling pickup trucks. Gas is under $2 a gallon almost everywhere and we don't see it going up anytime soon. So yes, get a cheap deal on an FFE if you like--we don't care how much money we lose on each one because we make it up on the billions of profit we make on the F150.

Sincerely,

Ford
 
Well put...


Update...

Upon further thought, while what you said is totally true, doesn't Chevy make a ton of money on trucks, 'burbans, Camaros and the like? In spite of this they managed to come out with the Volt, and soon the Bolt.

C'mon Ford....where's our Lincoln Tesla fighter???
 
What about an F-150 Energi? Use the mounting position for the 2nd fuel tank to place a battery pack.

V-6 Ecoboost, 20-30mi Electric range, and hopefully ~2000lbs towing capacity = WIN.

brogult said:
Dear Michael;

Thanks for the thoughts, but we're busy selling pickup trucks. Gas is under $2 a gallon almost everywhere and we don't see it going up anytime soon. So yes, get a cheap deal on an FFE if you like--we don't care how much money we lose on each one because we make it up on the billions of profit we make on the F150.

Sincerely,

Ford
 
rsanders4 said:
What about an F-150 Energi? Use the mounting position for the 2nd fuel tank to place a battery pack.
No 2nd fuel tank in any Ford pickup these days. The 2nd fuel tank in the F-250 went away when they redesigned the Super Duties in 1999.
 
Damn.

I keep hearing that Ford is working on a plug-in hybrid F150, so it will be interesting to see where they stick the battery pack, and how much EV range it will have.
 
I'd be happy with the same battery and new I3 announced today.. I do not need 200 mile range as I have learned to live with
existing FFE limitations


http://www.autoblog.com/2016/05/01/updated-bmw-i3-114-miles-new-33-kwh-battery/
 
michael said:
Dear Ford....

This forum includes some of your most dedicated enthusiasts. We really want you to succeed in the EV business and believe you have the potential to do a really good job.

A year ago, when anyone asked this forum, "Should I get an FFE?" the general response was: Yes. It's a really good car. It has some minor deficiencies that Ford really ought to address, and if they did, it would be near perfect. Short of a Tesla, it's the best EV on the market. If only Ford would get serious about selling it, it would be a great success....

Now, when people as the same question, the general response is more like: only if you can get one at a really, really low price, and you should lease not buy. There are better alternatives already and many more right on the horizon.

It's time to fish or cut bait. Your promised 100 mile FFE will be obsolete on the day it hits the dealers. Your Energi models offer half the electric range of a Volt, and soon Hyundai will offer serious competition. You have banked on the Energi as your course for electric cars, but their time has passed...those wanting serious electric range will choose the Volt, those looking merely to save gas money don't care much anymore, and there are no more green stickers in California.

Come up with a Tesla fighter or at least a Bolt fighter. Or just give up and buy credits from Tesla.
My thoughts exactly! In 2013 or 2014 the FFE was a great car. Now it is obsolete. It still is better than most other EVs in terms of what you can do with MFM for charging settings, preconditioning, the trip log, trip meter data & remote start options, but it lags behind in HVB improvements, range & efficiency.
 
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