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Ford F-150 Lightning outsold the Cybertruck and was then canceled for poor sales

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Re: Ford F-150 Lightning outsold the Cybertruck and was then canceled for poor sales

#571

Post by shusaku »

namlem wrote: post #556
rootusrootus wrote: post #407

Judging from how many people seem surprised by my open frunk at the grocery store, saying things like "I had no idea Ford made an electric truck!" I think they could have done more to market it. I sometimes wonder if they really wanted to sell a lot of them.

Making it look too much like a regular F-150 was a mistake. You need the vehicle to look distinctive enough for it to market itself.

I guess that’s kind of the defense of Musk on the cyber truck. If Ford can’t sell hem off their F150 platform, it means you need to make more of a splash. He just went too far…

Re: Ford F-150 Lightning outsold the Cybertruck and was then canceled for poor sales

#572

Post by pmyteh »

irishcoffee wrote: post #529
doublesocket wrote: post #427

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Never understood why the yanks don't like vans? Pickups are much less popular here in the UK, many more people use vans. A crew cab van with removable seats is infinitely more flexible than a pickup, other than long stuff which you chuck on a roof rack.

I wouldn't want to haul 3 yards of dirt/mulch in a van, or yard refuse. I wouldn't want to try and move a full-sized fridge in a van, or a queen bed box spring, neither will fit. I can't fit an ATV in a van, and I really don't want to put a dead deer in the back of a van after I hunt one. I wouldn't trust a van to haul 75 8x8x16 concrete bricks (over 2000 lbs/1100kg) because the suspension wasn't designed to do that,…

The larger vans used by tradespeople in the UK, like a full size Ford Transit, would be fine with those loads (though I agree I wouldn't stick a dead deer in one as they're harder to hose out than a pickup bed). 10ft long loadspace, 1400kg payload, plenty of room for couches, beds and things. They're quite different beasts than the smaller kind like a minivan with removable seats. Plus it rains so much here that having a roof on is generally an advantage.

There are some pickups here, having said that: more rural utilities people, or landscapers who move lots of dirt, or farmers, might have one. They tend to be smaller than an F-150, but then everything's smaller in Britain including the roads...

Re: Ford F-150 Lightning outsold the Cybertruck and was then canceled for poor sales

#573

Post by 3ple_alpha »

aeonik wrote: post #432
doublesocket wrote: post #427

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Never understood why the yanks don't like vans? Pickups are much less popular here in the UK, many more people use vans. A crew cab van with removable seats is infinitely more flexible than a pickup, other than long stuff which you chuck on a roof rack.

Vans usually have a very difficult time off-road or in mountainous terrain. Vans are commonly used in urban areas, especially by businesses, but suburbs, rural, and construction benefit from higher clearences of SUVs and trucks. SUVs are also usually much better in hazardous driving conditions because of a more optimal weight distribution.

Vans work just fine on mountain roads. And driving off road is simply not a thing for like 99% of drivers.

Reality is, people buy these things thinking they would drive them off road, and never actually do it.

It's possible to make an off-road van, by the way. It's just that real demand is so vanishingly small that you don't really see them.

Re: Ford F-150 Lightning outsold the Cybertruck and was then canceled for poor sales

#574

Post by potato3732842 »

pixl97 wrote: post #155
catigula wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The brain is a confabulation/justification engine. In reality ideal utility is likely found in the shape of a 2008 Toyota Camry and a U-Haul truck rental when necessary.

You may underestimate how much consumption some people in the US have and why a Camry wouldn't work. Hell, for the amount of hobby project stuff I bring home on a bi-weekly basis a car just doesn't cut it. Then again, I'm not sure where I fit in the average population.

It's not even "stuff I bring home". There's just never ending amount of shit that needs to be schlepped around. Sometimes I wish I lived in a condo, leased a Prius and golfed for a hobby.

Re: Ford F-150 Lightning outsold the Cybertruck and was then canceled for poor sales

#575

Post by JPKab »

gipp wrote: post #472
spiderice wrote: post #398

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nobody thinks you share the same views as the CEO of your car company. Jesus. GP is right. It makes them seem utterly self-conscious.

People were absolutely giving attitude towards people in Teslas in general, and Cybertrucks in particular, around the peak of all the DOGE nonsense. Still are, for Cybertrucks

Nonsense?

Yeah, you're right, the US Federal government is a peak engine of efficiency and it's nonsense to think massive sums of money are wasted.

Re: Ford F-150 Lightning outsold the Cybertruck and was then canceled for poor sales

#576

Post by sfblah »

testing22321 wrote: post #55

Just before its release there was some press about a few high ups at Tesla who urged Elon to make a “traditional” looking pickup alongside the cyber truck in case it was a flip, but Elon shut them down hard. I’d be really interested to know if they’re going to do that. The tech is incredible and will filter into all vehicles in a decade or so (48v, Ethernet instead of CAN, etc)

Any other tech? Because Ethernet and 48v don't sound "incredible." They sound "incremental."

Re: Ford F-150 Lightning outsold the Cybertruck and was then canceled for poor sales

#577

Post by [deleted] »

billti wrote: post #13

I think the timing of the Cybertruck starting deliveries roughly aligning with when Elon got heavily involved in politics hurt it quite a bit. It is such a distinctive vehicle with a strong association with Elon, that there was an immediate brand association. It may have had poor sales anyway, but it certainly didn't help that many folks on the left, who are typically the most 'pro EV', had a large 'anti-Elon' shift…

[deleted]

Re: Ford F-150 Lightning outsold the Cybertruck and was then canceled for poor sales

#578

Post by BizarroLand »

jandrese wrote: post #108
ortusdux wrote: post #36

I think the dealership monopoly is partly to blame. Dealers get more reoccurring revenue from ICE vehicles, so they are incentivized to not stock EVs and to steer customers away from them. Ford seemed to understand this and attempted a direct sale program for EVs, but they canceled it due to dealer pushback. https://fordauthority.com/2025/02/ford-ev-inventory-hub-syst...

I have a conspiracy theory take on traditional manufacturers being so anti-EV. Basically the primary differentiator between car companies and the primary barrier to entry in the combustion vehicle business is the engine, especially in the US. Look at the marketing, horsepower and torque are always the topline numbers. Zero to sixty and quarter mile drag races are the favored metrics. Each company spent decades perfec…

That's one way of seeing it, but the fact is that automobile parts are already nearly commodity parts. The wall that stops automaker upstarts in their tracks is the need for safety testing and approval from the US DOT.

Even if you had the chutzpah to get all of the materials together for a fleet of vehicles, you have to spend big cash and grease a lot of palms to get a vehicle you make certified. It takes years and millions of dollars to get to the 1st sellable vehicle.

This is a portion of why BYD, for instance, isn't selling in America.

There are other reasons of course, but one of them is the millions and millions of dollars you're putting at risk just to potentially be told "No" by the government.

https://www.atic-ts.com/north-america-motor-vehicle-componen...

Re: Ford F-150 Lightning outsold the Cybertruck and was then canceled for poor sales

#579

Post by Lammy »

stbtrax wrote: post #560
Lammy wrote: post #495

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You do that merely by using the monetary system at all.

I'm not sure how that adds to the conversation. Let's say North Korea puts out a really cool phone. Are you going to go: "yeah buying it supports a dictator who is brutal to his people but so does participating in a monetary system so nothing matters so it's okay"

I would buy a North Korea phone if it was cool, band-compatible with my domestic carrier, and wasn't embargoed (i.e. if sale was possible), yeah. I already daily a China phone and depending on who you talk to that isn't much better: https://redmagic.tech/pages/redmagic-9s-pro

Re: Ford F-150 Lightning outsold the Cybertruck and was then canceled for poor sales

#580

Post by alex43578 »

pixl97 wrote: post #187
Workaccount2 wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Range is the misconception, because people view range through the "sit and fill up then drive till empty" paradigm. That is not how EVs work or how they should be used. They should be charged overnight/when you are doing something else, and on road trips should be charged to align with other stops even if those stops are 10 minutes. It's rare that I have ever done the "sit in the car for 40 minutes waiting for charge…

The big problem here is we need a hybrid stage in between. I have a hybrid now, it's still a conventional powertrain, and it's not chargeable. That's not exactly what I want, but it's what I could get. I want a fully electric drive train hybrid with around 100 miles capacity on the battery, then a generator that's big enough to keep it running if the battery is drained. 100 miles gets you through the average day with…

On the flip side, it massively increases your BOM and maintenance considerations, as now you have to have all the bits of an electric powertrain and most of the bits of a gas powertrain. All for the few times that you’re driving more than 300ish miles in a stretch?
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