Ford Mustang Mach-E Was Norway’s Best-Seller in May – Report

This "end of quarter push" is 100% Tesla weirdness. Its part of Tesla's work culture.

> The consequence is, they barely sell cars in the first month of the quarter and most in the last month.

Or they could smooth it out and cause far less stress for their workforce and customers. This game they play means that customers get cancelled cars and shifting delivery dates and a worse handoff as they pickup their cars.

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As part of their weird "quarter end push" thing, they also time their delivery ships to reach Europe at certain points and "burst" their numbers in an all out sprint, coinciding with the rest of their quarter-end pushes. Its all just number games and "burstiness" to impress the crowds and generate numbers... when the core business should be caring about smooth rollouts and increasing average rates.

The small engine Mustangs have always been derided as non-Mustangs. It shouldn't be surprising that, as coupes become less mainstream, the share of the smaller engine declines. The bulk of Mustang buyers anymore are old men.

Plus, there's the issue that, speccing a ecoboost Mustang with some performance goodies puts it within spitting distance of a 5.0. The Ecoboost HPP is like $32k and the "performance" upgrades for systems like the brakes are essentially base GT take-offs. This makes the $37k GT a really good deal in comparison.

Factoring in depreciation, the GT is a better deal. Fuel costs are marginal since you can run the GT on 87 with almost no power loss while the Eco is a dog without 93 octane. And, for me at least, the GT is cheaper to insure (by like $3) than an Eco. Add in low-interest, long-term loans and the monthly cost difference is minimal as well.

From my personal observation: poor maintenance and safety ratings compared to alts. Driving is dangerous in America and you have to have a car to participate economically in most of the country. Also, the used market here is huge and not a lot of 90s/2000s Ford sedans made it this far.

Anyone who knows better, feel free to correct.

I'm still upset they cut the Focus/Fiesta ST models. You will have to pry mine from my cold dead fingers :-)

More accurately, sedans from any manufacturer have been in steady decline for years. So only the biggest names are still selling enough to justify continued development. Everyone else is switching to CUVs because that's what customers want today. Can't blame them, typical CUVs now have basically the same fuel efficiency as a sedan but a little more utility and a bit easier to live with (slide in/out without up/down).

Really? I own a 2017 Ford Focus RS in the states and I get a lot of compliments on my car. Most people don't even realize its a focus.

> The new car market is chock full of feedback loops that make perception more important than strict "by the numbers" reality.

I can only assume you put "by the numbers" in quotes because you're referring to something other than actual numbers and statistics.

When you look at something like the Consumer Reports Reliability Index for the last 30 years you will find the 3 most unreliable brands are the big 3 US automakers.

If you look at CR's used cars to avoid list, guess who dominates? The same 3.

Most people don't have access to CR but there are plenty of sites that make their info available.

This one is a little dated but it does a good job showing historical data: http://autooninfo.net/

Yes, as in 2011 when they unified their UK and US markets. That is, a decade ago. My understanding is that at that point you could get the same models in both areas, for the most part (this is when the US finally gor access to the sport models of the Focus, like the RS). The Mondeo came over earlier, in 2006 (as the Fusion).

The Ford Fusion (Mondeo in the UK, but functionally identical from what I can tell) outsold the Mustang 2:1 in the US in 2019 and 2020. Ford does sell more SUVs and trucks than cars, and also stopped selling many cars in the US 2020 (and some more, including the Fusion), but even the Ford Fiesta sold similar numbers (if still less) than the Mustang.

> Ford obviously aspired to unify across the two markets, but the differences between them are so large it doesn’t seem practical for most of their range.

Before everything started changing in 2020 (Ford is pulling out of the car market in the US except for select models), what models were UK specific? That is, not just a name difference?

Prior to 2011 there seemed to be major differences, and after 2019 there are obviously major differences, but it feels like people here are ignoring almost a decade of history just so they can justify the old perceptions they had which weren't accurate during that time.

The dominant purchasing model in the US has always been to go to a dealership and choose something that is on the lot. Car companies give the dealership an "allocation" and they place orders with the car company for the cars that will go to their lot - within the confines of that allocation. Ford might tell them that if they want 50 Mustangs they also have to take 7 Fiestas. And generally, that's the only way that Fiestas will end up on the lot - because the dealership doesn't want anything but the most popular vehicle. So, does anyone really know what Americans will buy? I don't think they do.

Now Covid and supply shortages have happened. Dealers have nothing on the lot; they are selling everything while it is inbound to the dealer. Ford, at least, is currently offering a $1000 discount on many vehicles if you place an order and wait - like people buy cars in Europe.

So maybe this is going to be permanent. Manufacturers will like this better. I think dealers like it too. But if it sticks, we will likely see changes. More color choices, more combinations of options. And then, hopefully, more vehicle varieties. Because you've eliminated the need for unwilling dealers to keep some of them on the lot.

By the way, you can get a Ford 2.3T with a 7-speed manual transmission and (traditional) 4 wheel drive in the new Bronco. That would make a sweet combo in a wagon (but with full-time AWD)

Particularly galling was the fact that their website advertised a RAV4 prime for $45k, and when I emailed to buy it, I was told "That one is gone. But we have an exactly similar one that we can offer to you for a $15k fee". It felt like a scummy bait and switch, and I ended up getting my Model Y for less than I would have paid for that rav4.

The other benefit is it is still efficient with gas, about 40-45 miles per gallon. The first generation volt required premium fuel but my second gen takes 87, so it is very cheap to operate.

This is what I meant. It's a meme. All you care about is that headline ("Tesla Can't Build Cars") and not the truth about anything.

They should really have a better attitude towards independent repair shops if they want to do that.

Same with the exterior design. Redesigning & retooling every few years is expensive. Much cheaper to tell people you're trying to save the world.

The 2004 Prius and the 2021 Prius don't really look anything like each other unless you just compared the outlines of the profiles. Meanwhile trying to decipher if a Tesla Model S is a new one or an old one is a bit like trying to decipher if a car is a sport variant or a comfort variant. "Oh, you can tell that it's the sport version because the brake calipers are larger and the rear wheel arches are flared"