Comment by bink | Hacker News Reader

Comment by bink | Hacker News Reader

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> The price isn't right for small businesses. These trucks are quite expensive

They definitely aimed for the luxury market, like Rivian. Who knows how successful they would've been if they aimed for mid-range like Scout. That's the market they claimed to be entering when they started taking reservations. They also could've offered a fleet ready version without the luxury features, but must've decided not to.

> They're difficult to repair

How so? They are far simpler to maintain than a normal F-150. They're new so they do have parts issues for the electronic components, I'm sure, but I think that's a fair trade-off. In any case, I don't think offering a hybrid version makes the vehicles easier to maintain or repair. If anything it's the opposite.

> Parts availability is scarce, contrasted with a regular F-150 (even junkyards are full of spare parts, that aren't software constrained)

I thought one of the advantages of the F-150 was that most parts were shared with the standard F-150? The battery and motors, maybe not.

Significant portions of the body and interior were not shared with general F-150 models... At least those parts most likely to be damaged in minor accidents... imagine having your work truck in the shop for 2-3 months for want of a corner light fixture.

Yeah, that's definitely a no-go. I think you'd see that with any new model, however. I once had a Ducati in the shop for 4-5 months just waiting on a wheel because it was a new model.

The interior of the pro model is identical to an ICE F150. The only part which breaks with any regularity is shared with ICE F150s, in fact. The only interior difference I can think of on any trim of Lightning is the big screen on higher models. But it's the same underlying SYNC system as every other F150, no magic there.

It has breakable expensive headlights and taillights, that is for sure. But so do ICE F150s...

> It has breakable expensive headlights and taillights, that is for sure. But so do ICE F150s...

The point is they're harder to get because they're rarer.

Parts availability is not a problem for established manufacturers, especially mass market vehicles.

I guess the F-150 Lightning and Electric Mustang weren't from an established mfg... because they regularly were waiting months on parts.

They also could've offered a fleet ready version without the luxury features, but must've decided not to.

They did offer a fleet version.. the "Pro".

I mean, what do we expect from this brainless company that promised a $20k Maverick and let the stealerships mark it up to over $40k?

Ford announced the Maverick, it got so much excitement that it sold out and dealerships sold for over MSRP. So in their infinite wisdom they... didn't make more mid range trucks. Ill never understand these guys.

The idea is that you make more profit selling 50,000 cheap trucks and 50,000 expensive trucks than just 100,000 cheap trucks. When you can fool a largely innumerate populace into 84-month loans with "cheap" monthly payments, overpriced vehicles are the way to go.

Competition? Its not like ford is the only seller out there.

All US automakers are doing the same thing. There's gentle up-marketing collusion.

The issue at root is that auto demand is a finite, population-based amount. Automakers are all pretty good at margin and manufacturing cost control.

So that leaves the only independent variable that can influence revenue and profits as {average sold vehicle price}.

New entrants face a scale issue: it's difficult to compete with the larger manufacturers' production costs with orders of magnitude less sales volume.

Which is why you historically only saw state-sponsored new manufacturers break into the market (read: Japan, Korea, China).

Electrification turned some of this on its head, but not completely. GM, Ford, et al. can still build just enough mid-market electrics to spoil others volumes, without attempting to build something really good and cannibalizing their own luxury vehicles.

Price conscious consumers have been out of the "New" car market for a very long time. New cars have a massive premium that never makes sense.

Instead of buying a brand new Geo Metro like you would in the 90s, you just buy a used Corolla or Civic. You end up with a better car and it lasts longer anyway.

That means the majority of the "New" car market has already decided price isn't that important.

Which is why the "average" new car price is $50k and people are signing up for 80 month loans on trucks.

I was interested in this truck when it came out. My in laws purchased one and queued a second one up to have two reliable (new is reliable to them) in their retirement years. The price was good, its a smaller compact truck and very good on utility. The second generation of them - the price went up, and some of the value in what the truck was vanished. Its also years behind on production. Ford doesn't seem to want to sell these.

If Chevy came out with a competitive S10 Electric style truck, I'd consider it as well.

The Mavs have been caught up on orders for a while now. I got one in the spring and pretty much any trim/colour/option package was in stock locally at mildly below msrp.

I paid $24k for my maverick. There were tons of dealers who had marked it up to the low 30’s and told me I’d never get one for MSRP. I said, “I guess I’ll wait.” I had to wait a whole 2 weeks.

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