Ford CEO Jim Farley is Motor Trend Person of the Year

[GiveItaTri]

I'm sure the people that voted for him did not have an early reservation.

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[Hossfire]

I agree. I know the bronco start up pains have been tough but overall the direction he's bringing Ford is absolutely correct.

Lots of exciting new products.
Lots of successful products.
Positioning Ford as one of the best "legacy" manufacturers for the very fast shift to electrified everything coming this decade.
The stock price has reflected this too.

At the end of the day, Ford's contractual duties to their entirely third party owned dealership network force a lot of their hand on allocations and the fuckery we've been mad about. Jim is CEO of a major corporation and not the only say in the Bronco product development, so a lot of the production problems lay more on the Bronco team. I still think Ford fucked up coming out of the gate trying to juggle too many trim levels, with two body configs and multiple tops in a year where anyone would have seen and suspected severe problems for production in their industry. Could have started with 4 doors first, with a few trim levels and just two top options and added things as production hit it's stride. You saw them learn their lesson and do this with the Maverick earlier this year.

The marketing department at Ford created a lot of this mess. They tried too hard to match Jeep offerings rather than sell the vehicle that people wanted.

My opinions:

---The 'Base' model should be Big Bend with with the Mid package standard.
---OBX should be an appearance package with the High package standard.
---Any model except FE should have a 'washout' interior option
---Any Sasquatch should be able to option the sway bar disconnect
---2 doors would be pushed to year 2 and Raptor/Everglades 2 year 3 (which essentially has happened due to the hard top issues)
---Badlands would have the same coilovers as Sasquatch
---No Wildtrak (Wildtrak could be another appearance package only for Sasquatch)
---All interiors have the same, neutral colored stitching and accent colors.

What that leaves you is:

Base (Big Bend)
Badlands
FE

Everything else would be available as an option. Does this sound crazy? This is very similar to the way my mother's new Mercedes GLE was ordered. Fewer models, many more choices for the customer.

 

[1975U15]

Is this the same MotorTrend that gave Rivian the truck of the year?? With competing finalists being a Hyundai and the Maverick??

 

[balucipher]

The marketing department at Ford created a lot of this mess. They tried too hard to match Jeep offerings rather than sell the vehicle that people wanted.

My opinions:

---The 'Base' model should be Big Bend with with the Mid package standard.
---OBX should be an appearance package with the High package standard.
---Any model except FE should have a 'washout' interior option
---Any Sasquatch should be able to option the sway bar disconnect
---2 doors would be pushed to year 2 and Raptor/Everglades 2 year 3 (which essentially has happened due to the hard top issues)
---Badlands would have the same coilovers as Sasquatch
---No Wildtrak (Wildtrak could be another appearance package only for Sasquatch)
---All interiors have the same, neutral colored stitching and accent colors.

What that leaves you is:

Base (Big Bend)
Badlands
FE

Everything else would be available as an option. Does this sound crazy? This is very similar to the way my mother's new Mercedes GLE was ordered. Fewer models, many more choices for the customer.

If I was running things, I'd probably launch the following:

Base Camp - throw some ugly aluminum wheels on to encourage people to upgrade away from this, but ditch the steel. I can't imagine they're saving a whole lot with steel wheels on the base model, its entirely to encourage people to move up. Jeep puts the ugliest aluminum wheels on their Sport model for this purpose. They also call it base to make it less attractive than the rest, I always thought Base Camp was a better fit than "look everyone its the poverty BASE model"

Big Bend - like a Sport S, same as it is now. The first two are the most popular Jeep trim levels and I think we'll see a lot of Broncos in these trim levels as production reaches a point where there isn't a wait for these anymore.

OBX - a Sahara "luxury" trim. Exactly as is.

Badlands - the Rubicon competitor. Starts out as basic as a Big Bend above to configurable to the same nice interior colors and options as the OBX. Let people have the most flexibility on this trim because it will have the highest margins.

Same choice of two transmissions on all trims except OBX. 4 door only for the first 2 years - yes people will complain but it simplifies production making only one body / frame / wheelbase. One factory trying to crank out the Ranger in all its configs + 11ty trims and configs of Broncos was a bad idea from the start.

SAS available on all trims as is now. I like your idea of the optional sway bar disconnect, but its what makes the Badlands what it is and Jeep doesn't offer the sway bar disconnect on any trim other than the Rubicon so it makes sense to copy.

Limit it to MIC and soft top only for the first two years. Blame covid, blame production capacity, blame whatever. A lot of early reservation holders are 99'd waiting for that mod top that never should have been available as a launch option. I wouldn't have even shown it until before it was ready for production. Maybe even wait till the first refresh to introduce it as a hot new feature.

I agree, less interior configurations. Ford currently has interiors that are different on every trim level with multiple options per trim level. I'd keep the base and big bend interior the same, except add a MGV option to Big Bend in the proposed trim revision above. Let the aftermarket deal with special trim colors and accessories inside.

After the initial two years, start opening it up to more trims, options, special editions, tops, etc. Start adding optional Ford Performance accessories at the factory. Start up two door production once all the other chassis kinks are worked out on the first two years of easy production. Start adding options like Gorilla Glass etc. Once production is in its stride this is easy.

 

[Scohin]

Ford just has enough money to pay Motor Trend for the award

 

[Bronc-O]

I agree. I know the bronco start up pains have been tough but overall the direction he's bringing Ford is absolutely correct.

Lots of exciting new products.
Lots of successful products.
Positioning Ford as one of the best "legacy" manufacturers for the very fast shift to electrified everything coming this decade.
The stock price has reflected this too.

At the end of the day, Ford's contractual duties to their entirely third party owned dealership network force a lot of their hand on allocations and the fuckery we've been mad about. Jim is CEO of a major corporation and not the only say in the Bronco product development, so a lot of the production problems lay more on the Bronco team. I still think Ford fucked up coming out of the gate trying to juggle too many trim levels, with two body configs and multiple tops in a year where anyone would have seen and suspected severe problems for production in their industry. Could have started with 4 doors first, with a few trim levels and just two top options and added things as production hit it's stride. You saw them learn their lesson and do this with the Maverick earlier this year.

If he wasn't there, Bronco would probably still be on the drawing board. Ford has come a long way in the past few years.

 

[Headsong]

Hang in there.
The award is in process.

Winner winner!

 

[Bronc-O]

I'm sure the people that voted for him did not have an early reservation.

Like he could have done something about that. Supplier issues were some of the biggest factors in delays. Ford could only wish to have the power to control those.

 

[sgraing1]

Just a little history.........

1981 Motor Trend Car Of The Year---Chrysler K Cars

1983 Motor Trend Car Of The Year---AMC/Renault Alliance

 

[GiveItaTri]

Like he could have done something about that. Supplier issues were some of the biggest factors in delays. Ford could only wish to have the power to control those.

I would totally agree with you, if supplies were the only problem, but they aren't. All of the lies Ford has told us have been thoroughly documented, so I won't go over them again.

 

[Bronc-O]

Just a little history.........

1981 Motor Trend Car Of The Year---Chrysler K Cars

1983 Motor Trend Car Of The Year---AMC/Renault Alliance

The K cars may have been trash, but they saved Chrysler.

 

[69351windsor]

 

[Squatch]

Just FYI, Motor Trend and many others are bought and paid for...

I had high hopes for him, but either he dropped the ball or missed the baton pass on a lot of things.

 

[Lowcountry Bronco]

Surprised they didn't go with Carlos Ghosn and then chose the Renault Alliance as Car of the Year again.

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