Ken Block and Ford part ways; is Ford totally out of their minds?

[Fat dog]

What was Ford paying him? Just curious. I love his videos. He will continue doing them. Not a big deal. Racers swap teams all the time. Just like athletes.

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[flatlander40]

 

[395N]

I'm projecting they're on a 5 year plan (Uncle Buck reference).

You can't release a bunch of vaporware in the auto industry as a major manufacturer. The Explorer just got a release only envied by Cyberpunk 2077. The Mustang is long in the tooth and needs a costly redesign soon. The Transit is not as popular as the E-Series nor the Mercedes Sprinter. The Mach-E and Bronco are completely new and still vaporware/paper launches. The new F150 even had a clunky roll-out.

Maybe Farley will hit his stride in 2021, but he hit the ground on his face instead of running so far. It used to be that a company the size of Ford held all of the Information close until they were ready to show it off. Now, the fourth wall has been broken and you can't act like the internet doesn't exist and not communicate. I see them going the way of IBM and Sega if they're not careful. I am proud to introduce to you the Tesla Mustang and Tesla F150! Or maybe, the all-new Mustang powered by Tesla? *no Ford, only brands like F150, Bronco, and Mustang survived in the last scenario.

Remember, at one point, people never thought Mercury or Plymouth would go away. I'm just thinking of possibilities that don't seem likely now, but could happen.

I agree the roll out and the B&P was and still is crap.
The fact is despite that Ford will have no problem selling each and every one they make.
Revenue is what matters and that will come, at least for the Bronco.

I've been a Toyota guy my whole life so I have no knowledge of how prior rolls out were performed for other Ford vehicles.

Anything can happen, agree with that.

 

[Razorbak86]

The Mach-E and Bronco are completely new and still vaporware/paper launches.

https://www.macheforum.com/site/thr...eries-begin-first-to-customer-in-dallas.2514/

 

[PhoenixM3]

Exactly. If you’re only an off-roading enthusiast you may another know him, but he brings great press to Ford and Ford needs it.

 

[StedeBonnett]

My guess is Ford is refocusing the brand and Ford's performance direction. Ken Block is the real deal but he's kinda a show pony compared to say, Baja race drivers.

I did community brand work for an "automotive parts brand" for several years that built a campaign years ago around a celeb. Some of you may know what I'm talking about it. That move led to some enthusiasts not taking them seriously. That led to a refocus on its performance side of the business.

I'm guessing Ford could be putting more focus on the orbits of its trucks.

 

[pan-y-cerveza]

The Transit is not as popular as the E-Series nor the Mercedes Sprinter.

Doesn't the Transit outsell the Sprinter in North America and in Europe?

 

[Mattwings]

I liked Ken and his videos, but those kind of relationships always end at some point. With no Focus (or any other passenger car than Mustang) it makes sense to move marketing $.

 

[Mattwings]

I agree the roll out and the B&P was and still is crap.
The fact is despite that Ford will have no problem selling each and every one they make.
Revenue is what matters and that will come, at least for the Bronco.

I've been a Toyota guy my whole life so I have no knowledge of how prior rolls out were performed for other Ford vehicles.

Anything can happen, agree with that.

Toyota doesn’t have to worry about new product roll outs, they only happen every 10 years ?

 

[Efthreeoh]

I like watching his videos, but I didn't buy my RS because of Block. Ford said he consulted on the design of the RS, but I doubt he had anything to do with it other than being in some promotional videos and racing his Comp RS.

I'd rather see Travis Pastrana anyways.

Pastrana, who is sponsored by Subaru as Ken Block was at the beginning of his career IIRC. Maybe the Pastrana Annapolis, Maryland video (produced by Block) using a WRX pushed Ford to cut ties with Block?

 

[Shotsy]

Pastrana, who is sponsored by Subaru as Ken Block was at the beginning of his career IIRC. Maybe the Pastrana Annapolis, Maryland video (produced by Block) using a WRX pushed Ford to cut ties with Block?

Block essentially introduced Pastrana as the new driver for the Gymkhana series in his last video, so maybe Block is starting to step back anyways. He started his rally career late in life, compared to his counterparts, and he has enough $ from DC and his other endeavours.

 

[Efthreeoh]

Ford dropping the FIesta and Focus wasn't good for thier chances of wanting to keep him. It is insane the cover of WRX is a Fiesta rally car and Ford doesn't make the Fiesta and Focus RS. Mustang sales are extremely low and they have Vaughn Gittin Jr (Sp?) covering that area more lately.

Ford still sells both in Europe.

 

[Drex]

This is not the same as a McConaughey driving a Lincoln. Ken is a racer and absolute auto-enthusiast. The stuff he does in his videos is really cool and his skill at driving is among the best in the world. He is a proud supporter of Ford. Come on! He has RS2000!

Whether or not advertising works on you, I won't debate. I can see cutting the contract if cost prohibitive, but he is far from a shill.

You might see something that catches your eye at the bottom of this list.

Per Merriam-Webster dictionary;

Definition of shill
(Entry 1 of 2)

intransitive verb
1 : to act as a shill

2 : to act as a spokesperson or promoter the eminent Shakespearean producer … is now shilling for a brokerage house— Andy Rooney

shill
noun

Definition of shill (Entry 2 of 2)

1a : one who acts as a decoy (as for a pitchman or gambler)
b : one who makes a sales pitch or serves as a promoter


So, according to you, Ken never made a sales pitch, acted as a spokesperson, or served as a promoter for Ford. I would disagree with you and stand by my statement that he was a paid shill, no different than any other.

If you care to argue that the dictionary does not understand the meaning of a word and that whatever you think 'shill' means is more accurate, please feel free to yell at the screen and see if it changes the words in the definition. Good luck with that BTW.

 

[Efthreeoh]

Block essentially introduced Pastrana as the new driver for the Gymkhana series in his last video, so maybe Block is starting to step back anyways. He started his rally career late in life, compared to his counterparts, and he has enough $ from DC and his other endeavours.

I'm near 60, and been a (Ford) car geek since the mid 1960's when my dad bought his '65 fastback Mustang, and I was a huge NASCAR fan back in the day when they ran real production cars. Also, originally hailing from Maryland, I heard of Travis Pastrana way before Ken Block, since Travis was an actual motocross racer and his X-Games participation is legendary.

Block's videos are neat. I've not seen many since I'm internet bandwidth limited here out in the woods; I thought it was cool when the Hoonigan Mustang debuted. But they are videos, like movies; while the driving stunts are great, it's not like Block or Pastrana just drive up in a highly modified car and start stunt driving around the open streets of San Francisco and Annapolis. It choreography of the automotive kind. "You know it when you see it."

I'm not seeing where Ford is going to go into bankruptcy because Ken Block is not using Ford products in his next Hoonigan videos. I've always seen Ken Block as a successful young businessman that got into cars and became a good driver because he had enough money to not care if he balled-up the hardware (he just go buy more). I guess Ford decided to stop footing the bill and the Hoonigan campaign didn't make a good business case looking forward.

 

[395N]

Toyota doesn’t have to worry about new product roll outs, they only happen every 10 years ?

Truth!

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