It’s no secret that new vehicle prices have soared to lofty heights over the past few years, a trend spurred by supply chain challenges, resulting in production issues, which – coupled with strong demand and an increase in terms of tech in newer vehicles – has resulted in a major decline in affordability. Ford is well aware of this, and is currently focused on making more affordable models and trims. The automaker also lowered the prices of select 2025 Ford F-150 trim levels, but it seems as if new truck shoppers are still looking at other brands.
“The reality is, though, the full-size truck market is in two different markets and they’re almost completely different,” Ford CEO Jim Farley stated during the recent Wolfe Research Auto, Auto Tech and Semiconductor Conference. “You have the Ram price zone and then you have the Ford/GMC price zone. And, as Ram suffered, GMC has done a great job as Ford has gotten some market share. We’ve had four years in a row of revenue increase. A lot of it is because of Ranger, but also to that. We’ve managed the high-end mix really well between Super Duty and F-150.”
“And we think that, people who really want the newest trucks, really want Pro Power Onboard, the newest Super Duty, the Platinums, the commercial people want the cab chassis versions. That market is very strong right now. It’s really strong. The commodity part of the market, someone who’s on a budget and is going to buy an XL or an XLT F-150, but they’re really looking at Ram and Silverado. Yes, I think there’s going to be a lot of price pressure. And there always has been. The good news is that we invested. We have a brand-new F-150 and a brand new Super Duty.”
Indeed, The Blue Oval has been working to ramp up production of the Ford Super Duty and E-Transit to meet demand, and will expand Super Duty production, specifically, to a third facility starting in 2026 – the Oakville Assembly plant in Canada. Though it doesn’t break out F-150 and Super Duty sales individually, the F-Series was America’s best-selling truck for the 48th year in a row in 2024 and America’s best-selling vehicle for the 43rd year in a row, posting a year-over-year increase of 0.76 percent to 732,139 units.
An off-road-ready killer rather than sleek and styled.
The perfect way to get to know the high-performance machine.
Enabling remote software updates and downloads.
Still a good looking truck by today's standards.
Yet another wild, one-off creation.
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Ford has abandoned too many market segments.
PRICING US OUT OF THE MARKET
Great strategy! Nothing like driving customers to the competition!
Sometimes there’s no money be had from the lower end peeps…
Funny, just a couple years ago I bought my first pickup.
Ford's Raptor had gone to the turbo 6s, so they were out.
gm was yapping about their all-EV future, so that was a turn off, but I still l looked at them but they were overpriced for what you get. At that time, why spend $60+k on a basic truck if you could spend relatively a little more at the time and get a "super truck"?
The RAM TRX was a fantastic buy at the time. The drivetrain, interior, looks and the way it drove sold it to me.
Farley reminds of Tommy Boy trying to run this company... My entire family runs Ford trucks, all my trucks up to this point have been Ford. However, my last purchase I went with a TRX, Ford had zero competitors anywhere near the price Ram offered. While my fam gives me crap, every time they are in it they all rave about how nice the truck is compared to what they got at Ford for comparative price.
What about the TRX did you prefer so much more than the similarly equipped, similarly priced Raptor? Just curious.
Similarly equipped does not equal similarly priced, which is the issue and the point of this story. There was a near 20k delta between the TRX and R for similarly equipped. Plus add on ADM and the trucks were almost 50k apart. No part of the R was 50k better.
I was a little surprised Ford didn't crank up the boost on the base raptor to be more competitive with the TRX, as Dodge did with replacement RHO model. Ford should obviously know from their GT program, the limits of the 3.5l Ecoboost, and it isn't like the raptor needs to be as durable as a base truck. Seems like it would have caught a lot of customers that were missed by the obviously more expensive to produce predator engine.
Edelbrock cranked up the performance on the 3.5L EcoBoost, and it's 50 state legal emissions as well. There are other aftermarket players as well but they didn't do the development to get 50 state legal.
Looks
Youy know they are cousins, right?
I was brought up in a strictly Japanese household..
First American product I've ever owned was a 2000 Ford Ranger with 350,000 miles. It runs awesome and the computer would not throw any codes.
I was so blown away...
Used it for a couple years sold it to my roommate because I devolved an emotional attachment.
I 100% used it as a determining factor when buying a brand new truck because I was 95% sure I was gonna buy a Nissan Frontier.
Took what I learned and some due diligence to end up with a 2024 Ford Ranger FX4. Couldn't be happier.
I 'like' the F-150 but I don't like the price.
I believe the Ranger is the new F-150 and I was happy with my purchase price considering the global climate of things.
Never bright to abdicate market share and buyers to a competitor. That buyer who buys a base RAM with a vinyl seat and steelies will be a Limited buyer in 3-5 years. Ford need to build an XL and XLT with a base V6 (no Turbos), ditch the huge screen on the dash, the LED headlights and the alloy wheels. You’re stuck with the Aluminum body but that helps the base V6 feel adequate. Price it right at RAM and Chevy and build a lifetime customer base.
I agree with you on offering a V6 without the turbo. Ford has rammed the turbo engines down the buyers throats for years.
Go back to steel body trucks. Big screens are an annoying way to beancount buttons and switches out. Just build an aluminum pushrod V6, put it in the Ranger SD here and Mustang too. Build a separate unibody F-100 crewcab for townhouse guy and cafe compliance.
I went back to a Silverado from an F-150. The current lease offers on low end F-150s are stupid high. Thanks but no thanks. My new Trail Boss is amazing.
“Four years in a row of revenue increase” yet the price hasn’t come down. Long are the days of not spending as much as a heart transplant, on a new truck. The price can only go in one more direction from here on out, and we all know what direction that is going to be. “A trend spurred by supply chain challenges, resulting in production issues, which – coupled with strong demand and an increase in terms of tech in newer vehicles – has resulted in a major decline in affordability” should be over. Supply chain challenges are over, and production issues shouldn’t be an issue anymore…..yet we are still being treated like they are. What I can say with somewhat certainty is Ford will make the F series more affordable by removing options or features, and will make us pay for them instead, which will force us to drive something that is less desirable just so they can continue to make more revenue, but take more from us—both on a truck AND our hard earned money.
Of course they are, No more 10r80 trans failures. No more coolant leaks. No more phaser failures. No more dropped valves. ect ect ect
Strange that Ram recently discontinued building the entry level Ram as they were not making as much money compared to the high priced Ram.