Jamaican Bulldog

When I go on long trips I often make a mental note of the different truck brands on the road with a key eye out for Macks. I just drove from White Plains NY Port St. Lucie ( about 1200 or 18hrs) and was elated to see a Mack Anthem on the road in SC. However, I did notice how few Macks relative to other brands. I don't have an exact tally but Freigthtliner definitely seemed to be most common. I was particularly surprised how many Volvos were on the road going in both directions, especially in the Carolinas. I think they are made in SC but not sure if that had anything to do with it.

Yep so right about that. Korean Inc used to be made fun of by many competitors, some who don't even exist anymore at least in the U.S. Some of the newer designs can be easily mistaken for more respected brands, and the quality also competes has improved substantially.

In some ways the Fusion has more interior room and in some ways the Taurus still has more, but not much more for a large car. One of the problems for the Taurus is that the large center console takes away room especially for a tall or big person. The current Taurus dates back to the old Volvo platform that underpined the short lived Ford 500 and Freestyle. The large car market has really fallen off not only because CUV have become more popular but because of demographics. There are less of the older population still driving that favors large cars. Plus with a older population, the crossovers are easier to get in and out of etc. Many police and law enforcement officers also prefer the SUVs for getting in and out off and to fit their equipment etc. Demand for midsize cars may be falling but their platforms are still very important to underpin many variants of other cars and crossovers. How many vehicles in the Toyota/Lexus lineup are spawned from the Toyota Camry. Same for the Honda Accord for Honda/Acura and of course the Ford Fusion for Ford/Lincoln.

A typical Hackettisim, he cast doubts about the future of a car Ford sells 200k of and whose platform underpins 5 cars int he NA market. Totally oblivious to the impact to the residual value and perception of the car. Many people get turned off from a car if there are rumors it will be discontinued. Yes the market has shifted to CUVs for many reasons, but not everyone wants one. That is why Ford still sells plenty of them and why the Korean and Japanese are redesigning and promoting their midsize sedans. It offers AWD while many competitors don't. Ford is famous for leaving gaps in its lineup as it grasps for bigger share in another segment, then has to play catch up later. For example, the Ranger and 7 pass Lincoln mid size SUV like the Aviator. I sold my self a 17 Ford Fusion Sport. A truly amazing car with unique features. Ford shows the pictures of the Sport in almost all the marketing materials of the Fusion, but has poorly marketed the car for what it really is. However the Fusion since it was introduced has been one Fords highest quality and best sedans it ever offered.

A 4wd Transit would make sense especially since it is available over seas and that Sprinter offers it too. The Transit's platform is one of the most flexible in Ford's line up. it can be RWD, FWD or 4WD. Hope you are right about the midsize, probably the Custom. i haven't heard that through my Ford grapevine. However, I did hear of a large V8 maybe 7 liters replacing the V10 an being offered int he 650-750.

Interesting update and surprised but happy about the diesel option. I am disappointed in the mpg though for a diesel but then again its a 7 passenger. Hope this is a signal for more diesel engines in Fords. A bigger splash for Ford in the U.S commercial van market I think would be to introduce the medium size Transit Custom here and don't wait and see how the Mercedes Metris does. There are a large segment of customers who want a van that's big enough to fit a sheet of plywood or sheetrock bit not too big to fit in certain garages or spaces. Thats one reason many hang on to old Chevy Astros/GMC Astro. Speaking of GM, they are way behind in the commercial van business. Ford already played catch up ( albeit successfully) and missed a lot of opportunities by waiting to play catch up with the big Transit after the Sprinter made major in roads into the van market. This, after having the Transit overseas for decades. My dad's first vehicle was a 1968 Ford Transit

Wow! Is Mack doing anything to solve that? I have heard this before from other people too.

There is a poll on Ford Authority 'Is the Ford Ranger Powertrain Enough?" Who knows maybe our input will matter. http://fordauthority.com/2018/01/poll-is-the-north-american-ford-rangers-single-powertrain-enough/

Oh I didn't realize that. Damn.

Any chance of this rare gem in the U.S making it to Macungie ( if it hasn't been already) or another show in the North East?

Oh ok didn't know that. I thought that rule was only for vehicles made originally to sell in the U.S

Wow! I guess depending on the age there were no restrictions to bring in right hand drive truck. Just the shipping alone must have been a fortune. Most of the time if I buy something in Australia the shipping cost more or almost as much as product lol.

Beautiful! what is the story behind how this Aussie Mack made it to the U.S?

Still curious where that bauxite company's right hand drive R model I saw in Jamaica during the late 80s and 90s came from.

There used to be right hand drive Subarus imported into the U.S some years ago maybe even in the 90s

Does anyone know if right hand drive Macks were made in the U.S for export?

I always figure it most be weird if you are driving in country like Guyana and then you cross over the border into a country like Brazil or Venezuela that drive on the right and you then have to switch over. I think years ago in Sweden people drove on the left and then they switched over to driving on the right like the rest of continental Europe.

Lol as it often is in Jamaica as there are no restrictions on importing a left hand drive vehicle and the roads can be quite narrow and winding.

The owner of the place I work and a few others I know feel the same way. Ford listens more to their 'research' than dealers. The newer reps have little understanding of the business and are basically messengers who tout the scripted talking points more than listen. There are still a few really good reps but after they retire or leave the culture will be different. You are right its like Jack Nasser again. The latest today I heard is that Hassert made a comment to suggest that he wished Ford had not sold Jaguar , Volvo and Land Rover. This again illustrates that he has not learnt from the recent history of Ford and what works and and does'nt. If Mullally did't get stop bleeding money on those brands and rightly decided to focus on the core brands of Ford and Lincoln, Ford would either had gone bankrupt or would certainly have had to take the bail out.

It seems most of the world drives on the right side of the road which are the pre-requisite for left hand drive vehicles. Most countries that drive on the other side tend to mostly have right hand drive vehicles for similar reasons, especially countries that are or were former part of the British Commonwealth. Were brand new right hand drive Macks exported from Australia to countries that drive on the left or were right hand drive Macks also exported from the U.S? Were Macks made in Australia for export at all ( except to NZ) ? I remember seeing trucks at Macungie while on a tour that were going to South Africa but I don't remember them being right hand drive. I remember seeing a beautiful blue right hand drive R model Mack in Jamaica years ago that belonged to a Bauxite Company ( Alcan). I never forgot it because it is was the first and probably the only right hand drive heavy duty American truck I ever saw in person. Always curious what happened to it or how they would get parts for the steering or front end. Those companies tended to buy only brand new vehicles, so with Jamaica being one of those countries that drive on the left I figured it must have been a special order. As an international Aussie Rules football (AFL) fan, I hope to one day see plenty of right hand drive Macks when I visit Australia to attend AFL games and vintage truck shows

Was that the only B model Mack that was available with a Cummins or was the large hooded B81 also available with it too?

Why did the B71 have such a long hood? I am guessing a bigger engine option, but which one, a Cummins?

Couldn't agree more! I just heard him make a speech about taking back the streets from cars. Huh? Shouldn't he as CEO of a car company be trying to sell more cars? He hasn't learned from the success of Mulaly. Stick to the core brand and what customers are asking for and the company does well. I am not saying that a car company shouldn't be exploring the future potential of autonomous and electric vehicles, but to divert so much resources away from what people are asking for and not keeping focus on the current core brands quality is short sighted. All the hype for autonomous cars may attract media stock market attention but it is no substitute for what the core customers want. Same thing for hyping electric cars that are so dependent on government subsidies to even appear viable. The hype for electric cars must be accompanied with where all the precious metals are going to come from for the batteries and the electricity to charge them.

That could be part of the strategy too. In some ways it may not be a bad thing but I am not confident the upper management at Ford such as the new CEO will execute it properly. They are often out of touch with what the people who visit our show rooms want. The Ranger is also a victim of caution as to what people will want in this size truck and most importantly having any effects on the cash cow which is the F-150. Then again the F-series pays most of Fords bills. If the Ranger takes off, expect to see more versions some of us have noted. A bright spot for the Ranger is that it will share the same platform as the up coming Bronco and maybe the all new Explorer which is rumored to return to rear wheel drive based platform. There may even be Lincolns on this platform such as the much needed Aviator in that brands line up. This could part of that strategy you mentioned as those plans include reducing complexities while expanding the economies of scale of shared platforms. The last Ranger partly died because its chassis sharing high volume sibling the Explorer went from body on frame to the Volvo platform,( which also had initially spawned the Ford 500/Freestyle then Taurus/X, Lincoln MKS and MKT.) The old Ranger other siblings such as the Sport Trac and Mercury Mountaineer also went away.

It is not unusual especially for Ford during a launch in the first year of an all new product to have limited options. Sometimes it is to test the market and get feedback on possible demand for new options which comes out the next year or so, or because in re tooling for this new product it is not feasible in the first year to have a wide variation of commodities and get them certified. When the big Transit was launched in 2014 we had numerous delays sometimes attributed to commodity shortages or logistics in production and shipping due the much wider variation this van came in compared tot the E-series it replaced. We at the dealership level get frustrated too because after long anticipation for some products, we are often like " How could it not have XYZ!" For example, the extended/super-cab U.S version is being described as a '2 door extended cab'. We are hoping it will have small doors in the back because we absolutely know customers here would want the extended cab to have 4 doors. It was stupid that the last U.S version wasn't offered in a crew cab. Some would argue that spot was filled eventually with the Explorer Sport-Track , which by its own right became popular with customers but it wasn't the same of what a crew cab Ranger could have been if launched earlier. Regarding the lack of a manual shift. In the last few years of the previous Ranger we sold very few stick shift models due to low demand and today we sell very few Fords of anything with a stick for the same reason. Maybe a Mustang here and there. Not only do less people especially under 30 know how to drive one, there are less number of sales people who can sell on the enthusiasm of owning one. However I could see how a diesel that is not too expensive could catch on and maybe make its way to the crossovers and SUVs.