Give legacy automaker Ford (F) credit for getting there first, but some of its competitors are starting to see what it is doing, and are taking advantage of that freshly-blazed trail accordingly. While Ford brought out substantial price drops by offering up employee pricing for all, Stellantis (STLA) did something similar as well. The news actually did Ford some good, and shares were up fractionally in Friday afternoon’s trading.
Stellantis did not just offer a similar deal to Ford, but rather, it went full-out, offering its own employee discount up to literally anyone who wanted to buy a car. And Stellantis pulled out all the stops, too, or rather most of the stops. The pricing applies to nearly any car, excluding a very few “…specialty models and trims,” reports noted.
With a 25% tariff about to hit imported cars, and concerns about price hikes coming for both Ford and Stellantis cars weighing heavily on potential new car buyers’ minds, it was clear that Ford’s play to slash prices by using its employee discount facilities was the right move. So clear, in fact, that Stellantis did it as well. But with economic uncertainty on the rise as the trade war gets more and more substantial, will employee pricing be enough to spark sales anywhere?
The Best Truck Americans Can’t Own
Meanwhile, Ford is drawing a lot of attention with its 2026 Ranger Super Duty truck. But the attention is not all positive. Much of it is; The new Ranger will be able to match an F-150 for towing capability, reports note, but will do so from a midsize truck package. The new Ranger will be able to tow up to 10,000 pounds, while an F-150 tops out at 10,800, which makes it exciting. There is, however, a distinct down side.
That down side? The new Ranger will not be for sale in the United States. Asian countries will be getting it, as well as Australia and New Zealand, among others. But the United States will be out of the running, reports note. The biggest reason seems to be that the Ranger Super Duty is a diesel truck, and diesels are commonly less popular here, thus Ford may not even want to bother despite the impressive specs this truck offers.
Is Ford Stock a Good Buy Right Now?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Hold consensus rating on F stock based on four Buys, eight Holds and two Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 22.16% loss in its share price over the past year, the average F price target of $10.53 per share implies 8.61% upside potential.
