'21 October SalesThat's a market sector Ford and much of the auto industry has ignored. Having become a gimp thanks to MS three decades ago and now an elder too, how the heck I'm going to get in and out of a vehicle is pretty important to me. My 7 years younger brother just lost a leg to post-COVID complications and now covets a Ford much lower than an F series or Ranger. For the average elder, pickups and body on frame SUVs are too tall and a unit body crossover or SUV like the Escape or Edge is about the tallest thing they can handle. For wheelchair users who can transfer from wheelchair to car seat, most wheelchairs have a seat height of 20-24 inches and anything higher than that means having to lift their body weight with arms and shoulders alone. Then there's the problem of stowing the wheelchair, which explains why wheelchair users like 2 door coupes and bought a lot of compact pickups with suicide back doors like the original S10- GM even featured a wheelchair using employee demonstrating the ease of use in an ad as he slid off the wheelchair, folded it, and eased it into the cab behind him.
Nowadays with the all Ford's sedans gone and the pickups too tall, about the only thing Ford has to serve this market is the FWD/AWD crossovers which are still too tall and the Transit Connect. Ford could serve this market better- They lowered the last generation Escape by a couple inches and called it the C-Max, even marketed it as a car in some markets. A lowered Escape with AWD would appeal to the GTI market too- VW dealers have a couple years worth of customers lined up to buy their GTIs and Golf Rs. The Transit Connect checks a bunch of boxes for physically challenged drivers- low seats for easy transfer, sliding 2nd row doors for easy wheelchair stowing, and plenty of space for mobility scooters... But Ford doesn't know this market exists and ignores it so the customers don't know the Transit Connect exists.Fri, 05 Nov 2021 13:18:11 +0000
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