'Fastest Van' At the Nurburgring: Ford Stock (NYSE:F) Slips Despite Outlandish Win
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It was considered iconic when the Ford Transit van, driven by Sabine Schmitz on an episode of Top Gear, managed to post a lap time of 10:12. But recently, Romain Dumas took a similar run in Ford's electric vehicle (EV) demonstrator version of the SuperVan and pared over three minutes off Schmitz's time. The SuperVan came in at 6:48.42, which—and brace yourself for this—puts it between Chevrolet's (GM) Corvette ZR1X and a late-model representative from the Mercedes-AMG (MBGAF) GT Black Series.
Admittedly, there were key differences that helped; the SuperVan made its run on slick tires, and was built as a 'purpose-built racing vehicle.' This forces observers to take the result with something of a grain of salt, even if the lap is still downright impressive by any standard for something that looks like, well, a van.
Consider the 2025 Explorer
With the end of the model year approaching, some car buyers are, perhaps, starting to wonder if they should buy a new car now or wait for the next model year to show up. And for the Ford Explorer—one of Ford's biggest names in SUV—that model year issue is particularly telling.
The 2026 Explorer, reports note, will actually be less expensive than the 2025 model. Several new Explorers will be part of the lineup, including the Explorer Active at $38,330, the Platinum at $50,830, and the Tremor, taking over for the Timberline, that costs $48,330. But the 2025 models are often seeing price cuts, reports note, part of a clear-the-lot strategy. And in some cases, the 2025s may have better feature sets, which means a 2025 could prove a better value than its 2026 equivalent.
Is Ford Stock a Good Buy Right Now?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Hold consensus rating on F stock based on two Buys, nine Holds and three Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 6.72% rally in its share price over the past year, the average F price target of $10.74 per share implies 6% downside risk.
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