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@RichardJensen is back?!??! It's a Festivus miracle!!!

Hi. I'm back. Got married between my last appearance & now. Me and Mrs. Jensen went to see the movie last night. And you know what? I never thought I'd find myself defending Lee Iacocca, but that movie just did *not* do him justice. Or Leo Beebe. I mean, criminy, one of the advantages all the Ford factory teams had at Le Mans was that all of them had Holman-Moody trained pit crews. And that was a Ford corporate (i.e. Leo Beebe) decision. But I have to say, the main reason why I went to see it was Christian Bale as Ken Miles. That was an absolutely inspired bit of casting. Little details were great. They nailed Enzo Ferrari--honestly, I think he was more spot on than Hank the Deuce. Sets were fantastic. Loved the lit up Esso "Oil Drop Man" south of the main grandstands. Because of all that attention to detail, it was a bit jarring when they used doctored up GT-40s for the J-Car and Mark IV, because I'd have to think that, as cheap as a fiberglass mockup would be for cars that didn't have to do much actual driving, they could've gone the extra mile. But you're talking what? One out of a thousand movie viewers that are going to catch that? It was also weird that they recreated Miles' Daytona GT-40 with an absolutely impressive attention to detail, yet Hansgen's car was way off. I mean, I can kind of understand why they'd do that. The whole point of the scene seems to be suggesting that Leo Beebe got Holman-Moody involved because he didn't trust Shelby, so it helps 'tell' that story if the GT-40s look very different. But during the actual race, Hansgen's GT-40 looked just like Miles'. In fact, I'm about 99.99% positive that the red stripes on Miles' car, the green stripes on Hansgen's, and Gurney's blue stripes (as well as the large circles applied to other cars) were done before the race because the cars were numbered sequentially in the 90s, were otherwise identical, and the bright colored patches would make them easier to identify. The colors were only applied on the infield sides of the cars. Of course, showing mostly identical cars would make it harder to believe that HM & Shelby were at odds with each other. It would almost look like HM & Shelby were part of a coordinated factory effort..... ? I was not expecting much from Matt Damon as Shelby--I figured he was too much of a real-life character for Hollywood, that they would've turned him into a caricature, but Damon's actually pretty restrained. And that scene where Carroll sells the same Cobra three times---I mean that, in a nutshell, was ol' Shel. He bit off more than he could chew with the Le Mans efforts, but there's no way on Earth Ford would have won at Le Mans without him. Ken Miles' death hit him hard too. Robert Lane met Shelby once, with a friend of his. Robert told his friend not to make a fool out of himself, and they had barely started talking when his friend said, 'What happened to Ken Miles?' and Shelby said, "The goddamn car just broke up on him" and turned around and walked away. Thoroughly enjoyed most of the movie. They went to such lengths to get certain things right, so I found the deliberate mischaracterizations (and outright bungling of facts, like Ken Miles being kept back from Le Mans in '65) jarring--kind of takes you out of the moment.

Quote from a friend of mine: cybertruck: 90% more angles than the competition i mean, this bitch is practically made of angles

WTF!!!??? It looks like a bunch of refrigerator parts welded together by blindfolded people!

You're missing the point as usual. If he's undercutting the competition by $10K because he can afford to keep losing money, it's going to take sales and profit from all the other companies actually trying to stay in business. They'll either close up shop (Rivian) or stop selling BEVs. And that should concern any BEV fan.

You like how that thing looks? I'd have no problem reserving or ordering a product I haven't driven. But I'm not signing the dotted line without driving it first.

Meanwhile, over at Rivian:

This is the problem with Tesla. He doesn't need to make a profit. Or he hasn't up until now. I'm sure that's for the lowest range but it's still probably losing money. I think he's got another year to 18 months before the house of cards comes crashing down.

RJ!! Welcome back! I hope you are here to stay...we've missed you! Congrats on the marriage, BTW!

What???? You think you can go away like that and just waltz back into our lives like you never left and expect us to just pretend you never left? Of course you can! Welcome back! BTW - loved your Unix piece! They obviously took some liberties with some of the characters - especially Beebe. But the movie was so well done and so entertaining it can be overlooked in the name of hollywood. Listening to the folks that had to create and manage the cars, they had to do a lot of things on the spot including swapping cars, etc. There is no evidence that Shelby drove a Porsche but that was the only cars they had available that day that were reliable enough to film. So a lot of that may not have been planned but done out of necessity. I think Bale deserves an Oscar nomination. It was that good. I wonder how many Americans know that's his normal accent?

This thing looks horrid - like some offcast "future concept" from the early 90s. Like a dustbuster. Its amazing that a company that produced the Model S is going to make this hideous thing. I just don't know who looks at that and thinks - YES - let's go with that.

Unless it's a Bronco I don't believe that for a second.

15000 reservations (out of a total of 50000 available) in 4 days for a car that you can't drive and won't be available for quite a while? That's pretty impressive in my book.

Deafsoundguy, you are so right , a lot of crazy drivers in Albq. I'm about 4 hours southwest but I drive through Rio Rancho on my way to Salt Lake City. I plan my trips to avoid "rush hour" up there.

I’ve been seeing reports of 15k also. Another thing to keep in mind is the way Tesla and the way Ford does business is completely different-Ford has an actual dealer network and I bet a lot of people are waiting to do an actual test drive first.

Remember the year that Ford decided to kill its formerly top-selling car, the Taurus, with a redesign they were proud to say was all ovals and lacked a single straight line? This is ten times worse than that.

I think we're going to see a fairly major correction in the auto market in the next 18 to 24 months. Stagnant wages and increasing new car costs are leading to ballooning loan terms and household debt. It isn't sustainable. Broader lineups of CUVs and SUVs are due to come online just as prices top out and an expected sales decline hits, meaning fiercer competition with more models and fewer buyers. Rinse, repeat.

The Cybertruck looks like pickups that I drew when I was in 3rd grade. Yikes.

Subaru xt6 owners be like: “we love it!l

That presentation was horrible, BTW. He made Jim Hackett look like an Oscar winner and the Mach E reveal look like a blockbuster.

Yeah, Shelby has never been used on a non Mustang coupe before.

If any member has been through the last 4 or 5 contracts the written accounts being detailed in the GM filings, this written information will back up what the average member has been thinking for years about just who "our" retired and current IUAW E-Board members have been serving. The average member was, correct.... the concession, two tiers, loss of hourly increases, loss of retiree benefits and no increase in LIB... all were part of the pay off for doing the bidding of the other side of the table. B. President Williams Is a Willing Participant in the Takeover Conspiracy 95. In 2014 , with certain UAW officials cooperation secured through corruption, Marchionne turned for support to the new UAW President, longtime friend and merger wingman , Dennis Williams. Marchionne and Williams had known each other since the 2000s, when Williams negotiated contracts at a Fiat affiliated truck and tractor company. Williams has affirmed that he tries “not to Second-guess Sergio, and that the pair have a “very good relationship”. 96. Williams was a willing participant in Marchionne`s bribery and takeover scheme, especially given the UAW ' s finances in 2013, the UAW s Financial circumstances were so dire that it sold $47 million in assets and “raided it`s strike fund to pay operating expenses”. 97. When Williams took office, he promptly encouraged further corruption. Among other criminal acts detailed here in Williams specifically directed his Lieutenants and other corrupt officials to accelerate their fraud, and use NTC funds and credit cards for travel, dining, and other illegal purposes to improve the UAW s budget (which the officials then used for their own purposes rather than for the benefit of the membership ) . As Johnson admitted, “this directive was issued in order to reduce costs to the UAW budget from such expenditures because the UAW s budget was under pressure. Notably, the bribes from FCA to certain UAW Officials continued after Williams assumed the UAW Presidency. 98 . By the time of the 2015 CBA negotiations, Williams was conspiring with Marchionne.

The 1st gen Honda Ridgeline is no longer the ugliest pickup in the world,,,,, HRG

There's no problem here. If you don't like Tesla's business strategy, don't invest in the company. Or take a short position. If Tesla's products and services don't appeal to you, don't purchase them.

Thanks! That was a fun piece to write. I should have a follow-up on C next year. "Hollywood magic" also explains the way they crammed the Mustang launch together with the announcement of Ford's Le Mans program, as well as the overly dramatic moment where HFII stops an entire factory by having a guy hit one button--along with the silly speech he gives after the fact. I'm kind of surprised they used that goofy slideshow scene for the Mustang, because, IMO, the actual Iacocca demonstration would've translated well to the big screen---he lined up the Chevrolet range opposite the Ford range, and pointed to the gap where the Chevy Corvair was and said, basically, 'we need to fill this gap.'

If the $40k Cybertruck version can be ordered via the tesla.com site without signing up additional products and services, it should be a winner. I'm going to wait until Rivian and Ford unveil their BEV pickup models before I consider placing a reservation for a Cybertruck.

I liken Elon with Tony Robins.....complete with cult like following...

bwahahahaha...grain of salt?...Ill take the whole shaker for 200 Trebec....sidebar...kids are now fetching HUGE money on e-bay for cars they made with cardboard and paste in Kindergarten classes.

Ha ha...same here! When he said "oh yea, one more thing" and brought out the ATV, I thought that's when the real truck was going to come out.

I forgot he actually said that but he meant pulling not towing, He really doesn’t know pickups.

I've figured out his plan. Make it so ugly nobody wants to buy one. That way you don't have to add up the loss you take for each one you sell. Bullet proof body panels. Nearly unbreakable glass. Stainless steel. Air suspension. $39,900. It's obvious he kicked the bean counters out the door.

Last one I swear

Never claimed it could tow 300k. It can PULL 300k but so can every other pickup. Ford’s electric f150 pulled a 1.25M lb train.

This hunk of shit is getting HAMMERED on Twitter ????

Comments on the Mustang Mach-E continued... Our Ford Zone Manager told our GM yesterday that Ford had 5,000 reservations for the 2021 Mustang Mach-E. There have been BOF members that have posted images with higher reservation numbers so it's uncertain as to how many actual reservations have been made. Regardless of Ford's ability to obtain the necessary number of battery packs necessary, it appears that the Mach-E commitment so far regarding the reservation numbers has been a bust. Ford is the first major manufacturer to challenge Tesla and there's only 5,000 reservations so far. Not encouraging. If the initial results were good Ford would be sending out press releases.

To be fair, that's because since Ford uses just in time delivery, there's not much spare room in the warehouse sections of most plants for all of those spare parts.

What the ever loving f*ck is that?! Wow, I expected out there, but holy sh|t that thing is fugly! 2 years away before production is scheduled to begin (end of 2021) and the tri-motor not until a year after that.

Nope, they just ship them to Flat Rock......

Thanks for sharing this electrek article Gurgeh sir. Very interesting indeed. I agree with electrek that more important than customer preferences for Mustang Mach E versus Tesla Model Y is any automaker designing desirable BEVs that get owners of ICE vehicles to join the EV revolution as soon as possible. Electrek calls it the "same team" mentality. On that count, Mustang Mach E and Tesla Model Y are both winners.

I walked into the building today to a bulletin that said just that

I was told by Labor relations in CAP Dec 1st for the attendance policy changes

I was arguing this point years ago. Yes, I think there will be price wars on these things to get market share and they will wind up having the same profit margin that sedans have now and the same rebates.

It’s not just ego. A lot of people view EVs as a gadget. A smartphone with wheels. Mach-E will appeal to them.

I find it really odd that the C8 Vette is on there being that it isn't in production. And will be lucky to be on lots in Q2 of next year.

A new survey shows customer preferences split evenly between the MME and Y. But for very different reasons: "Those who chose the Mach E said they picked it because of Ford’s dealer network and the Mach E’s styling, along with concerns about Tesla’s future. Those who chose the Model Y chose it because of the car’s expected performance and Tesla’s supercharger network, along with a general dislike of the Ford brand. Both groups also cited their trust/preference for their respective brands and expected reliability of the cars in question." To me, weighing the difference between having the Supercharger network vs. having an actual after sales network able to service and repair is quite valid. I found most interesting, but not unexpected, the intangible of half of them looking down their nose at Ford and the other half not wanting a Tesla. https://electrek.co/2019/11/21/survey-consumers-split-between-ford-mustang-mach-e-tesla-model-y/

They’ll never sell any four door Chargers or Wranglers. It’s blasphemous to put those names on anything other than a two door.

That was my interpretation, but who knows outside of the glass house. I'm also intrigued. I was under the impression it's almost impossible to build body on frame and unibody on the same line.