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Hmm.....disappointed that I didn't get to see the pre-edited deleted comment lol.

Just a little redpill for anyone who still hasn't realized the media is completely biased and untrustworthy...The New York Times has retracted their claims that Officer Sicknick was struck and killed by a Trump Supporter armed with a fire extinguisher. https://tennesseestar.com/2021/02/15/the-new-york-times-retracts-the-story-asserting-capitol-police-officer-brian-sicknick-was-killed-by-a-trump-supporter/ You think CNN and the others will widely report the correction?

I was speaking about the 'Sport' name in general where people had gotten confused at first thinking it was just a sport appearance package such as used on the Explorer's XLT trimline rather than separate model like the old 2-door Explorer Sport. Or a trimline like Fusion Sport. But yeah, it does seem like Ford likes having people thinking the Bronco Sport is the Bronco. The Mach-E name is brilliant because it recognizes the old Mach 1 trimline name but with E to denote electric, as part of the second name after Mustang to show it's a separate model of the Mustang (as the Sport is separate of Bronco). To show that both smaller variants are the 'inspired' versions of the originals.

One of the factor that I'm sure Ford is thinking about is the rate of innovation in battery tech. Ford can delay investment in building batteries in house by a few years to see how the tech evolves but if Farley wants to get to his 100% goal by 2030, I think Ford will need to build a substantial portion of the batteries in-house to ensure supply consistency.

Seriously.. how the hell does this keep happening???? https://www.yahoo.com/news/ford-bronco-sport-hit-another-225655733.html Ford announced on Thursday it is recalling 1,666 Bronco Sport models over rear-suspension components that may not be properly attached, just months after delivering the first vehicles in late 2020. "Affected 2021 Ford Bronco Sport vehicles were produced with rear suspension modules that may not be fully secured to the subframe. Rear suspension modules with loose or missing bolts may affect the vehicle's stability, increasing risk of an accident, and may result in reduced rear impact crash performance, increasing the risk of injury," the carmaker said in a press release.

"One of the suspended officers took a selfie with someone who was part of the mob that overtook the Capitol, according to Rep. Tim Ryan, a Democrat from Ohio. Another wore a "Make America Great Again" hat and started directing people around the building, Ryan said." Sound like an armed insurgence? An unarmed female breaking into a building and shot to death by a cop? Then a congress rep stating the cop was a hero? Not in Chicago.... Cop dying at the scene from blunt force trauma? Cop dying at the emergency room from blunt force trauma to the head? Cop text brother later in the day, after dying from blunt force trauma? Cop dies the next day from a stroke? But.... 5 people died from an armed insurrection? Then that bad orange man went on and on about how screwed up the postal system is but, mail in those ballets... Now Bobby Rush is calling for all the postal service managers to be fired in his state... But wait orange man bad by calling it out before the election, Bobby good for calling it out after the election? Then the Lov Gov was full of shit? Bad orange man called that out but no way cause the Lov Gov is a tuff guy from NYNY.....oh won an emmy for his leadership? Schools open no way bad orange man, schools open a day a week, no wait 5 days a week, no wait not at Chicago schools cause... teachers will think of a reason... give them another day? First 100 days and a hundred million vaccination's? Wait there was no vaccine when Jobama took office.... bad bad bad orange man. Bad orange man for telling Iran to knock it off or get wacked... Jobama building the bridge to Iran "Biden Administration Formally Offers to Restart Nuclear Talks With Iran" The list of bull turds just keep a dropping... who`d a thought.

Agreed. BTW, FedEx still doesn't show the radiator as having been delivered and I've had it for nine days. Next item to wait for should be the new design fuel tank sending unit. The seller said he received the first batch from the manufacturer a few days ago so I assume he has started shipping them. Now I'm debating whether I want to try a different set of spark plugs. When I built the engine the recommended plug was an Accel 276 which is basically equivalent to a Motorcraft AF42 or AF42C. Most of the older (pre 5.0L HO) small blocks used either a BF42 or BF32. Those BF series plugs have a larger 18mm diameter than the AF series and won't fit in my heads. I used a set of iron World Products Roush 200 cylinder heads on my engine and they use the same smaller 14mm diameter AF series plugs as the newer 5.0L HO, I assume because by doing so they (World Products) had more room for the larger 2.02" intake and 1.60" exhaust valves. Those WP heads have 64cc combustion chambers and when combined with the flat top pistons in my 393 result in an approximate 10.5:1 CR. Back before the 5.0L HO the larger dia BF42's were the higher heat range plug used in lower compression ratio small block and big block engines while the BF32's were the colder plug used in the higher CR engines like the 289 HiPo. What I have read is that when Motorcraft (and others) switched to copper core plugs (Note: copper core plugs are designated by the suffix letter C) they were able to cover a wider range of CR's with one heat range which eliminated the need for the colder heat range 32's . Not sure how true that is but they did stop production of the BF32's which sucks because those are also the original plugs for both the 390 (10.5:1 CR) in my '68 Cougar and the 428CJ (10.6:1 CR) in my '70 Mach 1 which are both FE series big blocks. Anyway, since the engine in the Bronco uses the smaller dia AF series plugs and has a higher CR, I may need to go to a lower heat range plug and the currently available Motorcraft plug would be the AF32C. However, current thinking is to stick with the higher heat range AF42C's unless the engine shows signs of detonation or starts melting the spark plug electrodes but neither of those are likely to happen unless you are running some type of forced induction or nitrous or a higher than 12:1 CR. The theory is that a hotter plug has better self cleaning properties than a colder plug and is therefore less likely to build up deposits and foul out. So, once I start putting some miles on the Bronco I should have a better idea what type of spark plug it likes. I have noticed that it is extremely sensitive to ignition timing changes which might be due to the fact that cast iron cylinder heads do not dissipate heat as well as aluminum. Not sure what difference, if any, a different heat range plug would make on that issue.

I think that's why we haven't seen Ford invest heavily in their own battery production yet. If solid state batteries are as close as they supposedly are, and offer the large improvements over current tech, then it'd be a waste of money to pour a bunch into current tech for it to only be obsolete when solid state arrives. I really don't know enough about the tech of either type of battery to comment on it, nor the timeline of solid state, but Ford doesn't want to get caught with their pants down and have to immediately change course once they get battery tech online.

You think this just might push demand for more hybrid F150s. The best free advertising money can buy is a storm making you new product indispensable in a crisis.(sarcasm) Hopefully Ford can capitalize on this. Does any other truck manufacturer offer such a useful option.

There is a story in the Freep today about a new F150 Powerboost owner in Texas powering his whole house during the TX blackout.

Some grids are not affected - specifically those serving hospitals or other vital services. My co-worker hasn't lost power at all but he's near the hospital.

Wouldn't harnessing river flow be hydroelectric generation?

I’m not sure the BEVs are for all customers yet. I’m not sure all customers will want BEVs in 2030. The electric infrastructures are not well developed yet in Europe. And about the rest of the world, I think the situation is not better... But we have nine years ahead.

Not as long as Bill Ford is around. After that, I’m not so sure. Are there any other family members interested in running the company or do they just want to cash out? The lack of a dividend is crimping their style.

Is this Farley publicly reprimanding the North America product planning team? 😄 Just about everyone have observed that Puma is a much more appropriate car for the US market than EcoSport (or Fiesta for that matter). If Kia can sell 100k Soul a year in the US, I'm sure Ford can figure out there is a market for Puma.

Probably not Mountain Ash, but White Ash or Green Ash, because of the invasive insect, the Emerald Ash Borer which made it's way to SE Michigan in 2002. It's pretty much eliminated Ash trees in Michigan. BTW, Mountain Ash trees (Genus: Sorbus) aren't really part of the Ash family (Genus: Fraxinus). Excuse the dendrology lesson, I did this stuff for 34 years.

With the rolling blackouts going on in many places right now because of extreme cold one has to ask is our grid even capable of a 100% EV future without major investment?

Power generation is a real mess lately. Coal is under fire from all sides and plants are shutting down permanently left and right. Nuclear is having a hard time competing with natural gas plants on cost and are shutting down permanently despite being far better suited for baseload operation than gas is. Meanwhile the govt incentive money keeps flowing to wind and solar, even to the point of building it where it's not needed just to collect the incentive money. Then more nat gas plants are thrown up in the background, out of site and with no fanfare since they're not "clean", to make up for the gaps in wind/solar and to backfill the coal and nuke plants that have shut down. It all works well enough that consumers (voters) don't notice until a good cold spell hits deep into the midwest. Then the windmills freeze and all the gas is diverted to heating needs. Next thing you know it's rolling brownouts, people freezing, and entire industries shutting down due to lack of natural gas or electricty. But yeah, let's just throw a bunch of EV load in too. I'm sure it'll all work out great.

Windmill turbines freezing up coupled with peak need and not enuff power plants...hell the future is here now in texas.....and yet ford races into all electric with no plan...

Well,we still have an awful lot of 500 year old forest in the USA that needs to burn. So please don't decide to build your dream home in the 500 year old forest, then blame global warming when it burns to the ground.

And plant trees. Reforestation should be the #1 goal in addition to reasonably reducing emissions.

That might work to some extent for class 3 and 4, but not 6.

Ford could still bring in an LCF, but from JMC sailing in from China since that is where Cargo COE line seems to have gone to. But, I also believe that the whole LCF challenge can be answered by E-Series with a rear cab enclosure for the cut-a-way models like they do for U-Haul.

FWIW, I have heard that a high percentage of Hino's sales are to Penske. Hino seems to do pretty well here on the west coast, but judging by who I see buying them (aside from Penske) I would agree that most of their customers are purchase price sensitive. Hinos are big with the porta-potty pumpers for some reason.... Being a Toyota Group company Hino has deep pockets, which they are going to need if they want to stay in the North American commercial truck game. Not having an engine that meets EPA/CARB standards took them out of the market. Interesting to compare with Isuzu's strategy of cooperating with Cummins. That partnership makes it far easier for Isuzu to stay in the game and free up capital for them to invest in BEV (and maybe hydrogen fuel cell?) technology. Currently it will give Isuzu another OEM sales outlet for their smaller diesels through Cummins and get them access to EPA/CARB certified larger diesels for class 6 and 7 trucks, which I think will be Isuzu's next move. As for Ford, I expect them to continue to be strong in class 3-4-5. I see them staying in class 6 and 7 as long as they can make a bit of money there without too much effort. Eventually they will have to invest in class 6 and 7 to stay relevant, and at that point a decision will have to be made whether or not to stay in it.

Hino does have their best performance in the northeast. In the area's I've worked in (midwest & southeast) they don't do nearly as well. In the state I live now, they barely have 1% of the class 6-7 market. (Note that is 1% true retail sales, most of the Penske units don't show up in our registrations since most of them are registered in Pennsylvania.) The most telling stat is they have very low retention with their customers. When a person buys a Hino, they are far more likely to buy something else the next time, due to various reasons. (Poor quality, expensive parts, hard to find parts, poor dealer network, etc.) They do a little better with wreckers and rollbacks in my area, too, largely due to the wrecker/rollback upfitters so focused on upfront price. Ford does better than normal in these segments, too, for the same reason.