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Motor Trend TFL Offroad The reviews I've read so far, fall in line with what I expected. A very competent soft road pick up for moderately tricky terrain. Not a rock crawler. It's main drawback will be departure angle on aggressive terrain but that is to be expected for the most part since it has a bed. Based on what I had read about it previously, it seemed like it would be the Maverick model to suit my needs. I ordered a Lariat Tremor with a few options for 36k. Based on what I've seen and read today, am glad I ordered it.

Here is the Car and Driver first drive review. 2023 Ford Maverick Tremor Is a Terrific Tool That's Ruggedly Cool (caranddriver.com)

Ummmmmm. No. No way. Zero adoption. Not even subtle.

Motor Trend thinks this approach is smart. Here is what they said about F-150 Lightning in the context of appealing to ICE pickup truck buyers. Not just a very good truck, but the best F-150 ever and better than any ICE powered pickup truck. Motor Trend said.

Never liked the name Tremor, but the truck looks to be pretty awesome. It's good-looking, light, fuel-efficient, like a many other crossovers and it's got the bed! By the way, Ford actually used the name Maverick for a European version of the 1st gen Ford Escape.

I think it was supposed to be kind of a blend of both, and that’s mainly because it shares bones with Bronco so it made sense to fit in in that box.

Yes production is down for a week. We have people working 24/7 doing the repair work for these missing parts and chips. Shipping is still going on. The plant is hoping to get every truck back to the plant and out the door to be shipped.

Lightning is a very good truck, flawed by high purchase price, limited range, and slow charging times.

Toyota President Uncertain About EVs Toyota's slow adoption of all-electric vehicles was reinforced by the company's president, Akio Toyoda, in comments made during a visit to Thailand, the Wall Street Journal reported. "People involved in the auto industry are largely a silent majority,” Toyoda said. “That silent majority is wondering whether EVs are really OK to have as a single option. But they think it’s the trend so they can’t speak out loudly.” Toyota has not been quick to buy into the all-electric trend, as the company has focused on a lineup of gasoline-powered cars, hybrids and hydrogen-powered vehicles instead of concentrating on converting to all-electric models. “Because the right answer is still unclear, we shouldn’t limit ourselves to just one option,” Mr. Toyoda said. https://www.thestreet.com/automotive/toyotas-president-has-a-take-on-going-all-electric?puc=yahoo&cm_ven=YAHOO

Conversely electric rates don’t fluctuate like gas prices. While you may have a choice of gas brands or locations the prices are pretty much the same.

I was surprised Ford committed to go 100% electric by 2030 in Europe even if the actual EU ban on ICE vehicles is 2035. Good luck to Ford in Europe since affordable subcompact and compact cars and crossovers make up a large chunk of vehicle sales in Europe.

He did just fine running 4 companies and he'll do just fine running 5. Few more weeks/months of getting twitter fit and finding the right CEO to take over and his focus will move back to the biggest two. Not worried about $TSLA at all. He has the right people in place that they can run without him on the day to day.

Happy Hollidays everyone

Fun fact. F-150 Lightning won 2023 Motor Trend TOTY by unanimous vote among the judges. It's only the 2nd time in Motor Trend OTY history that a BEV managed to do that, the other one was Tesla Model S, 10 years prior.

Agree 100%. The only time I heard or saw Ford literally put the brakes on a program was when I was on the 2009-14 F-150 and they stopped us cold for 3 months, and delayed the Job #1 date by 6 months. That was absolutely the right decision back then and the only reason it got done is because the PD Chief at the time, Derrick Kuzak, would not take no for an answer. They need to do this more often when things aren't on-schedule. Part of the reason they did it on the F-150 is since obviously that's the flagship program and means so much, but also due to the fact we just changed PD Chief's at the time. Kuzak just took over PD from Phil Martens at the time (the worst PD Chief I ever seen) and saw how we were basically spending $1.5 Billion on a new program with carry over engines and a exterior design that didn't look any different than the outgoing model. It was a joke..... That first meeting with Kuzak is still vivid in my brain. We had an initial meeting with the new boss (Kuzak) in the design studio to review the program status, etc. He was just a few minutes late, so he rushed to the table and apologized and told us to start going through the presentation. As I'm going through it, he says "I'm sorry to interrupt, but I thought there would be a model of the new truck here for me to look at, where is it?" The Chief Engineer sheepishly says "Derrick, it's right over there" pointing to a painted clay truck 20 feet away from us. He didn't notice it because it looked just like the current model. LOL.....Derrick says "That's what I'm getting for $1.5B! You've got to be kidding me!" Then the Chief Engineer (in as nice of a way as he could) told him how Phil Martens is the reason for that and if it was up to him we'd do this a lot differently. Derrick said enough with the presentation - he doesn't need to see any more. Lets come back in 7 days and you tell me what you want to do and how much it will cost. We came back a week later and told him we wanted $1.8B and need to delay Job #1 by 6 months, showed him what we wanted to do different, and then he approved it. Was one of the craziest weeks of my life as we scrambled to get everything together. But the point is, he had the stones to stop things cold when off track. He did not care about the backlash from his bosses or the board, he knew it was the right thing to do. Ford needs more people who will do something like that and not worry about the politics.

Here's my take away. The only way to get a good change in the quality of the product coming out of Ford to increase in reliability is for it to start with the CEO. If he isn't publicly banging on the drum, it isn't likely to change dramatically. No Farley isn't going to do it himself. He'll need his middle managers and production chiefs to do the work. But Farley has made his way up the chain of command. He has a fair idea of how to get it done. He'll put the people in charge on notice and start working on this.

Farley can say what he wants, but he's too far removed from the details to really have an impact. You need strong middle/senior management and the PD Chief is the most important position in the company IMO. Ford had a great one in Derrick Kuzak and things have not been the same since he left. They need to find another guy like him, as right now they have to many guys who have short-term goals to help their own careers, as opposed to taking the long view and doing things right. (Which is a common problem in publicly traded companies.) Also, Fuzzy, please stop with the over-played "stop letting the bean counters handicap program managers from the get go" theory. This is so far from the truth. The finance guys simply "report" the financial status of each part/vehicle, and it's up to the Chief Engineer and Program Manager, both of whom typically come from Engineering, to decide what cuts to make and/or what parts to add cost from year to year. Here is how it works: 1) The strategy office, a handful of cross-functional upper management members, develops the cycle plan which is the year-by-year plan of what vehicles get introduced, which ones get major/minor freshenings, etc. (Usually a 5-8 year rolling plan.) This includes up-front investment and variable per unit costs by vehicle. 2) The strategy office presents the cycle plan to top management (Farley, etc) and the Board of Directors. Once a specific program is given the green light and approved in the corporate budget, then work starts to begin and a leadership team is appointed. (Program Manager, Chief Engineer, Finance Manager, Marketing Manager, Purchasing Manager, etc.) 3) The initial variable cost and investment budget is given to the vehicle's leadership team and from there, the Chief Engineer/Program Manager decide how to spend the money they are given, both on the overall initial up-front investment and the variable cost per vehicle. All the "bean counters" do, is literally count the beans and handle 2 main tasks: 1) They are the lead on the presentations used at all the various checkpoints when reviewing with upper management (these can be massive and very detailed) 2) They review, daily and hourly at times, the latest cost estimates for the new program and how it compares with the budget we've been assigned If a vehicle is over budget, the Chief Engineer/Program Manager decide where to cut cost, not the bean counters.

Step 1: stop letting the bean counters handicap program managers from the get go Step 2: stop with the ever changing standards for the line workers. Focus on getting it right the first time. Changing shit every few weeks makes it difficult for us to do our jobs.