Harley Lover

Read the results more closely instead of treating the entire year as having the same performance month to month. Ford has already turned the corner on cash flow: "Ford reported $3.1 billion of positive cash flow in the fourth quarter from automotive operations. With a positive cash flow in the second half of 2009, Ford's total cash burn was $300 million for the year, compared with $19.5 billion in 2008. Ford expects positive cash flow in 2010."

This is not meant as a challenge, but is a real question: do you want a unit body small pickup? Built on an Escape chassis, you would essentially have a smaller version of the Honda truck (at least in concept). Would that be okay?

I don't think it is - unless the new 3 is on the new platform too. I'm pretty sure this is a reskin, as the greenhouse appears to be untouched.

This excerpt from Automotive News was contained in a article about the Focus intro: "Ford says seven other models will be developed for North America on the Focus platform. They include the seven-passenger C-Max van, the next-generation Ford Escape and Mercury Mariner crossovers and a Mercury sedan. Three other models have not been announced. A Lincoln model has been discussed, triggered by the introduction this decade of small, lowered-priced models by BMW and Mercedes-Benz." So, the article introduces the possibility of a Lincoln C car. The article previously discussed the Focus BEV, so that is not considered one of the 3. What might they be?

^^^ Wouldn't it be lovely if Ford showed a Lincoln concept at next week's NAIAS based on the Falcon chassis?

The Focus goes on sale late this year - I doubt they would hold it until LA.

Amen brother. And don't buy gas at Citgo.

GM's most recent public pronouncements have the Volt price inching up to $42.5- 45,000 "with typical equipment". I take that to mean that the $40,000 price they have bandied about is the base price, and not truly representative of how most of the units will be equipped and shipped. The other thing I think will be significant to the buying public is the size of the car - it's built on a C chassis, and I think a Cobalt sized car will be a problem at the price point GM is expecting. I still think they will sell the 10-15,000 per year they are planning, but I'm not at all convinced that they have a compelling business case for this car. Based on how poorly they reportedly build business cases for any of their decisions (see the request for support of Opel to the German government), they probably don't.

Contrast this news with the GM's negligent handling of Saab. Wow.

Richard, I don't think that is correct. Coal powered plants have been retrofitting scrubbing equipment for years to meet government mandates. The retrofits have been classified as "new" installations as a conceit to jump through a loophole in the regs which grandfathered "existing" plants from the rules. I don't 'think' there is any reason to think the current group in power in D.C. couldn't rewrite the regs for coal powered plants. The only thing in the way is the mountains of cash from the power companies.

Love the rationale of the article: since Mazda might license hybrid tech from Toyota, that means that Toyota will be buying into Mazda. Using that superior line of reasoning, I guess we should all be preparing for Toyota to buy into Nissan, since Nissan licenses Toyota hybird tech for the Sentra hybrid.

Come on, JM, don't put the crap from AutoExpress on here. Their predictions are never right.

Austin, could you comment on this thought in the context of how engineering responsibilities have been moved around between Dearborn and Ford/Europe? Could it be that engineering of the global Focus was moved to Dearborn, in part, because of the experience they have in engineering hybrid capability into the existing Fusion chassis - which they could use to good result on the global C chassis? Likewise, is it reasonable to assume that Ford EU is utilizing lessons learned from the current Fusion's hybrid packaging, and applying those lessons to the forthcoming CD's?

The BEV Focus is a Magna vehicle, but the hybrid and plug-in hybrid are developments of Ford (I think). Sounds like we need to do some digging on the program for the plug-in!

I think what you are recalling was speculation back in the period just prior to GM's BK, when every possibility was being thrown out for consideration to save GM. AFAIK, there is absolutely no tech swap involving the Volt tech coming to Ford. I can't imagine GM would do that, since they see the Volt as their gamechanger in the marketplace.

Alright, you CANNOT leave us hanging with that! Can't you at least give us some speculation about which vehicle (or tophat) will be the choice? P.S. My original thread title ended with "Focus chassis" but the field limit cut off 'chassis'.

Blue II or OldWizard or Austin can probably address this with more authority, but my guess would be that the plug in hybrid will be parallel, not series. My reasoning is that Ford has spent many man hours perfecting the software (Kuzak mentions it in the article as a performance differentiator) for their current parallel hybrids, and would probably need to dedicate as many (or more) man hours to get good software together for a series hybrid. Consequently, it would seem logical that they would utilize the existing knowledge base for parallel hybrid software. My only caveat would be whether or not they have built up an adequate knowledge base for control software in the development program for the hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, which I'm almost postitive are series hybrids. If they have developed really good software in that program, presumably that software could be used in a parallel hybird Focus.

Thank you for the correction, I never mind learning new things, especially in the area of being more literate! I modded the OP per your suggestion.

I pointed this out on another thread, but I think it's significant enough to merit its own thread. Embedded in an article about Ford investing $500 million to bring battery pack investment in house (which is also a very significant development) is this nugget: " Ford said both of those vehicles will be built off the same platform as the new Focus, which will be produced at the company's Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne. The hybrid and plug-in hybrid would likely be produced on the same assembly line." So, this confirms that Ford will have a C chassis hybrid and plug-in hybrid, which place them in the heart of the market (the Prius is a C chassis, as will be the forthcoming Volt). This also allows Ford to bracket the competition, with a C and CD car hybrid, and the Escape. As I mentioned in the other thread, I'd personally love to see the hybrid hardware on a Grand C-Max. Is there any possibility that Ford might give these hybrids bespoke bodies, à la Prius? Or will capacity constraints continue to limit availability, and thus render the need moot? Anyway, this is big news, and affirmation once again that Ford will keep itself competitive in terms of product, and in terms of core competencies. Article link: http://detnews.com/article/20091209/AUTO01...hybrid-projects

As far as I'm concerned, here's the money quote (from a product perspective): "Ford declined to say where in Michigan the assembly of the next generation hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles might occur but has said they would be built off the company’s compact car platform." Elsewhere, the press has written defintively that the platform will be the next gen Focus platform, so there's no doubt. This means the C platform will yield both a hybrid and a plug-in hybrid vehicle, which places Ford where the heart of the hybrid market seems to be (the Prius is a C chassis, as will be the forthcoming Volt). This really allows Ford to bracket the competition, in that they will have a C and CD car hybrid, as well as the Escape. Personally, I'd love to see the hybrid hardware in a Grand C-Max. Great news, and happy news for 1000 people in Michigan.

Do you think the black out will be used on all pillars, or just the C pillar?

I think you're right; if you look closely at the front 3/4 picture, you can see how the black out paint is actually on the door frame surrounding the front passenger window, because the paint doesn't sync up very well with the curve of the door/window panel. This seems to there for the express purpose of confusing us!

It has been published elsewhere that FOE is developing the I3 Ecoboost.

In the article below, Derrick Kuzak says that the Fiesta chassis will bring forth more vehicles. Of interest is his point that the 4 door sedan and 5 door hatchback will equate to 600,000 global units, yet the global sales goal is 1 million units. He notes that the 3 door hatchback will not cover the additional sales. What might those vehicles be? B-Max? Or...?

Gm is rudderless at the top. Whitacre hasn't a clue. I've seen zero evidence of him digging into the company the way Mulally did when he came to Ford. This all makes perfect sense when you think of GM as a government owned entity.