jpd80

Looks like there are several former Amazon executives involved with Slate and the big investor is Jeff Bezos. Bezos, via his family office, reportedly holds a passive stake and is not directly involved in the day-to-day business Great plans but I think we need to watch this for a while to see what progress they make.

At the moment Slate is all marketing, let’s see how Bezos goes with actually delivering at that price.

Slate is promising but an effective hook always tells people what they want to hear.

I’m sorry for calling him out, I’m just worried about the consequences for ordinary people.

Ford’s business in Europe and UK faces a different set of challenges to that of North America, I wouldn’t begin to assume the complexity of decisions required for region specific products.

Right now, I think Ford is heavily invested in keeping F Series profits coming in, anything else that would be “nice to have” sits in a separate bucket waiting until markets get back to some level of stability and normalcy.

Couldn’t agree more, extension via a four door coupe is probably incremental production, adding things like Mustang pickup or a two seater coupe like pre C8 coupe, maybe but I get the feeling that when it comes to Mustang branded vehicles, less is more…

While I’m not against Ford using the Mustang name on more products, this type of design competition is not helpful simply because the students doing the designing have no idea of what buyers tastes are. I understand that the intention is to broaden the appeal of Mustang branded vehicles but at what cost to the name..

There’s a big difference between costs skyrocketing and suppliers being unable to deliver enough parts, remember the chips and control module shortages that plagued manufacturers…ford was hit hard by this. So now, some of those commodity vehicles like RAV4 would seem have better margins than before….. all I’m saying is that it might be worth Ford reviewing some business cases that previously didn’t work.. Edit for clarity, I guess what I’m wondering is if there’s now more money in some of the mass produced vehicle segments and if that perhaps forces a rethink at Ford but on their terms of course (Escape & Edge?)

I guess a heritage name only means something to Ford if it can charge a lot for the vehicles carrying that name…

Cause and affect….my recollection was that during COVID and later due to restricted supply of vehicles, manufacturers jacked up prices and people paid them…so rather than cost push, this was profit push inflation.

What’s curious about all of this is the price hikes that have occurred not on,y at Ford but all automakers. I wonder if it’s time to change opinion on what was once considered commodity vehicles that are now priced a lot higher by all competitors. Maybe they all came to the realisation that buyers will pay more.

Think About It, the Maverick is the perfect counterpoint in a sea of utilities that all seem rather similar, it stands out perfectly and is desirable exactly because it not like every other compact vehicle The difficulty with competing wit the Maverick is that those competitors have to first admit that there existing utility sales are not working like they want. To me, it’s the frog in a pot situation in as much as Ford’s competitors won’t realise until it’s too late

In other news, affordability and higher prices slow new truck sales…. As can be seen by Ford’s recent employee pricing campaign, there are plenty of buyers if the price is right.

Exactly, Aviator was a good effort but Ford tends to sit on its laurels and let vehicles age too much and then wonder why people paying Lincoln premium prices don’t want a modest refresh…. Yes exactly, one large C2 plant set up similar to Valencia that could up to six or more vehicles would probably cover most of Ford’s small to mid sized vehicle needs without being overly expensive. I’m a little concerned thatFord gets the blinkers on with plans like using Louisville for new CE1 BEVs and the long lead lock ins that happen with new vehicles, be they BEV or the C2s. Agree completely that much of the above is in limbo until current politics get resolved, hoping they just go back to honouring USMC agreement and Ford just gets on with it.