ExplorerDude

This right here. This is the Gen 2 Lightning / replacement / successor. Naming wise I’d say its something that comes along when Lightning strikes…. Design and styling wise, let’s just say it’s very aero, 97-03 F-150ish but goes even further. Millennium Falcon is a good way to emphasize its modern and futuristic look.

Currently, as mentioned above they are prioritizing Bronco builds to deliver all of those original and new orders, while also dealing with supply chain shortages on the current Ranger. I can promise you that the 2024 Ranger for North America will be an amazing product with sincere dedication in making sure it continues to build its audience. It is loved and not neglected at all. The North American variant will be closer to the global version this time since NA was involved from the start of its development. Pretty sure it will be SuperCrew only in order to cut down on complexity. But the SuperCrew will allow for additional size variants….

There have been tons of rumors about C2 products and exploding demand. Maverick is so popular they are looking to add that 3rd shift at Hermosillo but that may not be enough. I’ve heard rumors of Bronco Sport actually going to Louisville as well to allow for just Maverick production at Hermosillo to meet global demand. Wild stuff I know!

The next generation Nautilus pictured here was supposed to be built in China for China consumption and imported here to North America for North America consumption as well. I’m not sure if that is still the plan or not but there’s a 50/50 chance it still happens. The next gen Edge will definitely be China only with zero plans of coming here.

Current generation of Escape is expected to last until MY27. It was extended but there is currently no ICE replacement planned. Next gen will be a BEV built somewhere most likely south.

And next year Hermosillo adds a rumored 3rd shift to increase Bronco Sport and Maverick production.

Expedition will have both ICE and BEV, while Navigator will be BEV only.

A lot of the positions just eliminated were people whose teams were terminated in Jim Hackett’s smart redesign 3 years ago. These people had some 30-40 years at Ford and didn’t have much of a role the last 3 years. I think the pandemic gave them some time since many were out of sight out of mind. Another large number of positions eliminated were field roles. Almost every region lost the PSOM role (Parts and Service Operations Manager) as well as seasoned Zone Managers. Then the other chunk of positions were “fluff” roles. They eliminated a lot of social media positions and contractor positions. Definitely was/is a sad time but it didn’t necessarily hit all ICE engineering. It was a mixture of cutting all over the place.

A fantastic month for sure! It’s a nice change of pace to see Ford rise above so many competitors. The Bronco family alone put nearly 18,000 units on the road. However those headlines are pumped up a bit when it comes to electric vehicles. While yes, sales are growing finally - we still only sold 7,699 BEVs (MME, F-150 Lightning and eTransit). That’s only 4.6% of the 163,000 total.

It’s weird for them to do this at this point in time. I swear they do things sometimes simply for change sake, not because it’s the smart thing to do.

The “Active” trim level is going to be the new name for the SE/SEL on the 2023 Escape and the new name for the XLT on the 2024 Explorer. I’m not sure why they decided to start changing trim level names but it’s definitely happening.

This is a Titanium, only trim to have the light bar. Make no mistake though, many future Fords will have this as a tie in to the electric Lightning look.

You hit the nail on the head and described the next gen Lightning….

Current Escape runs until MY2027. There is no next generation ICE planned. It will be replaced by a BEV. Hopefully the Escape name will continue on the BEV.

The Mustang family will expand….other variants/body styles may or may not be coming to the Mach-E….