ExplorerDude

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….

That vehicle is not the Fusion Active at all. Again, that vehicle hasn’t been seen in the Cycle Plan and I don’t believe is being carried forward. The vehicle in these photos has the Lincoln mesh grille and is most likely the next gen Nautilus. It has a similar shape to this.

jpd80 good call….The nameplates in question are all right here.

There is so much developing and changing by the day that it’s hard to say what is concrete but BOC will be the home of TE1 and it’s multiple derivatives. Let’s just say KTP will be able to focus on Super Duties….

This strongly hints at the next Nautilus coming for MY2024.

He’s correct that the Edge program isn’t dead per say…..the China Edge program is continuing and moving towards its full redesign but the Edge program for NA was shelved. Unless something changed recently but I don’t think it did.

This situation has triggered a lot of concern in the glass house. This gas crisis caught them way off guard because it happened overnight and hasn’t been building for a long time. If this gets really really bad with gas prices I am a certain they will revisit Fusion/Mondeo and/or Focus for another run in NA. Both sets of vehicles were designed to meet US federal crash requirements. I’ve been told that there already is discussion about some sort of affordable sedan program but not sure the specifics.

One of the worst months possible. We all know why. I was in a meeting and heads are rolling over F-Series and Explorer. Truly horrible. They are flipping over the chips they aren’t getting for F-Series and Explorer.

Explorer and Escape were developed during the cost cutting and program freezes under Fields. The MME, Bronco, Bronco Sport, Maverick and new F-150 were all developed during the Hackett and Farley “Design Thinking” approach to everything. I’m confident the refreshes coming for Explorer and Escape will reset those products and give them the extra boost they need to sell better and have more respect.

Nautilus is NOT leaving the scene. It’s sister the Edge is, but the Nautilus is being redesigned and the next gen will be built in China and imported here.

Let’s just say that a trilogy is in the works.

Mustang Mach-E will get a huge production increase at Cuautitlan bringing production out of there to 200,000 a year. The Explorer and Aviator BEVs were to be built there but they really want to maximize Mach-E production to satisfy this side of the world demand for it. Remember the Mach-E is also built in China for consumption there. We always knew the Maverick would be a runaway hit, just not this huge of a hit. Hermosillo isn’t even close to full capacity yet but I know they want to pump up and out as many more Bronco Sports and Mavericks as much as possible. Maverick is a Top 5 product of importance within Ford now. F-Series, Explorer, Maverick, Bronco and Bronco Sport in that order, I kid you not. The amount of interest and lead volume dealers are getting on Maverick actually surpasses Bronco and Bronco Sport combined. If there is a need to build more Mavericks eventually, it will be promptly resolved.