mackinaw

To me, it's telling that the skunkworks team is in California, not Dearborn. Some people on this forum love to bitch about Ford's bureaucracy and "silos." Fewer than 100 engineers working 2,400 miles away from Michigan should address that issue.

They have websites, and I still see hard copies in the newstand of our local market. There was a time when I subscribed to all three of them. I haven't looked at a copy of any in years.

Ugh. Talk about trying too hard.

Not sure they have a tight budget. With less than 100 employees on this team (according to Bloomberg), you would think their overall budget wouldn't be that big. But I'd wager they have strict cost targets.

Well, the Ford GT and Mustang GTD were skunkworks programs and both turned out pretty damn good.

And the fact the contracts the parts suppliers have signed all expire about now. I'm sure they've already signed new contracts with other OEM's to supply parts.

For the guys who work at OAC, this is from the Detroit News: "As a result, launch of the vehicles at Oakville Assembly Plant will begin in 2027 instead of the previously expected 2025. Retooling of the plant from from the gas-powered Edge crossover still is expected to begin in the second quarter. Some skilled trades workers will maintain their position through the updates, but most of the 2,700 employees at the plant will be on layoff until production resume again. The company says it will work with Canadian labor union Unifor to mitigate the effect of the delay on workers." https://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/autos/ford/2024/04/04/ford-delays-ev-launches-hybrid-lineup-2030/73201263007/

Worldwide, 2.9 million PHEV's were sold in 2022. 1.9 million in 2021. https://www.statista.com/statistics/442759/global-sales-of-plugin-hybrid-electric-vehicles-as-a-share-of-evs/#:~:text=About 2.9 million new plug,electric vehicle sales in 2022.

Me too.

I remember seeing the GT 90 at the Detroit Auto Show back in 1995. Used Ford's "New Edge" design language.

I had a Pinto in the early 70's back during my college years. 1971 green hatchback, 2.0L four with a 4-speed tranny. It was a good little car. Economical, fun to drive, and reliable. I only have good memories of that car, though Michigan winter road salt did a number on the body.

Absolutely. From a recent Detroit News article: "Ford Pro alone increased its operating income to $7.2 billion in 2023 by 81% with a 12.4% operating margin, even with a slower Super Duty truck production ramp-up with a new quality check process and a United Auto Workers strike. It's forecasting $8 billion to $9 billion in 2024 and a mid-teens margin." “I remember a time when Fiat owned Ferrari, and I had a valuation of about $4 billion on it,” said Adam Jonas, analyst at investment bank Morgan Stanley, while posing a question to Ford CEO Jim Farley during a recent earnings call. “Now, Ferrari is worth $80 billion today, and the business was totally ignored by investors when it was part of Fiat. Now, Ford's Ferrari, it's called Ford Pro. And I think we agree, people are ignoring the cash cow.”

I kind of like the sculptured look of the sides. Not a fan of the interior though.

In case you haven't seen this yet, Fisker has suspended EV production for the next six weeks. On the other hand, they're rumored to be linking up with some OEM (rumored to be Nissan). So who knows what to make of this company. https://www.wired.com/story/fisker-suspends-electric-vehicle-production/

Then again, the water pump on my '94 F-150 went out last year. Only lasted 29 years.

Depends what your level of risk aversion is. If you are in the financial position of having some money to play with, buying shares of Fisker may pay off. Or it may not. I've been thinking about doing the same. Haven't pulled the trigger yet though.

Nope, I don't cut Wall Street any slack over their over-optimistic EV predictions. There's no way a bunch of NYC-based eggheads have any clue about what is actually happening in the world. And Jonas was the worst of them. I'm really enjoying seeing him backtrack now.

"ICE Elongation Thesis." Only a Wall Street analyst could come up with something like that. And talk about Adam Jonas pivoting 180. Five years ago, he was the guy who was predicting that EV adoption would happen quickly and dramatically, like dominos falling over. Marketplace reality, as usual, had other ideas.

From memory, the Ford Five Hundred (circa 2005) had a CVT transmission mated to the 3.0L V6 in the AWD models. I remember reading that it was a "high torque" CVT. It was expensive to produce, so was dropped in favor of a more conventional auto tranny at some point.

We had an old Philco tube TV in our attic until a few years ago.

I was reading elsewhere this afternoon that one reason Rivian delayed their planned Georgia plant was because it save them 2.25 billion dollars, which will buy them one more year.

You have to give Sergio credit for that. Fiat Chrysler stopped selling compact and mid-size sedans back in 2016. Ford followed suit in 2019.

But there were still over 3,600,00 births in the US last year. That's a lot of babies.

Anybody know how many of Borg's predictions over the past five years have actually come true?

Not surprised. Look for Ford, and others, to hire some of the engineers who were working on this car.