mackinaw

What 23.5 billion dollar loan?

I think the Trenton location is too small. About 500 acres, if I'm doing my math right. The Marshall location is about 1,900 acres.

Just had the chance to read the transcript of this "fireside chat." A very interesting and worthwhile read. Farley and company really want to fundamentally change Ford. We'll see if they can pull it off.

Farmers are going to sell their corn to whoever pays them the most for it. They'll only hold corn back if you pay them to do so. Genetically modifying corn for ethanol production is an interesting idea, but expect the anti-GMO crowd to raise a ruckus.

In the 50's and 60's, it was all about adding cubic inches are horsepower. Today and tomorrow, it will all be about making batteries smaller, cheaper, charge faster, more powerful, better cold weather performance, lighter, etc.

Two-speed transmissions for EV's are out there, Eaton and other manufacturers make them. Not sure if any EV is using them though.

From the Detroit Free Press: State Rep. Andrew Fink, R-Hillsdale, raised such concerns, questioning the company's independence from the Chinese government. "The Chinese government is not an entity that Americans can trust," he said. "It's categorically different than other types of potential partnerships." Quentin Messer Jr., who heads the state's economic development agency, rejected the criticism. "Any incentive dollar will be going to a 100% wholly-owned Ford subsidiary. Not a dime will go to a Chinese entity," he said. "By this licensing of technology that Ford is doing, we are bringing this capability to the U.S." https://www.freep.com/story/news/politics/2023/02/13/whitmer-celebrates-ford-battery-plant-in-michigan/69898177007/

Agreed. I liked the concept, this is pretty tame (boring).

Ford selling Rivian stock is long overdo. Rivian offers Ford absolutely nothing.

Yep. From Electrek, "According to local press reports in Europe, 2,500 to 4,000 product development jobs of the 6,250 currently employed by Ford could get axed." https://electrek.co/2023/01/23/ford-layoffs-overseas-ev-development-europe-union-threats/

Interesting tidbit on Autoline Daily a few days back. GM has 6,000 fewer engineers than Ford but yet they sell more vehicles. That difference is probably the 25% Farley was talking about.

What Virginia didn't want, Michigan will gladly take.

Charging stations are scattered about Michigan's lower peninsula, more along the interstate. But the big issue up here seems to be that many don't work. Henry Payne, auto writer for the Detroit News, often test drives EV's from Detroit to northern Michigan (250 miles one way). His test reports are filled with tales of frustration of pulling up to a charger only to find it isn't working. And it's not just northern Michigan too. Broken charging stations seems to be quite common. https://www.autoweek.com/news/a40576648/ev-charger-maintenance-problem/

Ford sold 91 million shares of Rivian last year (about everything). The initial investment was about 1.2 billion dollars and they sold their remaining shares for $3 billion. Actually a pretty good return on their investment. https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/03/ford-sold-most-of-its-rivian-stake-last-year.html#:~:text=Ford liquidated most of its,the EV startup in 2022.

???? Where did you read that warranty costs are climbing? From the article "Ford posted $10.4 billion in earnings before interest and taxes last year, a key profitability metric, and factors such as service warranty improvements and strong operating cash flow drove the company to hit the targets used to determine employee incentives.

Battery weight affects safety too. The Hummer EV weighs over 9,000 pounds, with the battery pack weighing as much as a Honda Accord. The Feds are starting to worry about heavy BEV's colliding with an ordinary car.

Battery technology is in its infancy. I suspect all manufacturers are researching how to make batteries smaller, lighter, more powerful, better cold weather performance, longer range, etc. In the 1950's and 60's, we had the horsepower and cubic inch wars. Now, it will be the battery war.

VW recently fired their head of vehicle design and hired somebody new. He started February 1st.

Quality is one of the metrics bonuses are based on and one of the reasons bonuses dropped to 90%. As Kirby pointed out, depending on the individual, this can be a substantial amount of money.

From today's Detroit News. This is behind a paywall, so most won't be able to read it. Basically, Farley is not at all satisfied with Ford's 2022 results, so senior management will see a big reduction in their bonuses. A few salient points: "Senior-level managers at Ford Motor Co. will see reductions to their annual bonuses following a 2022 earnings report that CEO Jim Farley said "fell short" of the company's potential. Upper management will see their performance factor reduced to 90%, a move aimed at fostering accountability, according to a letter to employees obtained by The News. "This decision was not made lightly, but accountability starts at the top," CEO Jim Farley and Chief Financial Officer John Lawler wrote in the note." https://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/autos/ford/2023/02/03/senior-level-ford-managers-to-see-bonus-percentage-cuts/69870258007/

A pallet jack makes sense. Could be a concept car. When's the next auto show?

I wonder what's with that running board, or whatever you want to call it, that is directly beneath the doors?

You need to go back farther. In the late 50's, wagons sales were about 20% of sales (at least for Ford in 1957).

Ford of Europe may be on borrowed time. Besides selling this plant, they are planning to cut 3,200 product development jobs in Germany. Ford is developing future EV's in the U.S, so Cologne has become redundant.

I researched this in 2021 when we were looking at an Escape PHEV. It takes ten to eleven hours to fully charge using 110.