rmc523

I'd agree that they should at least be present there at the show even if not debuting anything.

I've seen rumors of bankruptcy.

Or.....if they're debuting Expy at the show, they don't want to overshadow it with Navigator, and vice-versa, so it'll be at a separate event....

They really don't drive any differently than a regular car. The biggest difference drive-wise is learning where controls are on the screen, but you'd have to learn the controls of a car you aren't familiar with regardless of brand. The charging would be the biggest differentiating factor.

I'm sure it'll be the best thing since sliced bread for the GM fans, while the Mach E was horrible.

That's a huge difference - it means you could get the full amount off of a car, whereas you may only get a few hundred (or some portion) of the rebate on your own taxes.

As we’ve discussed in other threads, rentals are probably the worst application for EVs as-is with the lack of widespread charging infrastructure. people on trips can’t charge at most hotels and usually don’t have time to go find a charger

Ironically that’s a Range Rover body lol

the issue for me is that how many sales are they missing out on because it’s mostly the same model as the 4 year old ones? though I’d still argue refreshes are necessary if the work weren’t done for it, I think it’s even worse here since the engineering for the changed have already been done

The only ones that have that setup are the BMWs and Range Rovers.....and I think the Range Rovers have it because BMW designed the 2002 Range Rover and that setup has just carried over since. My mom's X7 has the split setup, and aside from creating a sort of lip to hold items in, I don't really understand the added benefit for that setup. Also, it's worth mentioning that the Expy/Navigator (and others at this size) are larger than the BMWs/RR, which would result in a longer tailgate drop, making it more difficult to access items in the cargo area (since you'd be further away from the opening with a tailgate).

I don't see Ford completely re-engineering the rear liftgate away from a design they've used for decades now - the liftglass/liftgate approach. ....especially if body wise, this is going to be more of a rebody than a 100% full redesign.......the detailing on the liftgate (the sheetmetal below the beltline) will be new, but I wouldn't be shocked if they kept the same upper portion. That said, perhaps the move to the hidden rear wiper in the spoiler created issues with the liftglass design as-is?

Huh? How can you not access the roof from the back via the bumper step? Just so everyone is on the same page here....this is a split tailgate that somehow is good for things on the roof?? And, please note the bottom portion does NOT open until the upper portion opens. This is liftglass:

Oh, didn't realize that was how it worked.

How would that be any better than the liftglass?

It's crazy, because Ford quality seemed pretty good under Mulally (after he got it under control) and then it went off the rails after he left.

Sadly, a lot of people view the credit as just that - knocking $7,500 (or whatever figure per manufacturer) off the sticker price, so they go in and realize that's not true, but rather the tax credit....that'll kill interest too.

Cupholders, charging pad, and additional storage I'd guess. I wouldn't be surprised to see them embed drive modes into a menu cluster instead of having a full rotary dial for it. I understand the argument, but why don't we wait and see how they differentiate the two before panning it? Plus, they're just supposed to purposely sandbag Expedition for Navigator? I feel like there are additional tech ways they can differentiate the two as well, such as letting Navi play movies on the passenger side with some trick displays - whether they do this, we'll see, but they can certainly make changes while still having the same bones.

It's still a shame that they put more effort into another market than its home market. Especially considering they've already done the work for these products (I'm including Corsair's more extensive Chinese refresh, and to a lesser extent, Zephyr) over there, just add them here?

Not if they looked at it realistically rather than "we want this to be the answer, so lets find data that supports it." They purposely ignored factors that affect the vast majority of the population that would negatively impact EV sales just to fit the mantra of EV sales will take over immediately. Also, going from relative 0 to where were at now was obviously going to be easier (massive growth rates) than shifting the entire industry/market overnight like they were predicting. It truly never made sense, even if they wanted it to. (Most) Tesla fans/buyers do not represent the industry as a whole - there's a lot of "Tesla can do no wrong" buyers there that doesn't translate to other brands.

Ford Thought About Using Lincoln To Sell Apple Cars: Report (fordauthority.com) According to this article, there was talk of tying the Apple car to Lincoln .

It's funny, I looked at the photo again, and the dash reminds me a lot of the Flex's dash:

I do agree with the concern of differentiation. BUT, the Lincoln can do things like the Nautilus' hidden vents (controlled by the center screen), materials, etc. to differentiate. Plus, look at the leaked QX80 photos, and the Escalade refresh photos - it seems like the full width screen is coming to most vehicles, so the argument can be made that that'll just be the norm going forward?

This is a radical departure for the Expy, and you can see the Nautilus (and Navigator) full width screen peeking through at the top of that upper photo (which I actually didn't notice the first time glancing at the photo set). I'm glad to see them move away from the F-150-adjacent interior for Expy. Hopefully it'll start to make a dent in the GM triplet numbers.

The autoblog article seemed to like it a lot, and the only things he complained about were minor. I've seen a couple on the road already, and they look fantastic. I really hope that it'll catch on with more buyers.

I’ve always felt his info was true - at some point and/or that pieces of his info were true, but perhaps the pieces were put together wrong. i don’t think he’s ever made things up just to be “the source.” but what I think happens is that plans change since he got the info (we know how Ford likes to take a “spin the wheel” approach daily with its plans), so that by the time he shares it, the info - or at least parts of it - become outdated, OR that he misinterprets some things, that then result in speculation that winds up being off. The problem was he viewed his info - and perhaps more importantly, his interpretation of that info - as absolute gospel. If he were here and we for example pointed out that contractors are there now (as some have above), so his timeline doesn’t make the most sense, and that maybe some bits and pieces of what he shared may have gotten crossed up which then paint a slightly different picture than reality, he’d have gone on a tirade that none of us know what we’re talking about, his info is the only correct info, everything else is wrong.