paintguy

Only know a few people who went with the PHEV. Some were Ford Managers who had ready access to an electric charger at the plant. Have a neighbor who had a Chevy Volt. Said he filled with gas twice a year. He is pretty much a close to home type, rarely drives long distances. The neighbor sold the Volt for a Tesla. His experience with PHEV proved he would do fine with a BEV. I drive more long trips, but go a month or more within 25 miles of home. Been thinking a PHEV would be a significant fuel reduction for me. Can't understand, with the premium price of a PHEV why people would not recharge. Overregulation and unintended consequences strikes again.

Hey, at least with an RV you can catch a good nap while you recharge.

The back seat battery required you keep the protector in place on the positive terminal. If someone of generous proportions sat in the back seat, it could get hot, very fast. Light aircraft sometimes put the battery there as well. Aviation has more weight and balance issues. That said, the low horsepower means you really needed to learn to shift to the correct gear. Come to think of it, my mom's Pinto was automatic. The automatics of the day were inefficient and short a gear or two of what they needed.

At the time of Pinto decisions, VW Beetle would have been the main competitor. Toyota Corolla and Datsun were newly introduced and were all close to 2,000 lb. Iacocca saw that Falcon and Corvair, also pitched as Beetle competitors actually tapped into a different market. As for safety, owned a 71 Beetle. Slow, though without drivability issues. Gas tank right in front of you, just like a Model A.

I know the aversion to Grabber Blue. My mom's '74 Pinto was Grabber Blue. When looking for a Mustang, Grabber Blue not on my short list. The '74 Pinto was a particularly bad manifestation of the malaise era. The bumpers added significant weight, without improving safety. Emissions control gutted any engine performance and hurt driveability. Started to rust after the first winter. Eventually, junked with a bad camshaft. Was many years before my family considered another Ford. Thankfully Ford is much improved. As bad as Pinto was, Vega was just as bad, Chrysler missed the subcompact market and AMC Gremlin was just strange. Unfortunate misses that opened the door for our Japanese competitors.

From the plant side, numerous proposals would be prepared. Some would be prepared, approved, and then canceled as conditions changed. Other times extra money was available for late year projects. Kept a few Christmas holidays extra busy. Grateful for some of the managers and particularly CEO Mulally who kept is out of bankruptcy during the Great Recession.

Can only imagine the number of proposals he reviewed, the number of program reviews he directed to get to a $54 B total. Spending can be easy. Getting the capital budget and spending effectively is something else.

Beyond the investment dollars, the talent, Ford employees and vendor/supplier are finite as well. Observed this on several launches when Subject Matter Experts were split between programs. 14 hour days, 7 days a week gets old.

Market acceptance still not assured. Many people still not sold on BEVs. Many still skeptical of HEV or PHEV. Coercion by government will have people looking for loopholes.

He may be the worlds dumbest billionaire, but I'm nearly certain he has lost more money in the last several months than what all of us who post here have ever had. And still has more money than all of us.

I wonder how much of Tesla stock decline is due to Musk's sale of stock to finance Twitter acquisition. Most avoid large sales or purchases, particularly a signalled one like this to avoid influencing stock price. Also Musk went from being a darling of some inclined to buy BEVs to a demon. Will that impact sales? Desirability of the stock to green investors?

Glad the demand has been greater than supply. Nothing kills profit more than overcapacity. Retooling a plant for 70 units per hour costs way more than for 50 jobs per hour. Having to idle or close a plant is devestating to workers and communities, bad publicity and the bottom line. Unfortunately has happened too often. Supply issues still hitting Ford and most other manufacturers hard. I'm retired now, but still hear of the short shifts, and down weeks, etc. Recall the after shift debreifings where the cost of lost production was prominently discussed. So, if you are a manager raised in that environment, the last thing you want to do is be responsible for inefficient operation. The other major sin is overproduction. Chrysler did this, to the point of disaster before Lee Iacocca became CEO. Led to huge carrying costs and discounted prices (buy a car, get a check).

I can agree with Explorer launch. So many stories, but not at liberty to discuss. Compressed schedule compared to previous CAP major launches. Less experience on both salary and hourly side. And vendors only "help" so much.

Think Kirby has been around the block a few times. I'm retired Ford and recall numerous times when problems large and small resulted in employees and suppliers doing extensive root cause analysis. There are formal presentations known as 6 panel or 8D analysis. Problems on issues smaller than this would get attention at director and VP level.

Not sure your basis for Toyota not selling in Europe and Asia. Recently went to Europe and observed many Toyota hybrid models not available in USA. Not sure of the "platform", but a few of the "top hats" don't look like they would work well in the USA. Although I am not a fan of Prius styling, they are distinctive for virtue signaling and are quite practical for daily use, mixed use and distance travel. With BEVs in the forefront, virtue signaling with a Prius is now a thing of the past.