fuzzymoomoo

The flaw with your hypothetical is the Taurus is supposed to be moving with the continental That and we all know that Flex/MKT are both pretty much dead in the water at this point

Absolutely, they already do that anywhere a Lincoln is made. They even do it in Flat Rock with the Fusion and Mustang.

it would seem as if Biker wants Ford to build its cars using super expensive and hard to mass-produce carbon fiber then watch car prices soar overnight

Thanks for the clarification. I edited to reflect that.

I don't think there is an agreement with UAW to move anything to Flat Rock yet, which is why I was speculating we won't hear anything concrete about it until September (at earliest) when the current contract expires. Everything I know about moving anything to Flat Rock is just very strong rumor at this point, and has been backed up by Robert Lane and (i think) akirby. This is the "where there's smoke, there's fire" type of rumor so keep an eye out come fall and we should have more of a solid idea of what's going on. Same goes for the Lincoln compact sedan I've referred to here a few times. Not much rumor about it on the floor at MAP, but I've heard so much rumbling elsewhere about it, there has to be some truth to it in the next 1-2 years. Maybe around the time of the reveal of the next-gen Focus.

Oh they are, they are just hoping people don't notice.

Possibly, it was the company I worked for before Ford, and God knows where they bought their used vans from.

I've seen cargo work vans labeled as a club wagon.....

So its a different name for the passenger vans than the cargo van. Because that's necessary.

Well I think we stumbled on one of the reasons why Ford has a hard time making a profit in Europe!

That's an easy one. It's not 1995 anymore and it's not BOF so the people stuck in the 90s and 00s don't like it.

We are building a decent amount of them, so I would imagine it's doing alright. I don't know how many of them are going to California where the rebates are strongest on the state level, and I don't know how long they sit on lots on average. Most of the dealers near me don't keep any on hand, yet oddly enough there's a couple of them driving around in my area.

I haven't been inside DTP since the renovation, but by all accounts from people I've talked to say it's a much better work environment, especially in the body shop. It's a lot quieter, there is very few, if any sparks flying around and it's a lot cleaner and brighter. I think that as Ford starts using more aluminum across more models, we will start seeing more renovations of the sort, just not to the massive degree as what DTP and KCAP went through.

the earliest test mules that are drive able are built in the Pilot Plant in Allen Park, MI. Everything there is built basically by hand rather than on an assembly lines. From there before production ramps up, the preproduction models start being built on the line as a process test and testing of all of the tooling, first in the TT phase (tooling trial) and then the PP (preproduction) phase. Every car built on an assembly line that doesn't carry an X in the vin in the location digit is a sellable vehicle, though they rarely, if ever make it into the hands of the general public.

I thought it was an offshoot of the Transit Connect that was slotted between that and Transit somehow. I can't make sense of what happens in Europe.

Well, there is a reason GM got out of the locomotive game and sold EMD to Caterpillar.

That's a good point. Maybe the 1st gen TC was C platform, then this current gen is so heavily modified that it's a whole new platform now. I could be altogether wrong though.

Isn't Transit Connect already on the C-platform? Also, don't forget about the Heavy Duty F-650/750 if that's a different platform than 250-550

I can't speak to exactly why because I don't know. My best guess is because Ford wants to wait and see on what the labor cost might be so they can act accordingly.

That is correct. From what I know of the situation that is the plan, but the fusion and mustang will continue to share a line, and the Continental and Taurus will use that second line.

Once again, regarding FRAP, the Mustang is NOT built on its own line. Again NOT built on its own line.

hahahahah because THAT is going to end well

This is probably the hold up. If they are waiting for the new contract, the earliest production will start could be October. The new contract summary should give some idea to future products and where they will be built, it was with the current contract. MKC being built at Louisville was indicated in the current contract way back in 2011.

Because this is GM and finding logic in some of their decisions is more often than not impossible

I think he's saying if the Taurus moves to CD4 for North America, then it doesn't make sense for the NA version to be different from the Chinese version.