rperez817

As of now, it looks like the American car companies (the big 3 of GM, Tesla, and Ford, plus Rivian, Lordstown Motors and other U.S. based EV startups) are in the lead for the BEV market in the U.S. But the Europeans (Daimler, BMW, VW, Stellantis) and Chinese appear to be strong competitors. South Koreans are making an effort, Japanese not as much.

Ford couldn't cut costs as aggressively on those two vehicles, which are global products in very competitive segments, compared to what they could do with F-Series SD.

A properly designed amplified AM/FM radio antenna that integrates into a sharkfin setup will provide better S/N compared to a whip antenna, but the components are much more expensive.

Why is F-Series SD "highest profit"? Because Ford aggressively keeps product development and manufacturing costs low and selling prices high on that product. The only reason Ford still uses an old fashioned whip antenna for F-Series is that it's cheap compared to alternative designs. That's all there is to it.

Cravenspeed seems to have a good reputation for its stubby antenna replacement. Bullet Style Stubby Antenna for 2009-2021 Ford F-150 (cravenspeed.com)

Cost. An external, fender/mast mounted whip antenna is much cheaper for Ford than more modern designs such as sharkfin on the top of the cab, or window integrated. Among full size HD pickup trucks, only the latest generation Ram Heavy Duty has done away with the fender mounted whip antenna. Ram uses a sharkfin design that combines the antennas for AM/FM radio, satellite radio, and telematics.

GM is accelerating its timeframe to release production ready Cadillac Lyriq. Hence the new battery plant in Tennessee. According to LMC, it will come out next March. Busy Launch Sked at GM’s Factory Zero, LMC Reports | WardsAuto

BlueCruise is a great opportunity for Ford to gather real world data to help them deploy Level 5 full autonomous driving systems in the future.

Thank you GearheadGrrrl ma'am. Hopefully, the executives at Harley-Davidson that killed Buell, and the executives at Ford who failed to bring the T6 Ranger to the U.S. market immediately after end of production for 3rd gen Ranger, are long gone. Good news is that both Buell and U.S. market Ford Ranger are back, though the new Buell Motorcycles U.S.A. company is not affiliated with Harley-Davidson.

LMC Automotive reports that Hummer EV production plans are ahead of the original schedule. Busy Launch Sked at GM’s Factory Zero, LMC Reports | WardsAuto

Good discussion topic, thank you Anthony sir. As a 2019 Ford Ranger owner also, everything that you mentioned matches with what I've seen in the pickup truck market. I'm not selling the Ranger though, as it's an essential tool for my family's lawn care and landscaping business. And business so far this spring is the best it's ever been for us!

Government of Dubai announced today an agreement with General Motors/Cruise to deploy Origin AVs in that emirate. First for testing, eventually for commercial deployment. Hamdan bin Mohammed attends signing of agreement between RTA and Cruise to operate self-driving taxis and ride-hailing services in Dubai (mediaoffice.ae)

Good suggestion fuzzymoomoo sir. One thing that Farley can be praised for right away is his commitment to continue and complete the "fitness" initiatives that Hackett started. The transition from Hackett's retirement to Farley's new role has been very smooth by Ford standards.

Maybe Merkur could be considered a sub-brand of Lincoln-Mercury? 😀

Good article, thanks for sharing Broncofan7 sir. Ford has always had some of the slickest, most clever marketers in the automotive industry. Expansion of sub-brands as mentioned in the article is brilliant.