Gurgeh

Reminds me of when airlines started charging customers to check bags. In response, a lot of customers started going with just what they could fit in the overhead bin. Some airlines then started charging for carry-ons too.

You can increase the middle screen's brightness. Go to settings and display. I think it is the top option. I typically find that problem at night.

Hope it gets here earlier rather than later, as I have a road trip planned to start the end of May.

But with 25% tariffs on Chinese assembled vehicles, would Ford make any profit? Probably not. As I've said before, I doubt they are making much profit at all from Nautilus imports, that the decision was more to protect the Lincoln brand which otherwise would have shrunk to just a 3-vehicle line-up. For that reason it might make sense to try out importing the Zephr, to give Lincoln 5 vehicles and an actual luxury sedan (might only be temporary, though, if it doesn't sell any better than the briefly-revived Continental), but bringing in the Mondeo/Taurus through those tariffs would almost certainly be a big money loser.

Pull over and put it in carwash mode. Quick!

As others have noted, Ford still makes the Edge in China for the Chinese market. Could they export that still-in-production Edge to North America as they are doing with the Nautilus, which Ford redesigned and initially planned to continue with just for the Chinese market? Technically, they could, but there are two problems. First, unlike the Nautilus which, in its redesigned format, fits well (in fact, extremely well, possibly better than the outgoing Nautilus) with the North American market, the newly-designed Edge for the Chinese market would likely not do well here. It is too big, approaching Explorer size, and many believe the look of its top hat wouldn't sell well. But second and maybe more important, Ford would likely lose money on each Edge imported. There's a 25% tariff on the import of vehicles made in China and the Edge doesn't have the price cushion of being a luxury automobile. Even so, I doubt Ford is making much on the import of the Lincoln Nautilus. They probably did a 180 on bringing it to the North American market mainly to protect the Lincoln brand (from time to time Ford actually seems to care about that) by keeping Lincoln's line-up from dropping down to a measly 3 vehicles. Lincoln has a more robust presence in China, which many now see as Lincoln's main market. They have 5 vehicles there, including a mid-sized sedan, the Zephr.

Ah my mistake.

I doubt it, but one of us will be right. As for opposition to fracking, just Google "opposition to fracking 2024" and a long list of articles appear about all the folks who are successfully opposing it from California, to New York, to Colorado, to the national moratorium on new fracking operations placed a few years ago on federal lands.

Also massive Chinese government subsidies throughout the EV ecosystem -- from mining, to refining, to processing, to components, to production. It isn't just batteries that China now dominates. It is pretty much everything. It will be difficult for the U.S. to duplicate that due to our own policy choices. For instance, because of environmentalist opposition -- the same folks that want us to go 100% electric ASAP -- it is almost impossible to open any new mining operation in the United States. The government just canceled a new copper mine (which would have given the country a whopping two) in Alaska that was already permitted due to enviro opposition. The U.S. has extensive rare earth resources (along with significant deposits of other relevant metals and minerals), but we just can't get to them.

There almost was a Ford version -- but it would have been a Lincoln.

Just a reminder that lately Lincoln has been putting out arguably the best interiors in the luxury space. Particularly not a surprise with the new 2024 Nautilus: ---------------- “From the moment you enter, when the Nautilus’ sweeping pillar-to-pillar screen comes to life, it’s obvious this is unlike any other production vehicle you’ve ever seen,” said WardsAuto judge David Zoia. “But it doesn’t stop there. A gorgeous color scheme, top-notch materials and well-thought-out features make the Nautilus the complete package – and a Wards 10 Best Interiors & UX winner.” “The Lincoln Nautilus is literally on the leading edge of vehicle cockpit design. Its impressive pillar-to-pillar screen is pushed far forward on the instrument panel so all necessary information can be seen without taking eyes off the road,” added fellow judge Drew Winter. https://fordauthority.com/2024/04/2024-lincoln-nautilus-among-wards-10-best-interior-winners/

There's a long back-story to this, as I recall. In Germany industrial unions sit on company boards. VWs German union didn't like the opening of U.S. plant because they saw it as taking work away from their German union members and pushed for VW to invite in the UAW (which they did, even pre-negotiating with the UAW a sweetheart deal) for the purpose of making the American plant less competitive with its German counterparts. Even with this unusual circumstance, the union vote still lost. Twice. Looks like VW and the German unions finally got their wish.

Warning: don't wash your oh-so-rugged CT in the sun, or you might void your warrenty!

EU authorities are also reacting to the many billions of dollars in Chinese government subsidies that have gone into BYD and every other part of the Chinese EV industry. They only like that sort of thing when it is Airbus.

The sad thing is that since 2020 inflation in the United States has gone up 20% overall. As shocking as the 11% increase in MSRP in just the last few years, it is actually running below overall inflation in the economy. https://lao.ca.gov/LAOEconTax/Article/Detail/766#:~:text=Prices have grown by 20,energy prices the most volatile&text=Prices based on CPI-U.