Bob Rosadini

Wonder what this means as far as Fiat Powertrain or whatever they call the engine business. And what does this mean to Ford Otosan??

But at what cost? And to how many people? The big winner if it happened? Probably MultiMatic😎

Well an article last week in WSJ was entitled; "Detroit Quickly Pivots as America Rediscovers Love for Gas Guzzlers". In that article Mr. Farley goes on to say..."This is a multibillion dollar opportunity over the next couple of years". The article goes on to say Farley said to analysts...Ford was scaling back EV plans and looking to leverage demand for its big SUVs and commercial trucks. Really? And in the last day or two I've heard/read of his new plans to consider an off road supertruck! Not being content to pour money into Formula One, Mr Farley looks like he has another-at least in my opinion- desire for speed by dumping money into another pet project- or rabbit hole! All this while claiming commercial vehicles are a priority. Or does Mr. Farley think "commercial trucks" is limited to Transits?? If so Mr Farley, please spend a few bucks to engineer an air compressor into gas powered 650/750 so you can continue to sell some medium duties on the west coast, as well as offering buyers in the rest of the country, the lowest cost medium duty conventional truck with gasoline/LPG capability with air brakes. Now to beat others to the punch, no, such a Ford may be less attractive to an International or a Paccar in the same weight classes, but to a large number of buyers where the truck is a necessary vehicle to their primary business as opposed to it being the primary reason for their business, such a Ford would own that portion of the market IMO.

Plus I do believe there are hundreds of them in storage someplace-or so it seems I saw a video of that. Now if the intent is to have a vehicle to run around in duty at base or non-combat roles but seems like a total non combat mission.

For sure, but I would think an F-600 would be a better choice..22,000 GVW versus a 19,500 F-550. And I think the difference between the two is spring and tire ratings??

Huh? This is an apples and oranges comparison. And first and foremost in my mind, if this "pick up truck" is only 80 grand cheaper than a Humvee, GM has to be making a killing. The only thing that comes to my mind is the "technicals" that so many 3rd world armies use..a toyota pick up with a pedestal mounted automatic weapon of some sort in the bed.🤔

,Well I don't want to be banned but first thought was two stars for DEI..Female and of color. Second thought a clueless top side job hopping "Leader". some facts; In terms of education....BS in Chem Engineering, Northwestern, MS Engineering Science, RPI-one top engineering schools! MBA Indiana. She was first female plant mgr. at GM Had a lot of "people type" roles at GM Executive VP of Global Manufacturing at GM.. have to believe a huge job. then a couple of jobs at Amazon..system type issues I would say. Currently at Alto Pharmacy, a 1200 employee co. Sounds to me like she needed a break from pressures of high level of corporate life. I think of Ford Pro as a side of Ford that is heavy into the commercial logistics world. As key as that business is to Ford's profitablity, I would like to see someone who had a lot of relevant experience in that world but I guess Mr Farley subscribes to ..."a manager is a manager, forget about the details." Hopefully she will do well.

Any Automotive News subscribers out there with the story? KSC?

Guys, Back to the Ford with snorkel, check You Tube.. Ch1-Chicago Fire Dept & the Snorkel (circ 1965) All about the Chicago chief who started the use of "snorkels." You will see several shots of F models with snorkels and for sure one clearly shows an F-model "Super Duty"-850 or 950...also a lot of others. Interesting this chief borrowed a bucket truck from a tree outfit and experimented with it with a hose in the bucket. That was the start. Safe to say, looks like telescopic ladders have taken place of "snorkels" as we know them?????

On another note I did another Google earth of Avon Lake to see if there were any notable inventory changes. One thing I noted- a lot of what appeared to be complete cabs sitting in "finished" parking. Again, just cabs, no chassis. First thought was they were going to specialty builders like guys who do Airport vans but then again you would think they would get a complete chassis. Any opinions??

Correct...can't see the hood if it has an air scoop but for sure an F-800 or a Super Duty-850 or 950..would have thought it would have had a heavier front axle though. Chicago FD was another big city department that used C-modelsa too.

Wow..if suppliers were allowed to sub out, that is a huge problem. I would hope Ford did due diligence when it came to picking a vendor..."what you see should be what you get". But good procedures costs money..for a supplier to cut corners unknown to Ford, unbelievable IMO.

If my memory serves me right, didn't Mulally have weekly meetings with key staff and status of prior meeting issues were reviewed? "What gets measured gets done" to use a worn out slogan. Anyone have an opinion of the recall history during his regime? Also my opinion, the difference when a guy with operations/engineering roots runs the show vs. a guy who got the job because he was a marketing "genius". Human nature IMO, a guy tends to concentrate on his area of expertise..no doubt Mulally and Farley came up via very different paths.

Bad enough that they want to expand this to PV's. I assume the Ford Pro guy is speaking to his responsibilities with commercial vehicles, even worse. My biggest fear, accident avoidance is not a black and white situation. I think I mentioned previously...a couple of people on the curb and a fire hydrant 5' away. Vehicle headed for me..avoidance says to me pick the hydrant as best I can. What does the automated vehicle select???

Could it be that the Escalade is a better looking vehicle-at least in my opinion.

Probably true as only trim is falling off an NOT the doors😎

And I thought "well these are mostly software issues". I guess this sets the record straight on that point. I wonder just what is the metric is that the board uses to set Mr. Farley's annual earnings???

thx-never thought of it from a manufacturing perspective. Got it..just thinking from an economy of scale I'm thinking those 4 bangers are a big number when you look at all the Fords using them-unlike my reference to the Yamaha in the SHO.

For sure! What current GM's share what with a 283,327,350? Think of what the new Vette powertrain must have cost..for one very unique market. Oh, education needed.. what does the 6.8/7.3 have in common with a 6.2?🤔

AK..Almost a billion to catch up to......? Something that Lawler thinks has no business as an inhouse product? Or I guess you can make the case that he is saying "we are done..going forward we can save by outsourcing any future developments.

Amazing huh? Apparently GM dropping almost a BILLION on a new V-8 says either Ford or GM is going to be a big loser. As to Ford's position as stated by John Lawler, at what point is Ford no longer a true manufacturer? One more thing for Toyota to add to ..."the best built vehicles last the longest",..."We take pride in insuring what we sell we build". And if we look at HD trucks..and I'm not talking about a 2500 Silverado or an F-250, as years ago when diesels took over the market, a buyer could chose from Cummins, Cat, or GM, or they could buy a Mack as Mack while offering those engines too, prided themselves on their in house complete proprietary power trains. But in terms of volume, far different from what Lawler is talking about. I can see unique vehicles with n outsourced engine- as in the Yamaha in the original SHO, but if we are talking about large numbers, what is the point of losing your identity? Another interesting thought....Mr Lawler thinks we should outsource engines while his boss thinks nothing of building a Formula 1 engine 🤔 Thought this old coin I have is a good example of Ford Pride:

TT, Thx, interesting that these guys have never encountered one of these before...then again they get a lot of commercial/farm equipment. And a lot of it in the "rode hard, put away wet" class-including high mileage foreign vehicles that I assume the current owners cannot afford taking to the dealer😎

HRG..thx..that had to be a good cost saver. I guess it makes no difference if it is upstream of muffler or down.