theoldwizard1

The one potential advantage for regional fleets, if they are willing to spend the money, is a potential reduction in manpower. Imagine a fleet of 50 Class 7 trucks. They all need their fuel tanks topped off every night or the drivers will have to wait at the fuel pump in the AM. While it would be expensive, individual fuel stations at each parking position is feasible for CNG. Hook up at the end of shift. Ready to go in the AM !

Is the Maverick going to be marketed to the rest of the world, even in diesel or petrol only ? With a low base price, it will fill the role of the old Ranger plus fleets will love the fuel economy !

CNG is illogical for any "long haul" application. The tanks would be ENORMOUS ! UPS is still using LNG in a few Class 8/long haul applications. I would love to see the business rational.

Ford and others have done research into this, and yes it does work, but the cost of a secondary injection system is high. Plus, there is a lot of resistance from customers for having to use 2 different fuels. Last, E85 is still an orphan. Besides being made from a food crop, it requires a lot of water. Worst of all, it must be transported by truck or rail greatly increasing it final cost. IMHO, E85 is a pure government subsidy aimed at the farmers but the distillers are making most of the profit. Car manufacturers woud scream if they dropped the credits for E85.

I worked in the CNG conversion industry for a ver short time. It looked very promising then until fracking was applied to oil wells and the price of gasoline dropped. The biggest problem for light duty (including pickups and cars) is the size, cost and weight of the CNG tank. There was development at the time to make fiberglass tanks wrapped in carbon fiber. That would have reduced the weight and, if the volume was high enough, the cost would be more reasonable. LPG is still a reasonable alternative for large fleets that have their own storage and filling capability. They can negotiate good pricing on the fuel. LNG still makes no sense to me. All of the costs of CNG, plus additional cost for the LNG plumbing.

I don't want to spend a long time studying the Order Guides. For someone who has, how about and "executive summary" of changes on the F250 XLT and Lariat compared to the 2021.

The "true" Medium Duty buyers don't want DI or twin turbos. Just extra money and more things that can break. K.I.S.S.

Same person

So ... If Ford is actually working on a twin turbo version of the Godzilla with massive HP, do anyone think it might show up in a Medium Duty ? To be practical, it would have to be coupled with a wide ratio 10 speed transmission. The new 10R does not seem to be up to the task ! Online, I have not seen the 10R paired with the 7.3L gas except in the F600. F650 and F750 seem to only be available with the 6R.

I was working in R&E when Jacques Nassar announced that they were selling HD Truck. "We can make more money by just putting that money in the bank and collecting interest !" Same guy who started the Premier Auto Group (Aston Martin, Jaguar, Land Rover and Lincoln. Only Lincoln is left under the Blue Oval) and bought and sold Kwik Fit in less than 2 years (banks made $1M on each end of that "experiment".

They don't have a transmission that will hold it !

Likely Global Foundry has NOT been pouring millions in to upgrading their manufacturing technology. I suspect one of the next big issues will be the supply of silicon wafers. Not sure if the fans make their own or buy them from a supplier.

No ! It will take close to 2 full years to go from a brown field site to a state of the art IC chip manufacturing facility. Then they can start the ramp up which could take another year.

Just the opposite of kanban.

Ford does not MANUFACTURE any electronics. At best they woul purchase a few months worth of chips and gave them stockpiled at the facility that does the manufacturing. As for switching suppliers of chips it has its own perils. Long ago when Ford did make their own electronics, purchasing switched supplier to a different company just before production. This was on a module that controlled the ride height of some Lincoln vehicles. Long story short, the part was not identical in all operating conditions costing Ford millions of dollars in burnt up cars and garages.

Clearly sales of chip go to members of the Soho Shosha. When EFI started showing up in high volume in the 1980s, Nippon Denso, was THE major supplier of components. Anyone outside of that "family" simply could not buy from them.

I am still waiting for a reasonable answer to why the 6R140 is still being used in so many medium duty application ! I also don't understand the low power ratings of the 7.3L in the E-Series. Last, I keep hoping Ford will pull it's head out of it butt and make some much needed charges to the T-Series. I think a T450 would sell if it had a better rear axle (duals outside the box like on F-Series and better brakes) ! Clearly it needs a chassis to carry a heavier load and tow more. Also, where is the Titanium version of the T150 ?

The supply chain is very different in Japan. Ford has very little leverage to get their module suppliers to spending big $$$ on inventory for chips that may never get used !

I think that is optimistic ! It could easily continue through 2022 with spot shortages into 2023 and beyond !

Ford got out of the electronics business when they spun off Viteon. I don't know how much pressure they can really put on their module suppliers to change designs, especially if it means changing software also (most software is just "spec'd" to the module suppliers. Who knows who actually writes it).

Ford had at least one office set up "the new way". I don't recall any current white collar employees who said they liked it. Some people actually came in early, grabbed their stuff and moved to mini-conference room for the day, every day ! Mid level management was very unhappy because they did not have an office where they could have a private conversation. Grass, trees and bike paths don't look very nice in winter in MI!

Yes, that is the "party line". I don't buy it. I have worked in some terrible working conditions (for engineers). No question it needs to be upgraded, but I doubt that it really will attract "the best and the brightest" !

At the start of the Great Recession, Ford (the automotive portion) still owned much of the real estate in the corporate portfolio. I don't know who advised Bill Ford, but over a few years most (all ?) of it was transferred to Ford Land. Ford Land could be easily split off and the car company sold if things got really bad and the Ford Family would still have a nest egg/income stream. Unquestionably the R&E center needed some major upgrades, but I question the "scorched earth" strategy of tearing everything (except FRIC) down and building new. Yes, it will be "green" inside and out (greatly reducing the "cost of operation") but I doubt that landscapes and bike paths are going to attract the the "best and brightest" engineering minds to the gray, cold winters of the Midwest ! I'm don't fully understand the "Brownfield TIF" even after your explanation. I haven't been by Michigan Central in over 2 years, but it can never be a commercial success without tenants and clients/customers. Both require PARKING, which is current non-existent ! Kudos to the company for building TWO new data centers ! Someone understands how valuable DATA is these days !!

Ford Land is selling "Rotunda Fields". (Story in Detroit Free Press, but I can't get the link to work). Rumor is, other holdings will also be for sale. I keep wondering where they were getting the money to rebuild R&E and Michigan Depot.

Ford does not manufacture any electronics. Chip shortages have to be handled by the companies that actually build the electronics, potentially dozens of different companies.