Next Generation Edge/Nautilus in doubt

[Oac98]

 

[paintguy]

Could you give us the Reader's Digest version? The link is to a paywall.

[Oac98]

https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2020/06/ford-edge-lincoln-nautilus-in-danger/

[Oac98]

I’m not surprised that all of a sudden they’re talking about getting rid of the edge and nautilus after 2023. It’s contract time, let the Sabre rattling begin. So now all of a sudden Oakville Assembly a 2 shift operation is in jeopardy??? I guess Buffalo Stamping Plant is too! I’ve worked at Oakville for over 20 years I’ve seen it all so I can’t say I’m surprised by this. 

[mackinaw]

As mentioned above, it's a contract year.  Autoline Daily speculates all this may be a bargaining chip.  Go to the 5'40" mark:

 

http://www.autoline.tv/journal/?p=68472

[bzcat]

Depends on how Fusion Active and midsize EV utility sales goes, Edge may become expandable. But I agree that this probably just contract talk posturing. 

 

With Chinese Nautilus production underway, Oakville is not particularly useful for Ford right now so they are going to drive a hard bargain with the Canadian union. Ford can easily supply all the export market Edge/Futura from China as well.

Edited June 15, 2020 by bzcat

[Oac98]

Agreed, it is most likely posturing. Lol our union don’t have much leverage. What hard bargain??? We don’t have 8 assembly plants to back us and all the other plants like the UAW. We’re the big little Canadian plant. We know we don’t have the leverage you UAW brothers have. We get slammed with covid in a contract year. I’LL be surprised is Ford gives us half the deal you guys got! 

[Oac98]

Is Oakville on 1 shift?? NO, i don’t think we’re in jeopardy just yet. If ford wants to screw us they will. Plain and simple. 

[PREMiERdrum]

Officially under review (as are many other projects) as the mid-range forecasting looks very different than it did 6 months ago. 

 

I don't think they're in much danger, but it's helpful to have this doubt in a contract year. 

[fuzzymoomoo]

46 minutes ago, Oacjay98 said:

I’m not surprised that all of a sudden they’re talking about getting rid of the edge and nautilus after 2023. It’s contract time, let the Sabre rattling begin. So now all of a sudden Oakville Assembly a 2 shift operation is in jeopardy??? I guess Buffalo Stamping Plant is too! I’ve worked at Oakville for over 20 years I’ve seen it all so I can’t say I’m surprised by this. 

Rumor is Buffalo was actually going to close (along with Romeo engine which actually is closing) but the union managed to talk the company into keeping it open. 

[Oac98]

On 6/15/2020 at 1:39 PM, fuzzymoomoo said:

Rumor is Buffalo was actually going to close (along with Romeo engine which actually is closing) but the union managed to talk the company into keeping it open. 

It’s gonna be interesting to see what the end result of this is. Hope it turns out to be good. Buffalo used to stamp for Ford St Thomas Assembly, now they’re gone so Oakville is the main customer. The bargaining up here is like this, we will move to flat rock if you don’t agree. We have other plants blah blah blah. Same crap different pile. I seen GM pull out of Oshawa gradually they went from 23000 to now some minimal stamping and mask making operation of just over 300 ppl. My point is if Ford wants to be here they will. Unifor cannot come with any hardline stance. They tried that crap and GM skipped town. GM CAMI in Ingersol Ontario went on strike for a month and  they threatened to leave. They got nowhere!! I highly doubt our union wants to try and go the hardball route. It will fail miserably! 

Edited July 29, 2020 by Oacjay98

[FordBuyer]

So whatever happened to the Edge Hybrid Ford talked about some years ago? And in central Florida the Edge and Nautilus are super popular with the oldsters. Take those away and dealers here would not be happy. Not everyone wants a pickup and sport coupe or offroad machine. Hard to keep up with the sales Ford throws away to other auto companies. Since Ford is down to SUV/CUV's only without sedans, not sure how you call this Ford segment "overcrowded." Seems pretty skimpy to me especially when you consider the slow selling, uncompetitive Ecosport. IMO, the Explorer Hybrid needs a stronger battery NOW, and a plugin Edge NOW.

[Oac98]

Thanks for fixing the headline of my post. I  hope Ford knows what they’re doing. Hope they got some great upcoming products because you’re getting rid of the fusion now potentially Edge and Nautilus. Those are all decent sellers. Hope this Fusion active crossover and whatever they bring are good products

[Trailhiker]

Make way for the Bronco Sport MAX plug-in Hybrid!!

[T-dubz]

35 minutes ago, Oacjay98 said:

Thanks for fixing the headline of my post. I  hope Ford knows what they’re doing. Hope they got some great upcoming products because you’re getting rid of the fusion now potentially Edge and Nautilus. Those are all decent sellers. Hope this Fusion active crossover and whatever they bring are good products

Edge and the fusion active would probably be the same size. If things got really bad, I could see one of them going, however I would assume it would be the fusion active and not the edge.

[ehaase]

With all due respect to the workers in Ontario, between Escape, Bronco, Bronco Sport, Explorer, Mach E, and the larger upcoming electric crossover, I can see the Edge and Nautilus being discontinued. 

[akirby]

Might be replaced with a similar product or moved to a different plant but not outright discontinued.

[jpd80]

The problem is not one of crowding, Edge and Nautilus with hybrid and PHEV would draw significant

sales away from Ford's new mid sized BEVs. It would have been smart to have  included the HEV and

PHEV on the new BEV platform and moved the conversation more towards range extender BEVs or

Ford's version of Voltec....,but knowing Ford they're not that smart, they've gone in boots and all with

BEV and painted themselves into a corner with an either/or choice.

 

[Kev-Mo]

It's not my style, but I see more and more of these Buick TourX around.  Seems to be aimed at the Euro sport wagons and becoming more of a choice for the non-look-alike upscale buyer.  Might make sense for Ford to do something here rather than CUV after CUV.

 

https://www.autoblog.com/2019/06/05/2019-buick-regal-tourx-sales/

[akirby]

26 minutes ago, jpd80 said:

The problem is not one of crowding, Edge and Nautilus with hybrid and PHEV would draw significant

sales away from Ford's new mid sized BEVs. It would have been smart to have  included the HEV and

PHEV on the new BEV platform and moved the conversation more towards range extender BEVs or

Ford's version of Voltec....,but knowing Ford they're not that smart, they've gone in boots and all with

BEV and painted themselves into a corner with an either/or choice.

 

 

Hard to do HEV and PHEV on a dedicated BEV platform.   I still think the BEVs will be low volume for a few years.  It would be short sighted to only do midsized 2 row BEVs at this point.

 

Do both and let the market dictate which way to go when.

[T-dubz]

10 minutes ago, Kev-Mo said:

It's not my style, but I see more and more of these Buick TourX around.  Seems to be aimed at the Euro sport wagons and becoming more of a choice for the non-look-alike upscale buyer.  Might make sense for Ford to do something here rather than CUV after CUV.

 

https://www.autoblog.com/2019/06/05/2019-buick-regal-tourx-sales/

the Buick Regal tourx was cancelled. 2020 is its last model year. It probably has big discounts on it which is why you are seeing it. Back in 2019, it had up to 8k in incentives.

[ehaase]

Regal only sold 1202 in the first quarter of this year.  Assuming 40% were Tour-X; can't see Ford wanting to invest in a competitor as much I wish that it had sold the Focus and Fusion wagons in the u.S. 

[Kev-Mo]

11 minutes ago, T-dubz said:

the Buick Regal tourx was cancelled. 2020 is its last model year. It probably has big discounts on it which is why you are seeing it. Back in 2019, it had up to 8k in incentives.

 

Makes sense - guess the Euro's have that niche nailed down until the Asians move in...

[jpd80]

42 minutes ago, akirby said:

 

Hard to do HEV and PHEV on a dedicated BEV platform.   

Yes but consider the genesis of Mustang Mach E from originally being developed from C-Max E and loosely evolved from C2 underpinnings, you’ll see where I’m going with this and transitional vehicles. The high series C2 PHEVs are example of this stowing larger battery packs beneath the floor and adding a second motor to power the rear wheels.

 

 Totally agree with your other point of offering widest range of choice and let buyers pick their own preference, maybe model selection evolves over time to full electric and range extended EV.

Edited June 15, 2020 by jpd80

[rmc523]

4 hours ago, PREMiERdrum said:

Officially under review (as are many other projects) as the mid-range forecasting looks very different than it did 6 months ago. 

 

I don't think they're in much danger, but it's helpful to have this doubt in a contract year. 

 

In my opinion, that'd be a short sighted move - let's say they do cut these because mid range forecasting looks bad right now - then in another year, the market recovers, now they're in the same position as say Fusion, where they'll have an old product because nothing was in the pipeline, and sales will dwindle because of that.