CD6 came about because Ford wanted to leverage other longitude powertrain investment (mainly for F-150) for its large unibody vehicles. There was also CD6 Edge and CD6 Mustang planned, and possibly more (e.g. CD6 Taurus and Continental doesn't seem that far fetched if Flat Rock had been converted to build CD6). But at the end, there is no way Ford was going to retool Chicago, Oakville, and Flat Rock all to build CD6 so obviously those other projects didn't happen. But supposedly, CD6 Edge had completely design and engineering, just didn't proceed to prototyping.     

Given ExploreDude's post, CD6 is going to see more utilization.

But in every other business that's just called overhead and there aren't separate fees.  It's like going to a restaurant and being charged a separate dishwashing fee that wasn't part of the menu prices.  By making it a separate fee they don't have to include that in the advertised base price of the vehicle and unsuspecting buyers don't understand it's negotiable.

Wasn’t Farley the executive that was shocked they were going to call it Flex when he was hired? 

If you were to ask Ford before the launch of Bronco if it would be happy to trade 11,000/mth Ranger sales, I think we know the answer. Ranger being an international success means its Future does not hang on US sales, it’s basically money for jam incremental sales while Bronco is the main game for MAP. (I do like the idea of a Bronco pickup for US market but no idea what Ford’s plan is)

Not a good idea at the Aluminum plant that supplies Ford....

Good summary and thanks again for your work with monthly sales tables.   A sub 50,000 sales month for F Series would be concerning to Ford but that 172k inventory figure is on the lean side and probably suggests that Ford is pushing the most profitable sales mix it can do.   Probably a bit early to yell fire in terms of sales slow down but could become a real issue by Q2 (we’ll see)

@BenKohnen in your post, you state as follows;      It is not a tax collected by the State, it is a fee regulated by the State - I have told the dealership, if it isn't a tax, I am not paying it" - I don't care if the State regulates it, they can set the fee lower or include in their cost of doing business. Put in general, I will always negotiate every aspect of the sale including the ridiculous fees they want to charge for doing business with them. They will claim, "Bu..bu..but, we have to send someone to the DMV....blah, blah, blah" I tell them that I can go there just as easy for a helluva lot less than their stated "fee"...then I after that is taken care of...time to go and negotiate with the F&I guy over the interest rates, undercoat and paint protection packages, etc....I will ALWAYS negotiate and never just limply accept them as "a cost of doing business"...you want my business? Earn it!! 

No offense taken... been in this line of work long enough that I don't get offended by much.  I work for a very up-front dealership... but there's been a couple forays into the other side. They were very brief for me, I couldn't do some of what was required at those stores.   The CARS law that was actually passed but not implemented was intended to make buying a car much more transparent. I'm all for that. I suspect it would kill off the slimy dealers and the "I'm going to flip my tie over the numbers on the paperwork" sort of shady crap that used to be out there, and still is in some areas. The wording was a no-go, so last I heard it was getting some revisions before it really goes into effect. It would also legally prevent dealers from showing a vehicle at a price you can't actually buy it for because they're quoting A-Plan, plus stacking several incentive programs that don't combine, or incentives from other areas, etc. The number of ways to manipulate how a vehicle is advertised are awful. A level playing field would certainly help consumers, and clean up a lot of the add-on garbage.   In Wisconsin, we are in fact required to disclose on the vehicle and in advertising not only that we have a Doc Fee, but how much it is. Is it listed specifically as part of the price? No, it's listed on the Buyer's Guide on used, and adjacent to the window sticker on new, and at the bottom of every vehicle description page. I'd be totally fine having a requirement that the price had to show the Doc Fee online - it would make it easy to pick out who has a really high one.   Part of what I do is making sure we're compliant with the laws, and the intent of the laws. Any new vehicle incentives are what anyone in our ZIP code could walk in and get, nothing tied to any financing, affinity programs, plan prices, or specials that aren't sent to everyone. Certain things simply cannot be included, because they vary from buyer to buyer. What's your tax rate? Do you need new plates or are you transferring? Are you buying a hybrid or EV that changes the plate fee? Your address might as well, because of the variety of county and municipal wheel taxes. Are you adding anything to the vehicle? Do you have any special incentives?   On the topic of out the door disclosure, I do have and use a spreadsheet that does the math for me, and includes tax, title, license, and fees, as well as any rebates, accessories requested by the customer, discounts, and such. I go looking for ICI/Private Offers on every new car customer, because I want to get them every incentive I can. When the customer gets numbers from me, they're real world numbers, not "price + TTLF". We all know not every dealer is set up that way, which I find distasteful. Just being honest and up front is so much easier than trying to be sideways.

When you agree to the price of the car, that should include the doc fees.  I understand you have the cost of doing business, but include that in the car price.  Don't hit me with it later.  I always ask "is that the out the door price" when negotiating.  Then I'm covered on "you didn't say anything about doc fees" when we get ready to sign the paperwork.   I run a software consulting business.  I have to pay for my server, my invoicing system, my email, my domain name, etc.  Should I just tack on a fee to every invoice and call it "cost of doing business with you" fee?  No, I roll that into my rates.  It's BS, and it's just another reason dealerships are, for the most part, sleezy and why I would buy directly from Ford if I could.   No offense to you, of course.