Europe might not want what Ford of America does best, but what Ford of Europe does best is hot hatches. Most of Ford's genuine hot hatch efforts have become incredibly iconic throughout much of Europe, they're arguably as much of a part of Ford's DNA as the mustang and trucks are to Ford of N. America. They might not sell half a million units a year, but they still sold in the thousands, often in 5 digits annually  just for the st line alone.    That was a part of Ford's brand, what made them so iconic in the first place, and they turned their back on it. There's no reason a hot hatch based on CE1 with tons of shared parts couldn't be profitable, especially if they were selling in the 30s or above. If done right, a product like that would boost Ford's profits, and held their backsliding reputation in the region. When perception of your brand starts to skew negative, going back to what people loved you in the first place isn't the worst strategy you can lean into.    People told Ford they'd struggle in Europe if they threw out their hatchbacks. They threw out their hatchbacks, and now we're hearing how much they're struggling. Now's the time to reverse that decision.   

You have been rather negative towards Ford the last year or so, especially when it comes to EVs. It has gotten tiresome at times.

They claim that charging stations have come online, but I don’t see any evidence that they came online because of the billions of dollars spent by the Feds. Back in March, the Washington Post reported that the Feds had spent over $7B to open a grand total of seven charging stations in two years, so I have a hard time believing that the Feds opened 12,000 charging stations since then. 

Maybe Mexico???

Maybe that’s exactly fly what they will do, time will tell.

The problem is Europe doesn’t want what Ford does best (at least not at high volumes) and what Europe wants isn’t profitable for Ford for a lot of reasons.  They either remain a niche player or they have to develop lower cost vehicles that can be sold profitably.

Maybe the lackluster reception of Capri and explorer will convince them to change their approach moving forward, just like Ford's design studio seems to have altered they perspective following the three row disaster. 

Ford needs to develop BEV pickups because that’s what they do best and you need a dedicated plant to be efficient.  If they can get a couple of other products there it’ll be a good investment.  Not having enough usable factory capacity has been a big problem for Ford the last 20 years.

Meanwhile, the brands that are putting actual effort into their exciting EVs and other products seem to have a lot of hype around them. That upcoming twingo concept for instance has a lot of buzz around it. Because they didn't spit in the fact of the original car, they simply made a new one that upheld the character and style of the original, that really is all it takes a lot of the time.    Ford's strategy is good, but the execution hasn't been great. They're trying to appeal more to the enthusiasts crowd while making choices guaranteed to piss off the enthusiasts crowd. If you're telling me you're gonna build really cool shit, then build really cool shit, share the same EV platform to optimize costs and maximize profitability, and give us a retread of Ford's greatest hits. Skateboard platforms offer so much flexibility, Toyota showed off a Lexus, that MR2 concept thing, and a compact crossover, all using the same platform, if Toyota can do it, so can Ford.   Don't give us a shitty crossover named after an iconic car and then pretend like this new crossover is iconic because of it. It's starting to really damage their reputation. 

This is what I would do.   Declare that known defects or potential problems must be reported up the chain as soon as they are known.  Hiding or failing to report an issue is grounds for dismissal and that goes for executives as well.  If your boss tries to ignore or hide something you’re required to escalate it.   Make 20% of management pay discretionary with a range of 0-150% based on these KPIs:   warranty costs as a percentage of revenue - 60% profit margin percentage - 20% (vary by division) customer satisfaction- 20%   I would phase in the targets based on where they are at today with significant improvement expected each year until final targets are reached.     This works if you’re willing to hold people accountable and get rid of the ones who act in their own best interest first.  I’ve seen it.  I’ve escalated known problems and was rewarded for it while who waited to report it got dinged.  But that has to come from Farley and the entire executive team.