This is one of those "a long time ago" stories, but back in the 80's when Ford NA was hemorrhaging money, it was Ford Europe that bailed them out.

2022 Bronco Sport.  No harsh shifting issues with mine.  When you turn the knob it engages smoothly.  

YouTube   This is the video on how to use the "E-Latch" and what to do if you lose power.  Maybe I'm missing something, but it's pretty straight forward.

It's not mismanaged per se. It's just very difficult to turn an accounting profit as an US company operating in Europe because of the accounting rules on pension costs is different for US companies vs. the rest of the world. Pension (both Govt mandated or private) and other defined benefits plans are still very common in Europe where there is no 401K like savings plan.   I'm a bit skeptical that Ford will commit to building CE1 in Europe. There is spare capacity to build it in North America - Mexico and Canada has free trade agreement with EU which is why Ford was going to build GE2 there instead of US. And Ford hasn't said a peep about what it is doing in India... they are restarting production there but only for export - the obvious destination is EU.

I thought a manual backup was required inside on all cars?

It was a strange decision to not use Tremor from the start since Explorer had always used truck trim levels since inception.   e.g. XL, XLS, Sport, XLT, Eddie Bauer, King Ranch, Platinum etc. all were/are Ford truck trim levels

It seemed like an exercise in futility to throw different branding at the SUVs vs. the trucks.

So long, Timberline.....

Ford Explorer Tremor Officially Teased Ahead Of Reveal   Unlike older spy shots, it'll get the new front/rear end.  

Surprised it took this long.