The Flex was low volume, it was a great product and I was said to see them go when we stopped building them. To be honest I’m surprised the Flex lasted as long as it did. I know it was extremely popular in California but due to the low volume we knew it wasn’t gonna last.  

Exactly.  Car and Driver speculate/estimate it will start significantly higher than present Leaf.  To go considerably cheaper (lower cost than 2025 model) would likely require a much smaller vehicle.  Apparently Nissan decided to take Leaf more upmarket, not down.  Perhaps that will leave more room under Leaf for a cheaper City Car model similar to Fiat 500e in size; though that doesn’t seem likely to me.   https://www.caranddriver.com/nissan/leaf-2026    

Hi. Actual electrician here. This in no way stupid. The code exists for a reason, and believe me I’m a big less regulations are better kind of guy.    Even if it’s a 30 amp charger there’s still a lot to consider when deciding on wire size and length, whether or not to you want to backfeed to the panel in the event of a power outage and in that case if you do a transfer switch will be required by the utility (and code, it’s treated similar to a generator). This is not something the average DIY hack should ever consider doing. 

If Americans are indeed against that “tweener space”, wouldn’t that also exclude a Maverick-size van given they are all in that +/- 200-inch-long length, whether cargo or passenger?  As a longtime van owner, both full size and minivan, I think the largest possible van that can still be parked in a standard home garage would appeal to many buyers. Ease of maneuvering into standard parking space also helps. Custom is best selling van in Europe for a reason and I expect it would do well as both cargo and 7-seater passenger in NA as well.  In Europe it may go up to 9 passengers — not sure.  Speculative renderings of Maverick crossover above look like a tall station wagon to me, and not particularly great looking.  Getting to third row could be a hassle, which is why I don’t like compact 3-row vehicles.  IMO 3 rows need to be large vehicles, or else go to more-efficient van design.  Getting to 3rd row in my Odyssey was 10 times easier than in my cousin’s Acura MDX.  Night and day different, yet both vehicles were similar in overall size.

If I had to get a BL Nautilus, currently neither color would do. I don't care for red interiors, nor light beige/white interiors.  Granted, I like how it looks, I can't live with it.  I'm curious about this "Aurora" combination, I do like blue...Although they do make a Blue/Black interior for the regular Nautilus which I actually like.

I had to look up "marquetry" as that word is out of my Ikea vocabulary.   marquetry noun mar·que·try ˈmär-kə-trē  variants or less commonly marqueterie : decorative work in which elaborate patterns are formed by the insertion of pieces of material (such as wood, shell, or ivory) into a wood veneer that is then applied to a surface (as of a piece of furniture)  

I think if a CUV was built off of the Maverick, it would be just a narrower, fwd/awd unibody Explorer. We had a 2015 Flex SEL; one of Ford's all time best values for the money. At lease end, we bought a 2018 Escape because we felt we didn't need that much room, regret that now. the Escape has a choppy ride and sub par ergonomics compared to our '09 Mariner IMO, and not much better fuel economy than our 3.8l Flex did. We bought an Explorer to replace the Mariner, but definitely would have bought a Flex or maybe Tourneo if they were offered. CD6 is good bones.

Ford should not have not given up on Flex. As usual, Ford had a good idea but they didn't stick with it.    Maverick SUV is Bronco Sport... They are build on the same platform, in the same factory, on the same assembly line. If Ford wanted to sell a 7 seat version, they will just stretch the Bronco Sport rather than try it with Maverick.   But anyway, there is no market demand for compact 7 seat CUV, at least in North America. Several brands (Rav4, Rogue, Tiguan, Santa Fe when it was still a compact) have tried it and they've all got rid of that options fairly quickly. Since we don't have any weight/engine size/CO2 based annual taxes, people who need occasional use of 3rd row can just get a midsize or large CUV that are better at carrying 7 people. 

We loved our Flex as well.  137k mostly trouble free miles.  We were just discussing this weekend whether we would have bought another if they had updated it.