Hypocrite is damn right. Here's what Ol' Billy Boy said about GM's lobbying efforts to stall or slow down the opening of Ford BlueOval Battery Park Michigan:   “We do know that others in our industry are trying to submarine it to hurt us,” Ford Executive Chairman Bill Ford said. “That’s just sour grapes, frankly.” Ford stopped short of naming names, but four people familiar with the matter told Automotive News affiliate Crain’s Detroit Business that GM is behind lobbying efforts.

Congratulations! I have about 62k on my 2022 Lightning. Best pickup truck I've ever had. It's going to be towing our powerboat to Monroe Lake this weekend. 😎

It does if you’re Ford, they went in boots and all with BOC as it was their way of going head to head with GM’s 100% BEV plan REVC is way under capacity making current Lightning and an evolved version for the next three years makes sense     Seemed like a good idea at the time but it takes a lot of  convincing otherwise before someone like Ford should  either give up or delay their major survival plan.   I wonder if the image in the opening post is a EREV mule…

I think the consensus is that Ford just didn’t compete for this contract, which is a damn shame, considering they had a suitable product for it. As a corporation, I would’ve viewed it as a point of pride to have one of my vehicles represented in the US military, but they must not see it the same way. 

Not to mention we've spoken how an unconventional design could work on a small truck if it's well executed. Something with a coupe shape like a new ranchero, something with the style of a sporty car, and the practicality of a truck, that wouldn't appeal to everyone, but I would be all over it.    It wouldn't necessarily need to be something that looks like a muscle car truck even thought that would be awesome, you could interpret this concept in a variety of different ways. It would be kinda badass if they designed something with a shorter hood, if they pulled inspiration almost from mid-engine supercars. I know that would be insanely unconventional, but I would love it, something low and exotic looking, no-ones ever seen a truck like that, but I believe if Ford came out with an affordable EV truck which is already an appealing idea by itself, and then it had seductive sports coupe like styling on top of that, that would be neat. Almost like 2/3 cars in 1, and affordable EV, a pickup, and something that looks like the car of your dreams.    It would alienate people who just want a truck to look like a truck, but Ford has those buyers covered with all the other conservative looking trucks they offer. There's no shortage of traditional 3 box Ford truck designs sold in a super wide range of sizes, price points, and powertrains, if Ford's gonna keep adding more and more trucks to their lineup, I kinda want to see something bold no one else has tried before. 

If they're that concerned about it, they could've put out a concept to gauge reaction.  I wouldn't be surprised if they did that Monday, but at the same time, you're getting pretty close (development timeline-wise) to launch to make wholesale changes if the designs are panned.

Hypocritical GM To Follow Ford, Import CATL Batteries From China   As Ford Authority reported back in June, Blue Oval Executive Chairman Bill Ford touched on a report that the company’s cross-town rival – General Motors – was behind lobbying efforts intended to place tougher rules on “foreign entities of concern,” as well as targeting licensing agreements such as the one The Blue Oval has in place with Chinese battery maker CATL. Ford is indeed licensing technology from CATL to build its own lithium-iron phosphate (LFP) batteries in Michigan, but now, GM is apparently playing the hypocrite by importing batteries from the same company from China, too. According to GM Authority, The General now plans to import LFP batteries from CATL “as a temporary stopgap measure” as the automaker works to build those types of batteries itself in Tennessee starting in 2027. “For several years, other U.S. automakers have depended on foreign suppliers for LFP battery sourcing and licensing. To stay competitive, GM will temporarily source these packs from similar suppliers to power our most affordable EV model,” the company said in a statement.

This was the last Toyota unibody "truck"     But Toyota did make unibody compact trucks for a long time - the subcompact Publica truck lasted 2 different generations and was made from 1960s to 1988. The compact Corona truck also went 2 generations and was replaced by Toyota Stout which became Hilux.                 There was also Toyota Crown pickup which also went multiple generations... another car-based truck but Crown was body on frame so not unibody.

Not really a reskin... just new bumpers. It's a minimal update on the exterior but new batteries and as you noted, new NACS charge port. 

The electric van is targeting the same market as Ford's upcoming CE1 van - aimed at the rideshare networks that are set to buy as many as a million units in the next decade.    The front runner so far is Geely which has a contract with Waymo. VW is also in the running which has a contract with Uber. But both of those contacts are now under a lot of pressure because of tariff on imported vehicles from China and EU (especially China).    This is a huge opportunity for Ford and GM. Ford is well positioned because it already sell lots of vans and there is lots of expertise inhouse. GM needs a partner which is why Hyundai entered the picture.    The South America collaboration is also interesting. Hyundai is quite aggressive in Brazil but only has limited range of models. GM is relying on its China operation to supply new models for its South America operation (e.g. new Spark, Tracker, Captiva are all SAIC-GM designs or imports) but looks like it will now rely on Hyundai. This has long term implications on GM's presence in China and its relationship with SAIC.