He’s just mad that buyers moved away from small cars which he loves so he’s decided the government and the big bad corporations have conspired to force Americans to buy crossovers, SUVs and trucks.  He completely ignores that American buyers WANT utilities and trucks and the only reason 90% of buyers chose small cars was because it was the cheapest vehicle.   Nissan bypassed the chicken tax by building trucks here and even with bargain basement pricing couldn’t make a dent in ford, GM and Ram sales.  Toyota had more success with Tacoma but Tundra didn’t move the needle either.

Yes, I’ve said many times when they chose the European cd4 and c1 platforms it was the wrong choice and should have e stuck with the Mazda platforms.  My cd4 fusion was a great vehicle but it was heavy and expensive and complicated compared to cd3.  They corrected that - at least to some extent - with C2.  Ditching the V6 support e.g.

I think the thing that hurt Ford partly was being hellbent on implementing Ford One to a point-moving volume products to the CD1 and C1 platform seems like it hurt products more then it helped them. The Fusion and Escape where both on Mazda platforms that where presumably cheaper or better suited to the NA market pricing structure.  I guess Ford corrected the C1 cost issues post 2020 with the Escape redesign and releasing the Bronco Sport and Maverick a few years later, because they are at least profitable for Ford.  

No - it won't work.

Any reputable transmission shop should be your best bet. 

Nope

Actually you’re both right.  The platform was too expensive to make money competing in that market.  It doesn’t matter if you have a better design or better features or better performance.  Majority of buyers aren’t willing to pay a premium.   What you’re talking about is a performance sedan that can command higher prices and therefore profits, but that’s a much lower volume product which is different than a mid sized family sedans.  In the world of toasters price is king.

I agree, I personally view this a "Let's get the volume sellers out the door and see how they do, and then move into the fun stuff" kind of vehicle. A combination of aspirational halo models to give the tech and platform appeal, and more practical volume sellers would be the best mix imo.    I will say this platform is far more performance oriented than many of us thought it would be, so that gives Ford a lot of possibilities in what sorts of products they want to offer. 

Unfortunately, I think that kind of vehicle is seen as “nice to have” but not essential. Its kind of the same sort of thinking that GM adopted with the Alpha platform  and Cadillac CT4 and CT5 vehicles, they cost a lot to develop, unsure of recovery.

Couldn't agree more. A new sedan with a more compelling design, and overall package would really give Ford something unique, and relying very heavily on platform sharing should in theory resolve the profitability issues Ford's previous sedans and hatchbacks had.