A lot of that was driven by detroit owning the market and having to pay UAW workers whether they were working or not (Jobs bank) and CAFE compliance.   It was good business to have lots of models and no foreign competition.  The Asians really changed the market as did stricter CAFE regulations.  Labor cost is better but volume without profit no longer works.

Unless you actually drive your car to work every day.  It can certainly help when combined with solar but not 90%.

The study probably does not factor in the reduced cycle life of the EV's battery as a result of it being used to power the house. LFP batteries would probably be the best chemistry for this type of usage.

This. And my suggestion of Ford cutting Production back to just F Series and a few other vehicles was to show in a hyperbolic way the kind of corporate thinking going on where the accumulation of Profit from a wider range of vehicles seems to be no longer valued.    

They certainly don't do proper risk assessment and mitigation.  They'll swing for the fences hoping for a 10% roi with no backup plan rather than settle for a solid double with 5% roi with a viable backup plan until you're sure it will succeed then go whole hog.

I’m convinced that Ford senior management don’t do proper risk assessment and planning. Everything seems ot be a binary choice, this or that when the real plan probably required a more balanced approach. Yes, Explore BEV options but don’t cripple ICE products and drive mor customers away.   One of the biggest blunders with BEV was assuming that lots of buyers would gladly pay premium prices for BEVs when they were still in the early adopter phase.   

Exactly, but you can blame Ford for how they went about it.  Not doing proper due diligence with Rivian, choosing ugly 3 row utilities over edge and nautilus, overbuilding BOC for T3......

Keeping the removable roof and doors would maximize shared parts.

Thanks, that's a great idea on the wrap.   I probably should have moved it to a more level spot before taking those photos. The auto leveling system does exaggerate the ride height issue from side-to-side a little. But, regardless, it is still way too high, especially in the rear.   Here's what came up when I did a Google AI search on adjusting the ride height:   Steps for Adjustment: Preparation: Turn off the air suspension switch in the trunk (passenger side). You can also disconnect the negative terminal on the battery. Rear Adjustment: Locate the sensor on the passenger side of the rear differential. Loosen the attaching nut and move the bracket up or down; moving the bracket one notch changes the height by approximately 1/4 inch. Front Adjustment: The front sensors have three preset positions (low, normal, high). To lower further, the mounting bracket can be modified, or the sensor arm angle adjusted. Finalization: Turn the switch back on, start the engine, and let the car cycle to settle. Important Notes: Do not work on the suspension with the air suspension switch ON, as it may cause the bags to over-inflate or deflate unexpectedly. Ensure the car is on level ground. For dramatic lowering, some owners use metal extensions to "trick" the sensors.   I also found a few really old posts in some old on-line forums where lowering was discussed. There's also a Facebook Mark VII group but I'm not a big fan. Too hard to find anything there IMO. I posted a photo of the car there several weeks ago and it's still pending approval. Kinda worthless if you ask me. I also found some stuff on youtube but nothing so far specifically about ride height adjustment. However, I did find a really detailed youtube video on air bag and shock replacement which did show the locations of the ride height sensors.

The changes that Ford made to Escape didn’t work and actually hurt sales  when their intent was to encourage Focus buyers to switch.   Switching to C2 was an obvious good move but Ford really messed up  with what customers want, perhaps that was intentional to make room  for the chunkier styled Bronco Sport. The problem was that markets outside of North America paid the price for those styling decision as Europe and ROW never got part B of the plan, the Bronco Sport