Quite correct and as an example, Ecosport was last sold in 2022 with price range of $22K to $28K…… Today that would probably be $26K to $32K which is Compact prices.

A lot of the Ford lifers and other "average" employees are profoundly unproductive given the skunkworks newbies produce 20 times more per capita!   ...a team of roughly 500 employees, most of whom work out of a secretive office in Long Beach, California, geographically and organizationally removed from Ford’s Michigan operations. Field stressed the importance of identifying and attracting 20x contributors—individuals who produce 20 times more than an average employee—with many engineers hired from California tech companies such as Tesla, Rivian, and Apple, among others.

Nah, I don't think so. Ford is hiring for its BlueOval Battery Park Michigan plant, which will produce low (or lower) cost LFP batteries.  

I was talking to someone on the Ford Licensing side for the Mustang - Warner Bros. (owner of the Bullett name) has increased licensing fees to atmospheric levels.  The cost Warner Bros. presented to Ford is actually eye watering - way over and beyond what Ford paid to Shelby for the GT350 and GT500 names.

Apologies, I meant mid-cycle

What, Ford gave up on making low cost batteries?

Amen my friend! As I mentioned a couple months ago, wouldn't it be somethin' if in a few years the brand that's best known for bringing EV to the masses is Ford? Not Tesla, not GM, not BYD? And by the same token, wouldn't it be incredibly destructive to Ford's future (and incredibly sad) if this so called "Model T moment" fails?   At this point, the big shots at Ford that manage CE1 products and all of the components and production processes for Universal Electric Platform and Universal Electric Production System must embrace the philosophy of NASA Mission Control from the Apollo 13 era, which Gene Kranz made famous:  

Yea, no surprise the big shots at Stellantis have called it a day for PHEV. Beyond all the reliability issues that Texasota and Dequidre mentioned, the whole concept of a Plug In Hybrid that's ICE dominant (which is what the Pacifica Hybrid and the Jeep 4xe models are) ain't makin' much sense to customers or to manufacturers.   For ICE dominant vehicles, pure ICE and regular hybrid are best.  For Electric motor dominant vehicles, BEV is best, EREV is an OK alternative in some cases, FCEV ain't practical for U.S. consumers    

So tonight I was having dinner at an Oyster Bar watching a football game UM (my school) and Arizona... and in the commercials was some Mustang and my accountant eating with me tells me "Oh that's  Mustang Bullitt"... and I'm like "Hmm before my time, tell me more" and he went on and on" hes almost 70 and I'm like "Well I HEARD that Mustang will be bringing back an icon at the auto show...., I'm wondering if this State Farm commercial with a Bullitt is a hint"....

Edmunds.Com Meanwhile the Ranger ranked First in Edmunds, Midsize Truck Comparison. This are good conversations we are having btw....