Interesting article on the direction Volvo is going with PHEVs. The article describes how Volvo's approach is a conventional PHEV with a battery range competitive with an EREV. The efficiency penalty for an EREV (a series hybrid) at highway speed is too costly. This is the direction I think @jpd80was suggesting Ford may be going with theF-150.   https://insideevs.com/news/785349/second-generation-volvo-plug-in-hybrids-erevs/

If Farley says they’re prototype stage, it means that early tooling try outs are completed and castings are being produced - this is as much about the prototypes as it is about understanding each work stage and any problems that are occurring or likely to happen as speed increases.

Have you noticed a trend? Ford's and GM's biggest business will NOT be car manufacturing! As I stated somewhere else, a GM bigwig said in Automotive News 5 years ago, you won't recognize the auto industry in ten years. He even said there might not be a Ford or GM. They're going into battery storage, banking and other ventures. Ford needs to go further like into class 8, farm tractor (we all have to eat!), and school bus and fire truck manufacturing. Have you seen the cities filing lawsuits against what now are only three major fire truck mfrs.? $1 million for pumpers, $2 million for ladder trucks? It's a monopoly, extortion paid for by taxpayers! We had a 1970 American LaFrance ladder truck where I was a volunteer. Barebones, two outriggers, 100 foot ladder. Went for like $50,000.  No fancy cab with the gadgetry they have now that you could launch a missile from! The mfrs. are blaming supply chain shortages (hello, that's over with!) and increased costs of materials. But I don't care how much copper, diamond plate, steel, aluminum and hydraulics is in them, It's a friggin truck! It's like selling apples for $1 million each. All you have to do is sell one! Ford could make more money selling fire trucks than F-series! Come up with a new modernized C-series with the same styling cues and they'd take over the market!  Make locomotives!  I don't see how Ford can survive making just Class 1 thru 7 trucks, Mavericks, Explorers and Broncos.  How do you like dem apples?

Yeah you guys are right, my bad. Using the bronco as an example, the bronco mules were those hacked together ranger bodies on that really short wheelbase that looked terrible. The prototypes was the final bronco body design. Or when you have the mule for a mach-e that was an escape. 

They don’t want to undermine GTD which could happen with the high HP SC 5.2 (mindful that at some time we may see the 5.4 turn up - basically 5.2 with longer 3.8” stroke)

This is such an interesting project, the initial design and development was done by a skunkworks with Ford’s engineering team kept out of the loop.   At design lock-in, the whole lot was handed over to production planning and told, here make this work. I’d love to be a fly on the wall in those first few weeks. So with your background, imagine how the various players are organising without a conventional body shop for a start and then consider building a vehicle in three parts where all those work stations perform different duties, out of order to anything else. Much depends on those giant alloy castings produced correctly and that’s where Ford picks up time.    

Fake quad exhausts, and a really large hood scoop just for fun. 

She is big, bad, and beautiful!!!

"Mules" and "prototype" are auto industry standard jargons with precise meanings. So Farley using the word "prototype" in an interview with auto journalist was very specific messaging to people who know what that means.   Lots of internal process and communication with supplier changes when you go from mule stage to prototype stage. Basically, you go from "still working on design" to "now working on getting it to production". The vehicle development program switches from being designer/engineers lead to production planning/procurement lead. 

Only if they have fake exhausts on them 😂