Did rperez get unbanned?

It's my personal hope that CE1 becomes the basis for Ford returning to affordable, fun products, moreso than what they already offer. 

I'm referring to them killing off stuff like the edge and escape. I feel like if they had gotten to the point where they were "boring" instead of killing them off, Ford should have just re-envisioned them in a way that made them more compelling. 

As someone who owned both mazda based and eucd based vehicles the difference was obvious.   Mazdas were simple, light and rock solid.  C1/CD4s were heavy and overengineered and too complex.  C2 fixed a lot but came too late.

But that's exactly what they did with Maverick and Bronco Sport.  They couldn't do other stuff because the resources got diverted to EVs.  Now they've been diverted back to ICE.  

It’s stupid’: why western carmakers’ retreat from electric risks dooming them to irrelevance    

Usually, in those totaled Tesla cases, it was the battery case the was damaged and that is an expensive component to repair. In the case of Mega / Giga / Uni -casting of major structural components of a vehicle, in the case of a totaled car, the dismantling yard will see a large increase in the amount of aluminum that is recyclable. Should be an interesting time down at the scrap yard in the next few years. 

Exactly. While Tesla did not invent the process it did mainstream it:   https://www.automotivemanufacturingsolutions.com/editors-pick/production-minimalism-how-megacasting-is-reshaping-automotive-manufacturing/660564

I am not buying this just yet.  Based on what I see, Tesla's are difficult and expensive to repair after an accident tend to total out more easily than other cars, EV's included.  Giga-castings are certainly a manufacturing advantage, but replacing these large structures after an accident presents a whole set of new problems.  From what I understand it these aluminum castings often cannot be repaired.   Google search 'Totaled Tesla Model Y' and see what comes up.   Seems to me that any advantages Giga-castings represent are on the manufacturing side.  The owner gets a throw-away car that's more expensive to insure.   

Deming NM, Thursday 3-19-26:  Valero 91 Octane $4.39