That's true.....I forgot about Everest.

I mean, I also wouldn't expect Ford to come out and say "yep, that's it, you got us!!!"

2023-2027 Ford F-150 Recalled Over Fuel Tank Detachment Issue   Ford Motor Company is recalling select 2023-2027 Ford F-150 models over an issue with the fuel tank straps. The defect: in affected vehicles, the fuel tank may be improperly secured and leak fuel, or detach from the vehicle while driving. The hazards: a detached tank can create a road hazard, increasing the risk of a crash. In addition, a fuel leak can cause an engine stall or increase the risk of a fire. Ford is not aware of any reports of accidents or injuries related to this condition. Components: fuel tank straps Affected vehicles: select 2023-2027 Ford F-150 models produced between January 4th, 2023, and August 27th, 2026. Number of vehicles affected: 223,472 The fix: dealers will inspect and replace the fuel tank straps, as necessary, free of charge.

There's also this.... Amid Ford Spat, Trump OK With Chinese Building U.S. Plants "If China wanted to come in and open a plant to build their cars here, I'd be okay with that," Trump said in an interview on Fox News. "Japan does it, but they hire our people. The big thing is they hire our people." Trump stated that he's "not knocking Chinese cars," and added that he's opposed to automakers from that country building vehicles in Mexico and then exporting them to the U.S. At the moment, legislation passed by Trump's predecessor, Joe Biden, has imposed a 100 percent tariff on Chinese vehicles, as well as a ban on software and hardware stemming from "countries of concern." Congress has been mulling a bill that extends that outright ban for some time now, and just last week, the lobby group Alliance for Automotive Innovation - which represents Ford and its peers - was urging it to pass that piece of legislation quickly.

This is true but it does help them avoid the Stellantis disease. That would weigh down any positive changes they make elsewhere. Ironically unlike Stellantis, VAG has the opposite issue where Skoda/Lambo/Bentley are weighed down by VW/Audi/Porsche. 

Aside from the direct costs of physically shutting a plant down, closing a factory means it and the fixed capital inside’s value as an asset plummets. This is a loss that won’t be realized until you sell what remains of the asset. You also cancel supplier contracts which incurs monetary costs. Cancelling product development means everything invested into that program goes to zero, firing workers costs severance etc.   Volkswagen/VAG had a business model where they built shit in Germany and exported it everywhere else. This worked because of free trade and all costs (shipping, energy, etc) were cheap. The recent geopolitical developments in trade, the Middle East, and Russia/Ukraine have specifically made all of these factors turn completely against the model of building things in Germany and exporting globally. Combined with VAG incompetence in the US and China, you run into their current situation of having like 100 redundant models, employing 2x the amount of workers Toyota does, all located in a country that is suddenly not very good to build cars in, bringing in the same amount of revenue as Toyota does.    This additional 50k cuts feels a bit luxurious, chasing a profit margin for the sake of the profit margin. But overall their business model had a perfect storm (a lot of which was their own poor decision making) and now they have to shift towards a more localized production system with a leaner, focused, localized product range. They would probably like to be like Toyota but are more likely to end up like Ford, GM, Renault. Worst case scenario they become like Stellantis where you have a core that doesn’t suck (Fiat, Jeep, Ram) and a lot of bullshit that does suck (everything else) but unlike Stellantis they are probably cutting useless brands like SEAT, selling Ducati, getting out of Bugatti, and so on. 

Keep in mind they get the Everest also, which would be just about identical outside of styling and removeable top also, which is inverse to the situation in North America. 

Hi, any idea as to when the 2027 Mustang order guide would be coming out? Is it delayed due to a mid-cycle refresh? Thank you for your help.

Not to mention through the joint venture requirements, we handed them all of our knowledge just for the sake of being in their market.     Meaning a place to produce more because of low wages? It's so small, though, that there'd be a limit to that ,no?

And I want to be clear, I think that Basecamp model can be successful if they've analyzed the market well.  I just question the "niche" comments, of course with the caveat of market-appropriate/approved powertrains.