I doubt it. Fuel economy standards changing won't drive manufacturers to produce small, affordable cars. The economy at large very well may push it, because vehicles are expensive overall; But much of that has to do with the publics desire for more space and manufacturers pushing heavy premium trim mixture for larger margins.    The reality is much of the public wants a larger vehicle in the US market. When you can get a 2026 RAV4 with 47 MPG for $32k, a sedan is a tough sell when its going to be $25k+ for C sized cars. The increased MPG is minimal from a operational cost standpoint, but the ride and utility take a massive hit... There will absolutely be people who want the cheapest new car, but as we have seen, that is not a customer most manufacturers really want to pursue.  I think you'll see a couple "new" entrants into the market but will they survive long term with cost and economy of scale questions.    I see long term the smaller, cheaper end of the market being EVs. 200 mile range. Whereas the nicer, larger vehicles are a hybrid. Just my prediction. 

Thanks for saving me from looking that up, I knew that 90% figure was wrong!  While Ford did build a sizeable number of Jeeps during the Second World War, they did so strictly under license and the Jeep was in no way a Ford design.  The original concept was developed by the American Bantam Company but the contract was initially given to Willys because the Army preferred the Willys prototype and Bantam didn't have the plant capacity to build enough Jeeps.  Turns out after that war started Willys couldn't build enough Jeeps either so Ford was brought in (Bantam was given the contract to build trailers for the Jeep).  Willys continued to build Jeeps for both the military and civilian markets after the war, eventually getting bought out by Kaiser (as in Kaiser-Jeep).  Kaiser sold Jeep to AMC in 1970, Chrysler bought AMC in 1987, and it's now Stellantis.  

I don't mind it....though I think that the front could've been raked back slightly instead of full upright box, as I don't feel like it fits as well with the rest of the more sleek/smooth body.

NOx and regens are not related to each other. NOx necessitates DEF, soot necessitates the DPF and regens.

But they're also at times hilarious. I remember a few years, going to the Chicago Auto Show, seeing Ford/Dodge/GM banners proclaiming their increases in horsepower and/or torque, making them the new King of the Hill. I always figured if it means the manufacturers are actually paying attention to improving those engines, I'm all for it.

The whole point of the larger displacement, and as shown by his HP/L metric is to lower combustion temperatures so that NOx emissions are lowered, so that they can work to eliminating DEF. EGR and the DPF are going to remain, but if they can lower NOx enough, you may not need regen on the DPF. If Ford goes to 8.0L I would expect similar power numbers as the GM 8.3L.

I remember someone suggested that these aluminum issues (I know its not confirmed to be aluminum, but this looks like aluminum and the article speculates that way) could drive Ford to bring the F-150 back to steel body. That would probably be a good move at this point if they can find weight savings elsewhere.

HP wars like this are ridiculous.  You won't notice the difference between 500/1200 and 555/1230.  Both use torque management to protect the driveline in the lower gears, so off-the-line feel will likely be similar.  Maybe towing 40k lbs. you would notice a small difference towing up to the Eisenhower tunnel, but 99% of people won't notice an appreciable difference.   Pretty sure the 330/950 coming in my cab & chassis will be sufficient for my use (~24k loaded).

What the liberals continue to ignore is that the higher targets made cheap small cars untenable and pushed mfrs to bigger more expensive suvs and trucks.   Good intentions but completely out of touch with reality and common sense.     No mfr is going backwards on fuel economy and we will see more smaller cheaper vehicles.

Current Ford 6.7L is already 500/1200.