pbojanoski

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I don't think tariff proceeds go to the company, they go to the government (basically a tax).

But yes, higher labor costs would pretty much result in higher purchase price for customers in any country. I thought about that too, but just didn't want to complicate the reply. So I left it in the "American car" context the OP used. :cool:
I think what @portlandg is saying is that higher tariffs make the cost of the vehicle higher and the profits lower since you can only sell cars for so much. Ford likely would have to eat some of the tariff in order to keep the cars competitive and selling in Europe.
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Whatever it is, still sad to know that a groundbreaking American car is not made in USA but imported to it.
One way to think about this --- Yes, the car is assembled in Mexico by robots, but the parts used come from all over the world.

The battery packs are from a South Korean company --- LG Chem, but made in Poland.
I don’t know where the motors, drivetrains and steel come from.
The speaker system by Bang & Olufsen are made in Denmark.
The charger system, electronics, SYNC4 probably made in other countries as well.

Remember also, that at least for the 1st year, the majority of these cars will be exported to the EU.
 

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RESTARTING FORD: SAFETY PRIORITY ONE AS FORD READIES TO REBOOT CRITICAL MANUFACTURING WORLDWIDE

Latest update.

Ford is working to safely restart manufacturing in the U.S. and North America. The company recently announced plans to begin that process in Europe on May 4, and a small number of hourly and salaried employees returned to work this week in North America to begin installing equipment and putting in place new safety protocols.

https://media.ford.com/content/ford...4/30/restarting-ford-safety-priority-one.html
 

dbsb3233

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One way to think about this --- Yes, the car is assembled in Mexico by robots, but the parts used come from all over the world.
For a lot of the parts, yes. But if assembly were done by robots and didn't need humans, they're just build them in the US, because labor costs wouldn't matter.

The assembly plant still requires thousands of workers. Thus why it's located in low-labor-cost Mexico instead of high-labor-cost USA.
 


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Excellent! If I had to guess, I'd think those might be medical areas like temperature screening for arriving workers or areas to spread out to eat or break to improve social distancing. Good to see them prepping for the new reality, whatever the tents are for.
 

dbsb3233

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Excellent! If I had to guess, I'd think those might be medical areas like temperature screening for arriving workers or areas to spread out to eat or break to improve social distancing. Good to see them prepping for the new reality, whatever the tents are for.
That was my guess too.

But I'm more confused than ever about the timing. That timeline graphic posted in the other thread said production wasn't even supposed to start until the Fall (that's basically Oct). And that was pre-COVID. If accurate, they've still got 5 months to go before even starting on time.
 

hybrid2bev

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That was my guess too.

But I'm more confused than ever about the timing. That timeline graphic posted in the other thread said production wasn't even supposed to start until the Fall (that's basically Oct). And that was pre-COVID. If accurate, they've still got 5 months to go before even starting on time.
My understanding was that customer units would start production in the fall for delivery in Oct. Now November. But that dealer demo and training unit production was supposed to start in June. So they need to finish setting up the plant.
 
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Yes, we've heard on any number of interviews that assembly line production was scheduled to start in June, now looking more like July. If past estimates are correct that the first 4000 cars are for demos and testing, they need to get those made before they start cars for customers. Remember that reservation numbers started at 4,000.

A good place to watch for progress is the plant Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ford...Cqj0QIMk_Tj2EJi6XySwB7TYVAAd4JJMs9nH9ukccY2lg
 

dbsb3233

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My understanding was that customer units would start production in the fall for delivery in Oct. Now November. But that dealer demo and training unit production was supposed to start in June. So they need to finish setting up the plant.
That timeline graphic said delivery started in Winter (that's after Dec 22). But that didn't seem right either. I have doubts about that whole timeline. Just doesn't seem to jibe with other reports we've been hearing.

What you describe makes sense though. If there are roughly 4000 demo/training units as we've been let to believe, and assuming the plant will start slowly before working up to speed (presumably around 1000/week peak), it could take maybe 6-8 weeks to get to the customer units. If demo production starts a month late now (July?), that would put customer unit production around Sept. For first customer deliveries around Nov.

Hopefully a few of those demo units end up in the hands of reviewers (even if only as dealership employees or VIP customers they let drive one for a day) that give them a run-through and post their experiences. If they're 2 months ahead of the customer units, that would be maybe Sept that we might start seeing some reviews with live vehicles.
 
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That timeline graphic said delivery started in Winter (that's after Dec 22). But that didn't seem right either. I have doubts about that whole timeline. Just doesn't seem to jibe with other reports we've been hearing.

What you describe makes sense though. If there are roughly 4000 demo/training units as we've been let to believe, and assuming the plant will start slowly before working up to speed (presumably around 1000/week peak), it could take maybe 6-8 weeks to get to the customer units. If demo production starts a month late now (July?), that would put customer unit production around Sept. For first customer deliveries around Nov.

Hopefully a few of those demo units end up in the hands of reviewers (even if only as dealership employees or VIP customers they let drive one for a day) that give them a run-through and post their experiences. If they're 2 months ahead of the customer units, that would be maybe Sept that we might start seeing some reviews with live vehicles.
And hopefully some September test rides for those of us with reservations, too!
 

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But the claim was "More profit for Ford ". That's what I was addressing. Tariffs aren't more profit for Ford when the additional cost tacked on goes to the government. Tariffs are a tax.
 
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In better news, peugfan on the Mach E Club forum pointed out two posts on the Blue Oval Forums that over 90 Mach E units were produced in Cuautitlan before the shutdown (same source said 97 in one post and over 90 on another). That's seems like a lot for test units. I wonder if these are the first ~100 of the ~4000 early productions for demo and test ride, too? I'm checking to find verification of that >90 number.
 

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In better news, peugfan on the Mach E Club forum pointed out two posts on the Blue Oval Forums that over 90 Mach E units were produced in Cuautitlan before the shutdown (same source said 97 in one post and over 90 on another). That's seems like a lot for test units. I wonder if these are the first ~100 of the ~4000 early productions for demo and test ride, too? I'm checking to find verification of that >90 number.
I would imagine that some of those are the ones that the software engineers have taken home to work on. Some for crash testing as well maybe
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