Worried about Ford EV's moving forward

[Teslaeata]

Would you rather have a massive heat pump up there? ???

Noooooooooooo, leave my froot alone?

I gats t’ have one.

Sponsored

 

[phil]

Are you betting on GM and Ford or on the US government to bail them out. back in 2008 GM was bailed out as it was going bankrupt. The unthinkable happened. The US and Canadian government put a lot of money into them and they came out as a new company. So yes they have a history and long tradition but that should give little comfort. With long histories come legacy debt that is attached to old technology that no longer pays

I just know the odds. No company lasts forever. But new startups fail at a very high rate, while century-old companies fail at much lower rates.

You are welcome to buy cars from companies like Fisker and Lordstown Motors. I'll take Ford or GM or Toyota, with all their legacy technology and debt.

 

[phil]

Noooooooooooo, leave my froot alone?

I gats t’ have one.

Is that a Dirty Harry reference? Or just substandard English?

 

[Teslaeata]

Is that a Dirty Harry reference? Or just substandard English?

Sub standard English, I’m afraid??‍

 

[phil]

Sub standard English, I’m afraid??‍

Well, you'd have made a fine bank-robbing punk in early '70s San Francisco.

 

[Jimrpa]

Is that a Dirty Harry reference? Or just substandard English?

“Froot “ is British English for “frunk”

 

[Dear_OP]

I was optimistic in 2024. Not anymore in 2025. Ford's track record on EV has not been great. I like the CEO, seems like a good chap. But at the end, the shareholder and board dictate Ford's marching orders.
But it could be worse, it could be a Stellantis.

When friends and family ask me about EV recommendations, it would likely be a Tesla or a HyunKia. Their product roadmaps are still solid. Tesla continuously improve upon its line-up probably due to an already good foundation. Hyunkia introduces new and exciting EV products relentlessly. Will be watching GM too. They seem to be hitting their stride lately.

 

[Oxford]

I just know the odds. No company lasts forever. But new startups fail at a very high rate, while century-old companies fail at much lower rates.

You are welcome to buy cars from companies like Fisker and Lordstown Motors. I'll take Ford or GM or Toyota, with all their legacy technology and debt.

Your point about a car company being there is not a bad one, that is the very reason I went with the Ford MachE and Lightning. During the '08 meltdown, if memory serves well, Ford was the only one of the big Three that did not need the money. They certainly were well run then. I am looking for the same leadership with the electrification of their fleet. China is leading the way, will the US give up now that the blow heart is back in office?

 

[Rustic Roads]

It's easy to get swept up in the excitement generated by new, more agile companies that are often long on promises and short on delivery. Equally, it's easy to become discouraged by the relative slowness exhibited by more established companies in their approach to such things.

I've been following EVs for more than 5 years, because as a technically-oriented person and a car enthusiast, I find it compelling to see such an established product segment see so much innovation across the board. As a lifelong Mustang fan (and owner of a 96 GT), the announcement of the Mach-E piqued my interest.

Given that the OP just purchased two EVs, there's plenty of time for things to shake out. I, too, am disappointed that the true Explorer EV replacement has effectively been cancelled. However, market conditions are what they are, and Ford likely saw the writing on the wall. If they had released a 3-row Explorer EV in the US and priced it where it probably would have been needed to be priced at (similar to a Rivian R1S), they would have had a really hard time selling them. Add to that the dealership revolt of the Model e program, and you have a recipe for what happened.

In 2027, the market will be different. Better or worse... who knows? There's no sense in pumping out news about what's coming in 2027, because that just decreases interest in the existing vehicles that Ford wants to sell in the meantime.

I went for test drives a few weeks ago, and drove a Honda Prologue back-to-back with a Mustang Mach-E. The Mach-E did not compare very well from a technology standpoint (its UI and UX is very dated at this point) and if we were to have made a purchase that day, it probably would have been a Prologue, even though the Mach-E was more fun to drive. Ford needs to step up and make some updates to the Mach-E to help it bridge the gap until 2027, and I'm not seeing that happening. Maybe the 2025 model will surprise us...

At this point, I still want to purchase a Mach-E, but not at its current pricing. The end-of-the-year incentives need to be permanent.

With the refreshed Tesla Model Y rolling out, Ford needs to reduce the price of the Premium trim by a total of about $15k ($7.5k discount off MSRP, $7.5k lease credit) and get on the stick with software improvements to maintain interest in the Mach-E. They need to leverage Elon's poor reputation right now and the higher MSRP of the Model Y Launch Edition before they lose the $7.5k lease credit.

 

[Jimrpa]

Your point about a car company being there is not a bad one, that is the very reason I went with the Ford MachE and Lightning. During the '08 meltdown, if memory serves well, Ford was the only one of the big Three that did not need the money. They certainly were well run then. I am looking for the same leadership with the electrification of their fleet. China is leading the way, will the US give up now that the blow heart is back in office?

So, Ford did have a very good leader then - Alan Mullally (spelling?) who came from Boeing. Ford was also very lucky too - just BEFORE the financial meltdown in 2008, Ford arranged some huge credit facilities, putting everything on the line as collateral, including the Ford trademark. Hence, when congress summoned the CEOs of the Big Three and asked how much money they needed, Mulally was able to say “No thanks, we’re good.”

Ford’s balance sheet continues to be pretty strong.

 

[Oxford]

I'd say the opposite. The EV tax incentives detur technology advancement to lower production costs. $7.5B in Government investment in charging infrastructure doesn't incentivise technology to get more for less thru technology advancement. If the market accepts EV as better, then private equity will lead the way in pursuit of profits through innovation.

Keep the Government in it and we'll end up in morass.

If that is the logic, then why is the government allowed to subsidize the oil industry 100 times more than the EV industry. Should they stop doing that and the price of oil will go down. I doubt that. If the government had not subsidized Tesla for the last 10 yrs, there would be no Tesla. Obama made it that Tesla would survive and now they are one of the best EV manufactures and able to somewhat compete with China. Not so simple a topic, the infrastructure needs help always at the begining. Our road system didn't happen as a result of private enterprise, the government buid it and industry followed.

Sponsored