You are correct Ford didn't immediately took advantage of the TARP program and didn't declare bankruptcy. They were (and are) on a more solid footing than GM and Chrysler/Fiat and have been able to avoid bankruptcy by taking a BIG loan from the government. By that time the credit rating of Ford was so low, that no one but the government would provide such a loan to Ford, so effectively it is a bailout, but through different budgetary mechanisms and without bankruptcy. An interesting aspect of that loan and TARP talks with Ford was that Ford promised to introduce electric vehicles to the market and reduce emissions of the rest of its fleet by mid 2010th.
Thank you Elon and Tesla for pushing us into the future. I can't get behind any of these legacy auto makers, where is the innovation? Lazy bastards have been dragging their feet for decades.
Ford's future of infotainment will run on Google's Android So they are already sunsetting the infotainment system they just built for the Mach-E?
Wow.. I bet this will be triggering many questions from Mach-E reservation holders. Did they even start delivering them in volume? Did early reviews force them to make this drastic decision to head-off owner complaints?
Oh... Ford started to deliver some Mach-E according to me reading macheforum.com and the results are ... mixed ... sometimes. They already have known issues of (1) Android Auto not working with some (many) phones; (2) WiFi connection issues; (3) some phones (many) don't work as a car key; (4) problems activating Ford's discount rate payment on EA, so some pay at $0.43/kWh which is a shocker for new happy Ford EV owners considering its inefficient energy use (like 2x more expensive than an ICE car on trips). A lot of fun ahead ....
Today, while driving, I listened on NPR to a brief discussion about GM's announcement they plan to sell no ICE vehicles by 2035. The commenters were playing a shock, like, "wow, they are moving so fast, just in 15 years, would other car manufacturers be able to follow GM's lead?" At this point I closed my eyes and ears (good Tesla has the Autopilot). If Tesla and VW are serious about their EV volumes by 2030, then GM is all but guaranteed to make no ICE vehicles by 2035, it will make no more vehicles at all. Considering Ford's finances and corporate culture, I begin suspecting that Ford is simply incapable to scale up profitable EV production, and that they made the Mach-E to establish themselves as an also-EV-manufacturer before getting acquired by Tesla. By the way, I also think that Ford's plans for F-150 EV are a commercial and marketing joke.
Here are the news: Ford has delivered 238 Mach-E in January. https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/january-2021-mach-e-u-s-sales-and-production-stats-238-4-250.3114/ Where are the articles screaming "Broken promises", "Ford has production hell after all", "Missing targets", "Is Ford hiding serious issues with the vehicle?", "Ford invented mass production of the cars, not Ford fails it", etc. To be fair, considering their 4250 vehicle production in January, it amounts to 51000 annual rate. So, they still are on target with production technically.
This is an interesting take. Pretty far out there, IMO. Not quite sure of your point here. Ford MASSIVELY screwed up the launch of the Lincoln Aviator and Ford Explorer. Two hugely important vehicles for them. They know they can't repeat that, and likely are taking it slow. Are you really doubting Ford's ability to make and sell these cars in the long run as posted in your quote above? I really think you are off base if that's your point.