Ford CEO Jim Farley touted a recent milestone: 200 million miles traveled for customers using the automaker’s hands-free driver assist system, BlueCruise. That’s enough for a roundtrip from the Earth to the Sun. Meanwhile, Tesla said its customers using Full Self-Driving have gone over 1 billion miles — or enough for a trip to Saturn. Who will be the first to reach Pluto?
Inspired by the 1967-68 Mustang, the new skin is available to 2024 Mustang owners via a free over-the-air software update — which I guess beats buying a real one for $350 on eBay.
Gone are the days when your car was a refuge from work. Ford is the latest automaker to bring Cisco’s Webex video conferencing application to its vehicles, starting with the 2024 Lincoln Nautilus, 2025 Lincoln Aviator, and 2025 Ford Explorer. More models will follow.
If you’re driving, it’s audio-only. While parked, you’ll be able to see your coworkers’ beaming faces, but they won’t be able to see yours because it’s not connected to the in-cabin camera — yet. I’m of the opinion that selfie cameras in the car are inevitable. (See: Benz, Mercedes.)
Ford CEO Jim Farley showed off the charging adapter in a post on Threads and said the company will share “more info very soon.” The CCS to NACS charging adapter is expected to start shipping to Ford EV owners free of charge this spring.
They may be among Ford’s most popular gas and hybrid-powered vehicles, but the automaker doesn’t have any immediate plans to produce battery-electric versions of the Maverick and Bronco, AutoWeek reports. “Early 2030s” is the publication’s best prediction.
Meanwhile, GM is fast-tracking hybrid versions of the Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra trucks, after discovering that all-electric versions were having trouble doing normal truck stuff, like towing.
In a post on X, Ford CEO Jim Farley said that Mustang Mach-E and F-150 Lightning owners in the US and Canada could reserve their complimentary adapters. The adapters, which enable EVs equipped with CCS ports to charge at Tesla Superchargers, are being supplied by Tesla, a spokesperson said.
Ford was the first company to announce its intention to adopt Tesla’s North American Charging Standard for its future EVs — a commitment that was eventually repeated by basically the rest of the global auto industry.
The automaker is finally allowing its dealers to rent out the electric crossover, as per a notice seen by CarsDirect. The notice only applies to 2023 Mustang Mach-Es, and not the 2024 models (which I don’t think is even out yet).
To be sure, Ford has a contentious relationship with some of its dealers over EVs. Roughly half of Ford’s dealers say they don’t want to spend up to $1.2 million on upgrades to sell EVs. Also, allowing dealers to rent out the Mach-E is a potential solution to inventory issues that have been plaguing Ford. People don’t want to buy your flagship EV because it’s too expensive, or charging sucks? Maybe they’ll want to rent it instead!
The 2024 Lincoln Nautilus will get the new supersized screen, with other models to follow. And yes, it still supports CarPlay and Android Auto.
The automaker says it’s reducing production of the F-150 Lightning as expected EV sales in 2024 are “less than anticipated.” It’s shifting workers to its facilities working on the gas-powered Ranger and Bronco instead.
Last month, Ford said it would cut production of its EV pickup from 3,200 per week to around 1,600 amidst slowing demand.
Ford says half of its dealers in the US, or around 1,550, are opting to sell electric and hybrid vehicles in 2024. That’s down from around two-thirds of dealers that said they would sell EVs about a year ago.
GM found the same for its Buick dealers, 50 percent of whom are opting out of the brand’s decision to go all-electric. Money is playing a role, with GM telling its dealers they would need to commit to spend upwards $400,000 to prepare their stores to sell and service EVs. Chevy dealers aren’t being offered buyouts, meaning they’re stuck trying to sell the not-exactly-stellar-sounding Chevy Blazer EV.
[Detroit Free Press]
Premium “Certified Elite” dealership locations now only need to install three AC charging stations instead of five by June 30th, 2024 — a six-month delay. They won’t need to install a DC fast charger by 2026. And required EV training costs have also been reduced.
The automaker changed the rules after some of its Illinois dealerships argued that the demands for EV sales and its certification program violated state franchise laws.
[Automotive News]
EV sales are skyrocketing, more than 100 models are on sale, and charging infrastructure is getting better. So why does everything seem so precarious all of a sudden?
The deal could be announced Wednesday night, the Associated Press reports. Workers at Ford, GM, and Stellantis have been on strike since September.
Ford chairman Bill Ford gave a short speech this morning titled “the Future of American Manufacturing,” in which he outlined his hope for a swift end to the now five-week-old autoworker strike.
There wasn’t much new in Ford’s speech; tellingly, he didn’t say whether the company was considering putting its future electric vehicle plants under the United Auto Workers’ master agreement, like GM just did. Past statements from the company’s C-suite sought to portray the union has holding negotiations “hostage” over EV factories. Instead, Ford cast the strikes as a big win for non-union automakers:
Toyota, Honda, Tesla and the others are loving this strike because they know the longer it goes on, the better it is for them. They will win and all of us will lose.
The plant’s 2,500 future workers are now pawns in ongoing UAW talks, despite Ford not explicitly saying so:
“We are pausing work and limiting spending on construction on the Marshall project until we’re confident about our ability to competitively operate the plant.”
The UAW wants battery workers paid the same high wages as other autoworkers, but Ford says that it already can’t compete with Tesla or foreign-owned EV makers in the US due to high labor costs.
