Thread regarding Ford layoffs

Ford isn't going to be selling any customers data when Apple and Google already have it all. Still dreaming.

I don't think any customer's data is more valuable or valueless than any other. Shouldn't the DEI mind controlled agree? EV buyers are really just virtue signaling in a passive aggressive way. They are the wealthy who can afford it and can spend the $$ because its about as much as you can spend on a car these days and is a status piece. There are basket loads of luxury EVs out there coming out within a year not because they are brilliant but because people will spend $100k+.
Ford chases Lincoln customers as if they were something other than Ford buyers with a couple extra dollars. If it makes people feel better buy a Lincoln, yes it helps FMC profits, and convince yourself and everyone else you are discriminating.

The EV customers (meaning Mach-E and Lightning for you whom do not work for Ford) are the customers that the company are targeting from here on out. So, their data is infinitely more valuable than legacy Ford customers (ie. Ford Blue for those not in the know).

And these EV customers are also the same cross-section that most other businesses of today are targeting. So you can see the value here.

EV business is data rich? Exactly what kind of data do you think is so valuable? EV buyer stereotype is they are wealthy and can afford it, or are dirt poor but believe everything they hear about looming ecological doomsday and aspire to EVs. Who really cares what this 1% do.
Everyone knows its buyer A or B above so what data is so valuable? That they go to coffee shops and sip lattes while they charge?

There will be plenty of revenue coming from EV businesses due to the fact that EV business is data rich.

Ford blue and ICE not so much. Might be able to get some data backed money from that side, but model e will thrive orders of magnitude on the data sales.

I wouldn't buy a car from this company, let an EV. It would probably explode. The have zero quality control these days.

Why does Ford expect (and lobby) for EV tax credits. Small sector of customers are interested and yet were asked to subsidize cost of new technology.

Almost as flawed as Ford purchasing offshoring chips for cost savings and now getting government investment to on shore chip production.

Ford can never say they weren’t part of the auto sector bailout as they are double dipping into taxpayers pockets today (same with GM).

Car Car's take on EVs is "there’s kind of the first inning, which is the next couple years"?! That's cute🤣 I wonder if he's really that clueless or just trying to talk up the stock price.

To adjust the stupid baseball analogy, the opening pitch was Tesla revealing the Roadster prototype in 2006. People who weren't even born then will be driving this year. Right now is the bottom of the 4th, and Ford is losing 9-1. Next few years is the fifth & sixth, and I'm skeptical Ford can stage a comeback. VW is only losing 9-4, though, so maybe that collaboration with help🙄

@1mks+1fGQ2Lw. I don't believe Farley is a dreamer. JF is a marketing guy, AKA, lying weasel. He has been marketing himself for the last years to sell himself as the "solution" to the Ford family. As a marketing guy, he is just spouting what he thinks people want to hear, or what BF wants to hear. He doesn't believe what he says. Just watch his body language during a Town Hall meeting or in any interview.

Bill Ford is the clueless "dreamer". He wants to be as successful as Old Henry Ford, but he is an incompetent business man. I believe JF is playing BF.

Post ID: @1mks+1fGQ2Lw Your comments are dead on. The Big question is the public ready for EVs? Are EVs and the infrastructure ready for EVs and their impact to the GRID?
Then the CHIPs! And Average ICE vehicle requires about 300 chips. An EV requires 3k. So, there is a big gap there. That leave sonly the F-Series as the money maker for the company. 90+% of profits come from F-Series.
JF vision is based on all home run timing. He has a serious morale issue with the people on the ICE side.

@OP makes a point. If struggling to make any profit at all except for one ICE truckline, if you are being honest... How can EVs ever become the golden goose with razor thin profits or government SNAP cards assistance on them? Talk is cheap and so is this "precious" data.

Farley is a dreamer and looks like he is desperately trying to boost stock price with a flawed strategy. No way market adopts EV in volume for 2023.

The furniture guy wasn’t so bad, doing less damage long term than JF.

Since Ford CEO Jim Farley took over the top spot at the automaker back in October 2020, he has overseen a major transformation at The Blue Oval as it invests heavily in an all-electric future. Farley has also revealed some grand plans over the past few weeks, including a $50 billion dollar investment in electrification as the automaker aims to produce two million EVs annually across the globe by 2026. And, in spite of a number of obstacles that could prevent FoMoCo from reaching those goals, Jim Farley remains confident that consumers will begin to adopt EVs en masse starting as early as next year.

“So I think the way we’ve thought about it is there’s kind of the first inning, which is the next couple years. And then when we get into a mass adoption, let’s say 2023 through 2026, things change a lot in the first couple years,” Farley said while speaking at the recent Wolfe Research Global Auto, Auto Tech, and Mobility Conference.

There are, of course, a few key obstacles Ford must overcome as it aims to be in a position to capture some of these EV sales over the next few years. For starters, the semiconductor chip shortage has severely hampered the automaker’s production of both ICE-powered vehicles and EVs over the past couple of years, and Farley recently admitted that he believes that problem will persist at least through next year.

Then there are more recent supply concerns related to nickel, a key component in the production of lithium-ion batteries. As Ford Authority reported earlier today, Russia is a key source of this metal, but that country is facing numerous sanctions following its invasion of Ukraine, which has sent prices soaring over the past few days.

Finally, Ford recently admitted that its EVs won’t be profitable until the second-generation models debut in the coming years, which means the automaker expects to lose money on vehicles like the E-Transit and Ford F-150 Lightning, though it did previously say that the Ford Mustang Mach-E program is already profitable.

To be clear, Google makes money from ADVERTISING! They use the data to show prospective customers what kind of demographics they will be exposed to by buying Google advertising, and then Google gets paid per click. And it is a lot.

Comes down to the bigwigs saying we're going to be a software company and make big bux through data like google and hand-waving their way through the "how" part. Like my saying I'm going to be a millionaire by investing on wall street, but not even knowing the basics let alone what it'd take to get a seat on the floor.

Sounds to me like @1vmy+1fGQ2Lw1 is the type that buys the hype that this time it's different because "it's data, not stuff.

Same type that believes patents that are a long establish idea that just add "... with a computer" are useful and actually have high value that needs to be protected.

Ultimately, all the "endless things you can do with data and software" comes down to making something happen in the physical world and getting people to take/not take actions. Unless we're dealing with pure maths we need to tie the data back to physical world things in some way for there to be profit to be had. What good is data on traffic patterns if no one has a vehicle to drive? What good is data on where people currently are if you can't use it to get them to spend money in some way?

@1vmy
What data is being sold and who is buying it? I've asked dozens of people this question over the years and no one has ever answered me.

Ford screwed up with Rivian.
They should have taken the profit and shared it and ran to the bank.
Agree we are not a software company.
Way too much BS being spouted by people.
Despite cost of gas, the internal combustion engine is not going away anytime soon.

I sense sarcasm in the comments about data here, but truth of the matter is, that data and the power it holds is exactly what will make and keep this company profitable. The things you can do with that data and awesome software is endless! All the while making big money.

Meanwhile the actual truck or suv is just a lump of an inanimate object that loses value the day the customer buys it and costs us tons of money and investment to build the thing. Not a good business model in 2022. If we couldn't make money with data, then continuing on as in the past on the global stage is pointless and a money loser for the company.

Why is this underperforming Company still around?

So much for rivian investment to.
Results were absolutely terrible on every metric, and guidance is lowered. Stock tanked 20% today including afterhours.

Refreshing that Lawler spoke the truth while CarCar was busy making false economies and preening.

Ford will give EVs away for free to people who will let us collect and sell their data! Luckily, no other vehicle manufacturer has had this idea, so we will be selling ginormous amounts of data to the highest bidders for huge profits! Right?

Cars and trucks are loss leaders, remember, we are a data company.

Brilliant?