Gurgeh

Just a reminder that lately Lincoln has been putting out arguably the best interiors in the luxury space. Particularly not a surprise with the new 2024 Nautilus: ---------------- “From the moment you enter, when the Nautilus’ sweeping pillar-to-pillar screen comes to life, it’s obvious this is unlike any other production vehicle you’ve ever seen,” said WardsAuto judge David Zoia. “But it doesn’t stop there. A gorgeous color scheme, top-notch materials and well-thought-out features make the Nautilus the complete package – and a Wards 10 Best Interiors & UX winner.” “The Lincoln Nautilus is literally on the leading edge of vehicle cockpit design. Its impressive pillar-to-pillar screen is pushed far forward on the instrument panel so all necessary information can be seen without taking eyes off the road,” added fellow judge Drew Winter. https://fordauthority.com/2024/04/2024-lincoln-nautilus-among-wards-10-best-interior-winners/

There's a long back-story to this, as I recall. In Germany industrial unions sit on company boards. VWs German union didn't like the opening of U.S. plant because they saw it as taking work away from their German union members and pushed for VW to invite in the UAW (which they did, even pre-negotiating with the UAW a sweetheart deal) for the purpose of making the American plant less competitive with its German counterparts. Even with this unusual circumstance, the union vote still lost. Twice. Looks like VW and the German unions finally got their wish.

Warning: don't wash your oh-so-rugged CT in the sun, or you might void your warrenty!

EU authorities are also reacting to the many billions of dollars in Chinese government subsidies that have gone into BYD and every other part of the Chinese EV industry. They only like that sort of thing when it is Airbus.

The sad thing is that since 2020 inflation in the United States has gone up 20% overall. As shocking as the 11% increase in MSRP in just the last few years, it is actually running below overall inflation in the economy. https://lao.ca.gov/LAOEconTax/Article/Detail/766#:~:text=Prices have grown by 20,energy prices the most volatile&text=Prices based on CPI-U.

What a silly design! So, the solution is to permanently affix it with Gorilla Glue? So, when the day comes that you need to remove the slide-on accelerator cover you then can't.

Well, Ford could shift all new US/Canada-built EVs to the new Blue Oval City since the vehicles are getting delayed and now the new facility should be ready by the time Job 1 for them actually comes. There you go with a nice big unused facility in Canada with a great record and terrific workforce ready and able to bring back the Edge, repatriate Nautilus production, and maybe do something else on the side. I know, I know. The time for that logical decision was a year or two ago. But you are saying Ford's problem is that all of their North American factories have no capacity available for new product. Well, this one apparently does and Ford's current plan seems to be to just let it sit idle for the next two years.

Hard to say how long it will take without a build date. Once built and transport begins you can probably expect 3 months for it to arrive at your dealership (it actually took mine 2.5 months). That's one month across the Pacific, one month for ground transportation in North America, and one month for it to get stuck somewhere in port or some transit facility somewhere.

Tesla is finding it hard to compete in China with the Chinese government's massive subsidies of all aspects of EV production. See: https://electrek.co/2024/04/12/china-gave-byd-an-incredible-3-7-billion-to-win-the-ev-race/ and https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Electric-cars-in-China/China-gives-EV-sector-billions-of-yuan-in-subsidies

Wow, that is the opposite of what is the case with my 2024 Black Label Nautilus. It is both the quietest and smoothest drive of any vehicle I have ever owned. I have decided that I don't like it in Excite mode because, while it does improve torque modestly, it turns the smooth ride into something too rough and makes fake gear sounds. Could it be you are just driving it in Excite? Because in my vehicle Normal mode is smooth as silk and quiet as a hush.

There are some great stories here of dumbest traffic ticket. Here's mine. I was commuting into Washington, DC from suburban Maryland where I live. The traffic was heavy, but I was keeping my distance from the car in front of me. I was coming up to a stop light with several cars already stopped at the light. I was slowing down, ready to stop when someone rear ends me so hard that it propelled my car into the rear end of the car in front of me (the last of the stopped cars). A DC policeman came by to assess the accident and gave me a ticket for "following too close." I was going to contest it, but my boss required me to travel the week of my court date so I just gave up and paid the darned thing.

I agree with your overall argument but not the bolded text. While Americans could someday reach European-style acceptance of micro vehicles they sure haven't yet. While some do sell, I wouldn't characterize those sales as "many."

I agree, but I also get the caution on the current state of EVs due to the rapid development of the technology. ICE is a pretty mature technology. Five years from now drivers can expect somewhat better MPG and (maybe) performance from ICE vehicles, and certainly a lot more hybrids. But from EVs many anticipate a dramatic improvement in range and/or weight with the emergence of solid state batteries. Still, the smartphone syndrome is real. In one or two years there's always going to be a much better device available. Why (ever) buy now?

I recently bought the 2024 Nautilus and follow issues related to the vehicle on a couple of Facebook sites. One thing I've noticed is that there seems to be three distinct groups buying the new Nautilus: (1) previous generation Nautilus owners (like me) -- and sometimes past Aviator owners or people who went into the Lincoln dealership thinking they wanted to buy an Aviator but didn't really need that third seat or towing capacity and found they liked the Nautilus better, (2) a variety of former Lexus/BMW/MB/Genesis owners, and (3) former Edge owners, especially Edge ST owners. Most of them are generally happy with their purchase and compare the Nautilus favorably to their previous vehicle. One common complaint among the Edge ST owners, however, is the lower off-the-line torque -- but only off-the-line -- with the 2.0 hybrid than with their previous 2.7, though they still like and prefer the new Nautilus overall. The odd thing is that you don't find former Nautilus 2.7 owners saying the same thing as much. I think it is because former Nautilus owners are established Lincoln buyers and understand the whole point of Lincolns is the quality of the drive and the luxury of the car, not its 0-60 number. Whereas Edge ST buyers often bought that ST specifically because from time to time they really liked to punch that accelerator from a standing stop. That said, while I think the new Nautilus is a great vehicle and wish its production had stayed in North America, it really isn't a full replacement for the Edge. While the lowest trim 2024 Nautilus gives you great value in a luxury mid-sized crossover, it still goes for a lot more than an Edge.

That's Ford Authority for you. They can turn into breaking news the fact that every new Ford design will have the windshield in front of the driver.