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New Ford 7.0 L....?


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Well isn't the reason we can't build a low cost car in this country simply because we have a model that says... the more complexity and systems you put into it the higher the ATP?? If Ford designed a manufacturing system to crank out a bare bones inexpensive car, they couldn't do it?? Its the age of robots, outsourced sub assemblies (I think) so why can't they crank out an import fighter?

 

The imports are "expensive" too...the only reason the most of them make more money then Domestic makes is currency manipulation and cheaper labor costs.

 

If a company can sell say 10K car and break even or make money on it in the US-don't you think they would be doing it?

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Well isn't the reason we can't build a low cost car in this country simply because we have a model that says... the more complexity and systems you put into it the higher the ATP?? If Ford designed a manufacturing system to crank out a bare bones inexpensive car, they couldn't do it?? Its the age of robots, outsourced sub assemblies (I think) so why can't they crank out an import fighter?

 

Of course they could build such a car but for what purpose? To make $1 on each one? The imports don’t have a F series or Expedition so they don’t have much choice. They make up for the lower profit margins with global economies of scale and currency exchange rates.

 

At those prices you can make far more money by not building such a vehicle and buying a CD or investing in the stock market instead. Once you look at it from a business standpoint it should make perfect sense.

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The imports are "expensive" too...the only reason the most of them make more money then Domestic makes is currency manipulation and cheaper labor costs.

 

If a company can sell say 10K car and break even or make money on it in the US-don't you think they would be doing it?

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The demands of Wall Street would not allow it....it must make a profit for the investors.

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The demands of Wall Street would not allow it....it must make a profit for the investors.

Exactly-it boils down to that market share is a horrible indicator of being profitable-Porsche has been a prime example of that. Not much market share, but wildly profitable. I think thats part of the mindset Ford must have since they arent chasing market share (I.e. building new plants) and are content with their current share and are looking to maximize the amount of $$$ they can make off it

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Exactly-it boils down to that market share is a horrible indicator of being profitable-Porsche has been a prime example of that. Not much market share, but wildly profitable. I think thats part of the mindset Ford must have since they arent chasing market share (I.e. building new plants) and are content with their current share and are looking to maximize the amount of $$$ they can make off it

 

Bingo! Plus, with the automotive market being so cyclical, if you can remove yourself from some of the fight for market share and focus on profit per vehicle, you can isolate yourself a bit more from those cycles for shallower dips and shorter peaks for a more steady flow.

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Here is an analogy.

 

You have an apple cart with limited space. You can buy regular granny smith and red delicious apples from the wholesaler and compete directly with the grocery stores and big box stores and if you're lucky you can make 20 cents per apple selling 100 per day. Now publix decides to have a sale and you have to match their prices and your profit drops to 10 cents per apple and you're only selling 75 per day. Next week Kroger does the same. Now you're not making much at all.

 

Or you can find a local orchard that grows unique varieties not found in the grocery store and you can sell 75 per day making 80 cents per apple and you're not impacted if the grocery store decides to have a sale because you have a unique product. You've invested the exact same time and money but you're making $60/day instead of $7.50/day.

 

That's exactly the scenario with regular car sales.

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Here is an analogy.

 

You have an apple cart with limited space. You can buy regular granny smith and red delicious apples from the wholesaler and compete directly with the grocery stores and big box stores and if you're lucky you can make 20 cents per apple selling 100 per day. Now publix decides to have a sale and you have to match their prices and your profit drops to 10 cents per apple and you're only selling 75 per day. Next week Kroger does the same. Now you're not making much at all.

 

Or you can find a local orchard that grows unique varieties not found in the grocery store and you can sell 75 per day making 80 cents per apple and you're not impacted if the grocery store decides to have a sale because you have a unique product. You've invested the exact same time and money but you're making $60/day instead of $7.50/day.

 

That's exactly the scenario with regular car sales.

OK AK, Very good analogy. And trust me guys, I own a lot of Ford stock and I totally get the profitability picture. The point I was trying to make (and obviously failed in that attempt) is that IF Ford or anyone else wanted to build a low cost vehicle without losing their ass, they could. Again it would be expanding the product mix so that when all the millennials discover that they are not going to be left as much money as they thought they would when the old folks croak, they could buy something other than a used car.

 

Now, no argument, if there is no idle plant capacity that could build such a vehicle, and you are maxing production in all you plants with the high ATP vehicles- case closed. Unless of course you do a JV with someone who still has a belief that a market exists for a "people's car". ;)

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Back to the 7.??, note he made no mention of commercial trucks-and in particular class 6 and 7. I thought commercial trucks-and in particular class 6 and 7 was the big motivator for a big gasoline engine-recognizing not every operator of mediums runs the kind of annual mileage needed to justify the diesel premium.

 

And if this medium duty application is/was the key reason to bring this big block gasser out, I believe the true gear heads on this site have indicated the 6.2 is just not suited for the duty cycles a high GVW/CCW engine must meet.

 

This then blows his case apart as he keeps talking about the 6.2 roots behind this motor-at least I think he harped on that.

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I think the old adage about selling a young person their first new car and making them a customer for life is no longer true. There are too many good choices out there and a lot of folks who buy a cheap vehicle because it's cheap doesn't have any brand loyalty to start with - they'll always buy whatever is cheap. I think loyalty is far more prevalent within a specific model - like Accord and Camry and F150. They've built up a loyal customer base who buy the same models over and over and that's the only way you get to 400K, 600K or 1M vehicles per year. You saw that with the 2nd gen Fusion - big jump in sales as the first gen buyers traded in for a 2nd gen in addition to all the new sales. Repeat with each generation and you can see how that snowballs over time.

 

Ford could easily continue building Fusion in Mexico on C2 with simplified options and make a small profit. But they'd have to build a new factory at some point for the other new models so that's a huge investment and huge fixed cost. Had they decided not to do two new small utilities that would probably still be the plan.

 

So you end up with option A - keep Fusion, build a new plant (and you might need to add engineers and designers as well) or option B - jettison Fusion, reuse Hermosillo and avoid the cost of building a new plant and hiring more people. And you have to factor in future demand for each product. And then you look at the ROI for each one.

 

It's not really a case of right or wrong - it's just making the best business decision at a particular point in time. And Ford has a lot more options than most mfrs right now with BEVs, PHEVs, HEVs and AVs to invest in.

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Back to the 7.??, note he made no mention of commercial trucks-and in particular class 6 and 7. I thought commercial trucks-and in particular class 6 and 7 was the big motivator for a big gasoline engine-recognizing not every operator of mediums runs the kind of annual mileage needed to justify the diesel premium.

 

And if this medium duty application is/was the key reason to bring this big block gasser out, I believe the true gear heads on this site have indicated the 6.2 is just not suited for the duty cycles a high GVW/CCW engine must meet.

 

This then blows his case apart as he keeps talking about the 6.2 roots behind this motor-at least I think he harped on that.

 

That dude's a hack and has no clue what he's talking about.

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Here is an analogy.

 

You have an apple cart with limited space. You can buy regular granny smith and red delicious apples from the wholesaler and compete directly with the grocery stores and big box stores and if you're lucky you can make 20 cents per apple selling 100 per day. Now publix decides to have a sale and you have to match their prices and your profit drops to 10 cents per apple and you're only selling 75 per day. Next week Kroger does the same. Now you're not making much at all.

 

Or you can find a local orchard that grows unique varieties not found in the grocery store and you can sell 75 per day making 80 cents per apple and you're not impacted if the grocery store decides to have a sale because you have a unique product. You've invested the exact same time and money but you're making $60/day instead of $7.50/day.

 

That's exactly the scenario with regular car sales.

In automotive manufacturing terms, Ford is the grocery store.

 

If Ford is that grocery store then they can't compete with other grocery stores selling the same apples. I'd pull my investment out of that grocery store too.

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That dude's a hack and has no clue what he's talking about.

 

At least he posted a picture of a gas V-8 this time (early 6.2L in a 2011 F-150). Last time he posted a picture of a 7.3L Powerstroke long block. Getting closer!

Edited by 7Mary3
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Excellent question!

If 7.3 liter V8 has same architecture as the 6.2 V8, bore centers would be 115mm. It would need to have a taller deck height at around 10.

However, if the 7.3 is a completely new architecture, I suspect the bore centers will be increase to around 117mm, close to the old FE series of the 1960s.

With 117mm bore centers, we would have enough room for water between each bore with ample wall thinness for a couple of overbites in the reman business. Deck height would be around 256mm to allow for a heavy duty piston compression height and say a 1.63 rod to stroke ratio.

If we take this same block and utilize a shorter stroke to get to 7.0 liters, the con rod would get longer and the piston compression height would get shorter giving us something around a 1.76 rod to stroke ratio. This is how you can have a 7.3 HD and a 7.0 HP from the same block!

Unfortunately, no one is taking yet so its all speculation on my part!

 

Edselford

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Excellent question!

If 7.3 liter V8 has same architecture as the 6.2 V8, bore centers would be 115mm. It would need to have a taller deck height at around 10.

However, if the 7.3 is a completely new architecture, I suspect the bore centers will be increase to around 117mm, close to the old FE series of the 1960s.

With 117mm bore centers, we would have enough room for water between each bore with ample wall thinness for a couple of overbites in the reman business. Deck height would be around 256mm to allow for a heavy duty piston compression height and say a 1.63 rod to stroke ratio.

If we take this same block and utilize a shorter stroke to get to 7.0 liters, the con rod would get longer and the piston compression height would get shorter giving us something around a 1.76 rod to stroke ratio. This is how you can have a 7.3 HD and a 7.0 HP from the same block!

Unfortunately, no one is taking yet so its all speculation on my part!

 

Edselford

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