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Ford to lay off workers as it focuses on electric vehicles

cnn.com

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Re: Ford to lay off workers as it focuses on electric vehicles

#11

Post by jdsully »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #8
olivermarks wrote: post #3

Ford is bleeding to death on purpose so they can get more tax payer EV subsidies https://youtu.be/5MZeTeqdsTw

I wouldn't say it's on purpose. Ford has always been a marginal (financially) automaker, and while the US gov is providing substantial support (>$10B) via battery and vehicle subsidies, it will be a painful transition based on the financials and balance sheet. Too much financial and institutional debt considering the swiftness at which they must transform. Tesla has a lot of room in their margin (and also generous su…

Ford Credit (loans to purchasers of their vehicles) is on Ford's balance sheet while the others had to spin off those businesses in '08. So the debt situation is a bit misleading if you just compare the top level numbers to industry peers.

Re: Ford to lay off workers as it focuses on electric vehicles

#12

Post by gonzo41 »

BugsJustFindMe wrote: post #2

They're laying off workers whose skillsets are specific to making vehicles with combustion engines and hiring workers specific to making vehicles with electric motors.

It's sad that they don't have some sort of retraining for these people.

Re: Ford to lay off workers as it focuses on electric vehicles

#13

Post by esotericimpl »

criddell wrote: post #4
BugsJustFindMe wrote: post #2

They're laying off workers whose skillsets are specific to making vehicles with combustion engines and hiring workers specific to making vehicles with electric motors.

I wonder how the switch to electric is going to impact Ford dealers? From what I've read they need to (re)train their mechanics and buy a bunch of new equipment and then also deal with the fact that electric vehicles require less maintenance.

[dead]

Re: Ford to lay off workers as it focuses on electric vehicles

#14

Post by Mizoguchi »

criddell wrote: post #4
BugsJustFindMe wrote: post #2

They're laying off workers whose skillsets are specific to making vehicles with combustion engines and hiring workers specific to making vehicles with electric motors.

I wonder how the switch to electric is going to impact Ford dealers? From what I've read they need to (re)train their mechanics and buy a bunch of new equipment and then also deal with the fact that electric vehicles require less maintenance.

Dealers will slowly fade away as online car shopping becomes more common. Volvo for example is aiming at 2030 as the year they turn 100% online. It's reasonable to assume all other car makers will do the same. There's absolutely no reason to buy from a dealer in today's world, that's like when in the 80s and early 90s you needed a middleman to buy a computer.

Re: Ford to lay off workers as it focuses on electric vehicles

#15

Post by m463 »

criddell wrote: post #4
BugsJustFindMe wrote: post #2

They're laying off workers whose skillsets are specific to making vehicles with combustion engines and hiring workers specific to making vehicles with electric motors.

I wonder how the switch to electric is going to impact Ford dealers? From what I've read they need to (re)train their mechanics and buy a bunch of new equipment and then also deal with the fact that electric vehicles require less maintenance.

I keep on reading that electric vehicles require less maintenance, but they still require some maintenance, and lots of things continue to break.

how much maintenance does a honda ice car really require? Most of them run flawlessly for years and years, almost without opening the hood at all.

I wonder how the numbers break down?

Re: Ford to lay off workers as it focuses on electric vehicles

#16

Post by throwaway894345 »

gonzo41 wrote: post #12
BugsJustFindMe wrote: post #2

They're laying off workers whose skillsets are specific to making vehicles with combustion engines and hiring workers specific to making vehicles with electric motors.

It's sad that they don't have some sort of retraining for these people.

I'm guessing it's mostly people with deep specialization (and interest) in combustion drive trains (e.g., engineers). I don't think it's feasible to take a combustion drive train engineer with a decade of experience and make them reasonably productive as a battery engineer in a short timeframe. No doubt many of those engineers are capable of making the pivot, but most are likely not particularly interested.

Re: Ford to lay off workers as it focuses on electric vehicles

#17

Post by hgs3 »

gonzo41 wrote: post #12
BugsJustFindMe wrote: post #2

They're laying off workers whose skillsets are specific to making vehicles with combustion engines and hiring workers specific to making vehicles with electric motors.

It's sad that they don't have some sort of retraining for these people.

I assume it's cheaper to hire new employees at base pay than pay to retrain the seasoned employees.

Re: Ford to lay off workers as it focuses on electric vehicles

#18

Post by toomuchtodo »

jdsully wrote: post #11
toomuchtodo wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn't say it's on purpose. Ford has always been a marginal (financially) automaker, and while the US gov is providing substantial support (>$10B) via battery and vehicle subsidies, it will be a painful transition based on the financials and balance sheet. Too much financial and institutional debt considering the swiftness at which they must transform. Tesla has a lot of room in their margin (and also generous su…

Ford Credit (loans to purchasers of their vehicles) is on Ford's balance sheet while the others had to spin off those businesses in '08. So the debt situation is a bit misleading if you just compare the top level numbers to industry peers.

Ford Credit is what sells Ford vehicles, but it’s also where the profit is (roughly half of profits). Take away the credit biz, and that’s a material impact to both profits and volume.

As the below article notes, it’s a balance and pushing risk around.

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/autos/ford/2020/0...

Re: Ford to lay off workers as it focuses on electric vehicles

#19

Post by soperj »

m463 wrote: post #15
criddell wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder how the switch to electric is going to impact Ford dealers? From what I've read they need to (re)train their mechanics and buy a bunch of new equipment and then also deal with the fact that electric vehicles require less maintenance.

I keep on reading that electric vehicles require less maintenance, but they still require some maintenance, and lots of things continue to break. how much maintenance does a honda ice car really require? Most of them run flawlessly for years and years, almost without opening the hood at all. I wonder how the numbers break down?

You seriously don't change the oil?

Re: Ford to lay off workers as it focuses on electric vehicles

#20

Post by delfinom »

soperj wrote: post #19
m463 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I keep on reading that electric vehicles require less maintenance, but they still require some maintenance, and lots of things continue to break. how much maintenance does a honda ice car really require? Most of them run flawlessly for years and years, almost without opening the hood at all. I wonder how the numbers break down?

You seriously don't change the oil?

I change out my Honda's oil once a year (10k miles per year), so what, $60?

Heh, in my case, I would go bankrupt owning a EV because of tires. My god roads are so fucking bad in NYS that I replaced 3 tires this year alone due to massive gashes in the sidewalls. EVs being so fucking overweight do not have cheap tires, RIP.

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