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Ford Enters Partnership With Renault in "A Fight for Our Lives"

PreservedSwine

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Just returned from France, it was nice to see so many ev's, quite a few brands not available here in the US. Took an uber in a nice BYD. Suprised at the number of Tesla's. Europe seems better suited for EV's than the USA, I suspect our commutes are simply longer (anectdotal).

So much of the foreign market exists because of mandates and subsidies, that aren't facing the same political headwinds that exist in the US. I'm glad they're staying in the arena and not getting gapped. Eventually, if EV's are superior as I currently like to believe, they'll be more popular here with, or without, mandates and subsidies.
 

bc1

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I've got this image in my head of Inspector Cloustou driving around the Arch de Triumph in Paris in a much smaller Renault version of the Lightning. Ugliest thing in the world, but as you would expect, it would fit right in with the French. Just as long it stays there and it would be a death penalty offense to own and drive one in the US.
 

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flabrent

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I'm just gonna drink some coffee on this one and see where the comments go.
I've got this image in my head of Inspector Cloustou driving around the Arch de Triumph in Paris in a much smaller Renault version of the Lightning. Ugliest thing in the world, but as you would expect, it would fit right in with the French. Just as long it stays there and it would be a death penalty offense to own and drive one in the US.
About five hours. Color me impressed.
 

kf59

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Just returned from France, it was nice to see so many ev's, quite a few brands not available here in the US. Took an uber in a nice BYD. Suprised at the number of Tesla's. Europe seems better suited for EV's than the USA, I suspect our commutes are simply longer (anectdotal).

So much of the foreign market exists because of mandates and subsidies, that aren't facing the same political headwinds that exist in the US. I'm glad they're staying in the arena and not getting gapped. Eventually, if EV's are superior as I currently like to believe, they'll be more popular here with, or without, mandates and subsidies.
It is principally about the willingness to use public resources to build out the charging infrastructure. Europeans are generally more open to and used to alternative modes of transportation and their political leaders are more open to investing public funds to support transportation infrastructure. If you have the time, in Denmark you can get to virtually anywhere including small villages on a train. People in the US are too impatient for that. My theory is that this is tied to the marginal income tax rate because we “keep” a much greater share of the next dollar we earn so we perceive that our marginal time allocation has great value and we are less willing to sit on a train. The cost is that we lack infrastructure. Once you get used to being ferried around on a train one discovers all the time they recoup no focusing on the road. Why else do we crave self-driving cars. Plus, we don’t really like each other here in the USA, so being trapped on a train with each other is agony.
 

EV Engineer

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Farley is dialed in IMO. Keep selling GAS to keep the cash coming and appease the stubborn USA, but throw every expendable dollar into EV.

It's just superior technology for 95% of use cases.

Yes we still need Superduty and ICE, but how much more juice can R & D really squeeze?
 

Zekester

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It is principally about the willingness to use public resources to build out the charging infrastructure. Europeans are generally more open to and used to alternative modes of transportation and their political leaders are more open to investing public funds to support transportation infrastructure. If you have the time, in Denmark you can get to virtually anywhere including small villages on a train. People in the US are too impatient for that. My theory is that this is tied to the marginal income tax rate because we “keep” a much greater share of the next dollar we earn so we perceive that our marginal time allocation has great value and we are less willing to sit on a train. The cost is that we lack infrastructure. Once you get used to being ferried around on a train one discovers all the time they recoup no focusing on the road. Why else do we crave self-driving cars. Plus, we don’t really like each other here in the USA, so being trapped on a train with each other is agony.
I agree with much of what you say. However, I recently took a train from DC to Indianapolis and back. No agony at all, a verpleasant experience, for which I happily paid three times the price of flying to avoid that agony.
 

K6CCC

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If you have the time, in Denmark you can get to virtually anywhere including small villages on a train. People in the US are too impatient for that.
The other part is simply the size. Depending a little on what you count, about half the countries in Europe are smaller than the next county 10 miles east of my house. You mentioned Denmark - San Bernardino County in California is about 20% larger than Denmark.
 

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The Weatherman

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This a good strategic move to stay relevant in Europe and other international markets that moving ahead quickly with electrification. Without a solution now FORD is destined for the junkyard of auto manufactures.

We tend think of our national automakers as solely focused on and selling to the US car market. That is far from reality.

Without a string presence in the world markets our OEMs are not going to survive in a form even remotely close to what they are today.

Go Ford, go GM! 🖖 Live long and prosper.
 

3rdgenfan

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Ford badged Renault 5 EV in the US #confirmed? :D
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