There is a big difference between if there is a human employee in the vehicle versus human-free. The vehicles can be programmed to be extremely risk averse to avoid causing damage to persons and properties, but it cannot control other drivers' actions. If an uninsured driver rear ends an autonomous car that's empty, the max damage is the cost of the vehicle and the cargo it's carrying. If a human driver was behind the wheel, the medical costs can be astronomical.

 

As far as I know they lose a certain amount each unit. There is usually an argument that since much of the cost is tied up in upfront set up costs and sourcing of parts and material, the more units they sell, the per unit cost goes down.

But if they haven't sold their projected first year sales over the entirety of the model being available, that balance sheet can't be pretty no matter how one slices it.

 

The thing that's neglected with the building and purchasing of vans of any ilk for dense delivery operations is the driver fatigue from climbing in an out of said vehicle 20+ times per day. These vehicles are high off the ground and the ingress / egress is tight, knee bumping, hip shattering and foot destroying poor design. Ask any postal worker who uses a Promaster or Transit on their delivery routes.

The transit Connect was absolutely the right answer and if we're going to electrify a small delivery vehicle, that in my opinion is the right answer.

 

Just my opinion. Elon Musk never cared about electric vehicles and saving the planet yet he did recognize a significant opportunity with the demographic that does and he said to himself, "I'm gonna make millions off their asses". He has made millions for Tesla supplying that demographic. Image sells. Driving a Tesla means I care about the future of the planet and am willing to do my part.

When Ford and everybody else saw what he was doing they also wanted a piece of that pie. Farley has already said the chinese are way ahead of us in EV's and we currently can't compete. Trump isn't going to let china into the US market to "protect American jobs".

When Musk headed up DOGE that demogrsphic realized the truth and then you had liberals attacking liberals for driving Teslas. Trump said, "it's a beautiful thing".

And Elon still doesn't care if people buy his Teslas or not because now he has diverted to AI and humanoids because he see's himself making billions off that. Thats where the opportunity is. It's allways about profit and ROI for investors and the board just approved a trillion dollar pay package as a vote of confidence that he can do it.

A cute ute all electric or cute small EV truck will sell. Image sells plus its cheaper and makes sense.

Cadillac, Tesla, Hummer, Rivian already have the full size maket.

The money making opportunity with humanoids is going to dwarf EV's and Ford knows they need a different niche in EV's if they are going to make a profit so Ford is making a business decision, that's all.

 

Yikes. I remember when I bought a loaded Ranger XLT with additional payload and the 4.0L V-6 for barely $14k in 1998. How times have changed. $33k is not good value for the utility the Ranger provides vs a larger truck.

Back in a Ford after 23 years...part time...with a 1990 F-150. My third of the OBS trucks. Just can't bring myself to pay for something new.